Dark Water Rising

Native Americans who piece together Southern rock full of gospel harmonies, hip-hop inflections and Motown soul with a journeyman work ethic. With bold songwriting and bewitching arrangements, DWR breaks rules effortlessly"

- Sylvia Pfeiffenberger - Indy Week
- The Independent Weekly

View Dark Water Rising's performance of "Hometown Hero". Jan. 2011 - Dark Water Rising

View Dark Water Rising's performance. - Dark Water Rising

View Article from the back issues of Fayetteville, NC premiere entertainment magazine, "The Fayetteville Feed". The article is located on pp. 18-20. - The Fayetteville Feed

Article on Dark Water Rising: "Rooted in the Water" pp.64-67 - UNC School of Journalism

"Former 'American Idol' contestant Charly Lowry finds happiness and musical success away from the Hollywood glare." - Fayetteville Observer

Posted: Thursday, December 11, 2014 10:24 am | Updated: 10:45 am, Thu Dec 11, 2014.

By Rodger Mullen Staff writer

The fortunes of Dark Water Rising appear to be on the rise. The group, which was formed in Pembroke in 2008, recently won an award for Best Gospel/Inspirational Recording at the Native American Music Awards, held Nov. 14 in Salamanca, New York. The award was for the group's 2013 album, "Grace & Grit: Chapter 1."

"It justified a lot of the hard work that we put in," said lead singer Charly Lowry. "A lot of times in the music industry you don't see immediate results. It was nice to release that album in February of last year and here we are winning an award."

Dark Water Rising was nominated in three categories at the Native American Music Awards this year: Best Gospel/Inspirational Recording, Best Pop Recording and Group of the Year.
The group's win in the gospel/inspirational category marked its third win at the awards. They won Best Long or Short Form Video in 2009 and Debut Duo or Group of the Year in 2011.

At the awards ceremony, the group performed their upcoming single, "Hometown Hero," and "Backbone." Lowry said the songs will be included on an as-yet untitled album slated for release early next year.

Lowry, a former "American Idol" contestant, said the group relocated to Chapel Hill from its native Pembroke about a year ago. She said the new base of operations affords the group more venues in which to perform.

Lowry said Dark Water Rising is slated to perform an acoustic set at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh on Dec. 11 and a regular set the next day at the Pour House Music Hall in Raleigh.

"We pretty much travel all over the state and every once in awhile we'll get out of state," Lowry said. "We perform the coast to the mountains and everywhere in between. Our plan is to go full time with touring next year."

Lowry said the group's lineup has been bolstered recently by the addition of second vocalist Emily Musolino. The other group members are Corey Locklear, Tony Murnahan and Aaron Locklear.
Musolino is co-producing the new album with Justin Robinson, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

"She's just a strong asset to the group," Lowry said.

While the group's heritage is American Indian, Lowry said members usually don't consciously try to incorporate that viewpoint into their music. It just comes through naturally, she said.

"In some songs we touch lyrically on issues that are prominent in Indian country," Lowry said. "There may be a few songs where we incorporate the native beat that you hear in powwows. But we never say, 'Let's do a native song.' It just comes out as a reflection of who we are."

For her own part, Lowry said she prefers to call the group's music "rocky soul," a blend of blues, folk and rock with a gospel influence.
But she said everyone tends to come up with their own description.
"Independent Weekly (magazine) referred to us as Americana pop," Lowry said. "It just depends on who's writing."

Staff writer Rodger Mullen can be reached at mullenr@fayobserver.com or 486-3561. - Rodger Mullen