The New Familiars

The band’s take on Americana and folk gets infused with a good bit of rock ethic and rhythms that can give you goose bumps. As the crowds grow, the local shows are getting more sporadic, and they recently paid thanks to fans with a free, packed Neighborhood Theatre gig. Catch ’em on the cheap while you can! - Creative Loafing - Charlotte, NC

"A dynamic union of Delta blues and Appalachia folk that combines for a toxic new twist on Americana music... With one hand on the headstone of folk and the other on the ever changing wheel of rock 'n' roll, The band is the latest up and comers of the Southeast's roots music revival."

Matthew Godbey - Post and Courier - Charleston, SC

"A Charlotte-based quintet of multi-instrumentalists who mix Old-Time instrumentation like mandolin, banjo and harmonica with electric guitar, Dobro and drums, they’re making a beeline to the top of many critics’ rave lists for their glorious, resplendently elegiac combination of traditional folk, bluegrass and blues forms with contemporary Americana and Southern pop that winks at the slightly psychedelic"

Jim Reed - Connect Savannah - Savannah, GA

"The New Familiars defy simple classification. Instead, they reinvent the traditional, coating the tried-and-true origins of folk music in a brand-new varnish of jam-band indie rock."

Dino Lull

http://metrospirit.com/index.php?cat=1993101070588705&ShowArticle_ID=11020411083767315 - Metro Spirit - Augusta, GA

by John Schacht

NEW FAMILIARS DROP THE STORM: The New Familiars call its sound "Folk-core Music from the Foothills," and that's an apt description of the band's first studio release, the six-song EP The Storm, which celebrates its CD-release gig Saturday, Sept. 1 at the Visulite. Blending influences ranging from Woody Guthrie and the Grateful Dead to Kings of Leon and Ryan Adams, the Charlotte band delivers a mix of acoustic folk, bluegrass, rock and blues with a visceral intensity to match their raucous live gigs.

The band shares songwriting credits between Eric-Scott Guthrie, Justin Fedor and Josh Daniels (James Stratford and part-time drummer Ryan Ramirez fill out the roster), yet the sound and narrative blends together as though written by one -- which they say is kind of the case, anyway.

"We all do the writing, sometimes as a group and sometimes as individuals," says Guthrie. "When we have time we'll all sit down with a general theme in mind and we've had some great success at writing material as a group."

"We've drawn the inspiration for all of these songs from our lives," Fedor adds. "We've lived these songs."

People who haven't heard the sonic differences between The New Familiars and Charlotte's best-known acoustic unit would be wrong to assume that anybody's riding the coat-tails of The Avett Brothers.

"I think we are more of a rock band then they are," Daniels says. "Plus, rowdy acoustic music is happening everywhere! It's not like they were the first band with a banjo and an acoustic."

"The beauty of acoustic music is it's a level playing field," says Guthrie. "You don't have a bunch of modifications to change your sound, it's raw ... stock if you will. Personal style and technique is what differentiates musicians from one another in this genre.

"I don't really worry too much about an 'Avett's overload' at all. In part because I think we're clued into what they're clued into. This is honest music, penned by the performers, sung with the heart on the sleeve, and I think that's the real reason why you're seeing this folk evolution starting to build serious momentum." - Creative Loafing - Charlotte

"My first thought after hearing The Storm, The New Familiars' six song EP, was,"Damn, I wish this was longer." So I played it again. The Storm is a tantalizing introduction to the trippy folk rock of this Charlotte quartet.... 'Got This Disease' is (pardon the pun) one of the most infectious tunes I have heard in ages; it has been bouncing around my head for weeks, so much so that I have found myself spontaneously singing the chorus aloud around strangers, drawing more than an odd look or two. But that's okay—I don't mind sharing the fever this band gives me."

Dave Stallard - Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine - Southeastern US

by Alli Marshall

"The New Familiars play a fresh (if not breakthrough) blend of country blues, folk rock and gritty acoustic tunes... honky-tonk elements of Dobro and harmonica; mountain touches of banjo and rough-hewn harmonies made for ‘70s-era Southern Rock... they sound like rambling men with farmers tans and battered rucksacks splitting their time between the open road and the open arms of pretty hippie girls. At least, they sound like they could write the soundtrack to that movie."
- Mountain Xpress - Asheville

By Jeff Hahne

"The New Familiars may have only released a couple of EPs, but they aren't lacking for material in their live show. The band tore through a set that seemed to last forever – in a good way. Covers of Huey Lewis and Pink Floyd were mixed into a plethora of originals that had the crowd sweating, grooving and enjoying every strum of the banjo, every pick of the dobro, every scream, harmony or heart-felt note." - Creative Loafing - Charlotte

By Jarrett Oakley
Contributing Writer

"The New Familiars offer an organic acoustic sound. Deeply rooted in southern folk music, the band also interestingly blends in alternative country rock and dabbles in progressive rock.... There is a bridge in this band that will fill the vast gaps between your
father’s generation and this one."
- Georgia Tech Technique