Wow! What a wild and wonderful past couple of months we've had! In December, we began the long process of recording our second studio album. As most musicians know, recording a new album can be both exciting as well as daunting. How do you capture the energy of a live show while sitting in a studio with headphones on? How do you put into a 12 song album all the things you want to say as a band? What does it take to pack 3 years, 400 shows, and 50,000 miles worth of memories into one 40 minute CD?...

Well, I'm not gonna answer that. I'm gonna let you listen to our new album and decide for yourself. All I know is that we feel soooooo darn good to have this album in hand and we are sooooo ready to share it with you all!!!

I'm gonna take a moment now to let everyone know how they can get their hands on one of these albums.

The first time this album will be available to anyone is this Friday, Cinco de Mayo, at Isis Music Hall in West Asheville, NC. Not only will we be releasing the album to the public for the first time, we will be performing the new CD from start to finish! We will also be joined by our good buddies Horseshoes and Hand Grenades from Wisconsin! For more details on the release party, head over to our event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/486340984823185/. Our good friend Drew DePorter also designed us an awesome poster for the show, check it out!!

After that, we will be heading up to Johnson City where we recorded the album. Johnson City has become our second home, (and first home for Joe), since we began recording this album and we can't wait to perform at the Down Home this Saturday night!

The album will only be available in Asheville and Johnson City until the middle of next week when we will have it available for purchase online. We will have both digital and hard copies available as well as T-shirts and screen prints. Stay tuned for an announcement next week once the online store is up and running!

The new album is not the only exciting news that we have. We have also been selected to be an official showcase band for this years IBMA's in Raleigh, NC. Each year, the IBMA committee receives hundreds of applicants to be considered as an official showcase band. Showcase bands are featured in IBMA promo and promoted to talent buyers, festival promoters, record labels and more. We are so honored to be selected as an official showcase band and we look forward to representing North Carolina at this years conference!!

Fireside Collective began as a grassroots band formed out of deep friendships and a love for bluegrass, folk music, and rock n' roll. Since our inception, many of the administrative duties have been handled by the band and we've worked tirelessly to get our music out there and to travel far and wide. We recently decided that it's time to build the team and we are so excited to announce that we've signed on with a booking agent! We will be working with Brian Swenk from Rockwood Booking Agency. Brian works with some amazing talent including Aaron Burdette Band, Hank, Pattie and the Current, Kevin Maines and the Volts, Medicated Sunfish, and the Scott Moss Band. We are looking forward to beginning this next chapter and we are thrilled to have Brian representing us!

Well friends, that's all for now. We can't wait to get this album out to the world and we want to thank everyone who has supported us and encouraged us on this journey. We are so grateful to be able to follow our passions and we couldn't do it without you! We have so many exciting shows on the horizon including another tour out to Colorado and another trip up to the Northeast. We have a bunch of new material and we can't wait to share it with you!!!

For those of you who can't make it to either of our release parties, we'd like to share a sneak peak of the album with you now. Thanks again to Jeremy Iaquinto for the awesome album art! Enjoy and we'll see ya' around the bend!!

Ahhh, another beautiful day in the mountains of North Carolina. The birds are chirping, the trees are budding, and the gentle Spring breeze soothes the soul. Back in December, we began working on our second studio album and we're currently putting the final touches on it. We can't wait to share our hard work with you all and we are excited to announce some big shows on the horizon!

First off, we'll be heading down to Charleston, SC to perform at the Charleston Bluegrass Festival! The festival takes place on April 7th and 8th and features awesome acts such as Band of Ruhks, Barefoot Movement, Grass is Dead, and many more! If you'd like more info, click here! It's gonna be a blast down in the low country!!!

After that, we will be heading to one of our favorite venues in one of our favorite cities for a ragin' Saturday night. That's right folks, we're talking about the Pour House in Raleigh, North Carolina! The date is Saturday, April 15th and we'll be joined by our good buddy James Olin Oden for what promises to be an unforgettable night. You can buy tickets here or grab them at the door. $7 in advance and $10 day of show. Can't wait to make our way back to the city that has taken us in and treated us so well, we love you Raleigh!

And finally, we are excited to announce our big CD release celebration party at Isis Music Hall right here in our home town of West Asheville, NC!! Not only will we be celebrating the completion of our album, but it happens to be Cinco de Mayo as well! We are also thrilled to announce that we will be joined by our good friends Horseshoes and Hand Grenades from Wisconsin. These guys are one heck of a band and they play some incredible music. They are overflowing with energy and positivity and we are so honored to have them join us for this exciting evening of music!

We will also be doing an album wrap party and release party in Johnson City where we've been recording our album. It will take place on May 6th at the Down Home. We'll be presenting our entire album and just having a good old time gettin' down at the Down Home!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with our new album, here's a little background on what we've been up to:

Fireside Collective has been hard at work since December at the recording studio at East Tennessee State University. We've got 12 brand new, original tracks and a bunch of awesome guests artists featured on the CD. We also had the honor of working with the amazing Daniel Boner! Dan is the director of the Bluegrass, Country, and Old-Time music department at ETSU. He joined us to produce our vocals and let me tell you, the man is a magician! We were also joined by Jesse Langlais who produced our first 2 days of instrument tracking for the album. Jesse is an incredible banjo player and member of Asheville bluegrass band Town Mountain. He's also an all around great guy and we're thankful for his contributions. Our sound engineer Ben Bateson is still hard at work helping us mix the album. Ben is a literal wizard in the control booth and he has really elevated this project to another level. ​

We also feature some incredible musicians on the album. We were joined by fiddle players Jack Devereux and Cody Bauer as well as banjo players Brady Wallen, George Wagman, Calder Baker, and Ben Bateson. The amazing Cara Mastrianni also joined us as a vocalist on a number of songs. She's been travelling around with the band and helping us in so many ways and we are super grateful to have her on the album, as well as all those who contributed to this project!

In addition to these exciting shows we mentioned, we have a lot more great shows coming up. Head on over to our tour page or click here to learn more!

Once again folks, we want to thank you for being apart of this journey with us. All the roads we've crossed and the notes we've played would be nothing without you. The amount of love and support that we've received has comforted us and motivated us in so many ways and we look forward to sharing this new CD with you all!