Descend down Clingman Avenue away from the urban clamor of Patton Avenue in downtown Asheville and immediately one enters into another world. Just a short few years ago, even the most adventurous soul would have avoided Asheville’s riverside warehouse district, yet now it’s teeming with arts, music, eats, and drinks, which collectively give the once derelict place an appealing new name — Asheville’s River Arts District.
At the eastern entrance of the RAD, The Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall is a blue-grey brick building, where some of Asheville’s most memorable music shows have been held over the past 13 years. Despite the upscale Orange Peel or the gentrified Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, the unassuming Grey Eagle consistently draws prominent acts and recording artists, and Western North Carolina’s own local talent also shares the venue’s stage, helping the Grey Eagle earn a reputation as one of the finest listening rooms in the Southeast.
{module Share this!|none}The modest décor and unpretentious atmosphere invite even the casual concert-goer to feel at home. Signed tour posters and some exquisite photos of live performances taken by local photographer Sandlin Gaither and others make for a welcoming entrance. There’s a kitchen that Taqueria Con Cuida currently occupies, and The King’s portrait hangs behind the bar where local brews flow and PBR always is available. Inside the listening room, the wooden stage and exposed rafters add to the charm and elegance, but moreover it’s a musician’s paradise—an open room with superb acoustics that begs to be filled with crowds nearly every night of the week.
Local entrepreneur, musician, father, and all-around self-made man, Jeff Whitworth has been with the Grey Eagle since shortly after the business moved from Black Mountain in 1999. Whitworth’s involvement in the Asheville arts scene has earned him a highly respected and much appreciated place among music fans and community leaders. An experienced musician, he has been a long-time member of the local rock group Wayne Robbins and the Hellsayers and has toured America and Europe extensively.
Whitworth is the man nearly impossible to miss when one walks into the Grey Eagle. A formidable figure, he’s always smiling, friendly, and exerting his brand of Southern hospitality. He’s orchestrated many of the enhancements to the venue over the years and has recently overseen both structural and cosmetic adjustments without compromising the Grey Eagle’s impeccable sound system, but his real job is in arranging the club’s performance schedule.
“Diversifying the monthly calendar is something I take great pride in, and I like to fill the calendar with as many different shows as possible,” Whitworth said. “I think that if you stick to a certain genre or scene it severally limits your scope and dictates exactly who your crowd will be each night.”
The Grey Eagle, on any given night, could be home to the sounds of bluegrass, indie-rock, funk, hip-hop, and everything in between. Over the years, musical greats like Ralph Stanley, Tim O’Brien, Band of Horses, Avett Brothers, Superchunk, and Frank Black—just to name a few—have graced the stage while other nights the venue is home to benefits for local causes, album release parties for local bands, and even church services held on Sunday mornings.
Q&A with Jeff Whitworth
SML: Tell me about your role at the Grey Eagle.
Jeff Whitworth: I started working at The Grey Eagle in 2000, right as I moved to Asheville. I originally came on as a door guy, graduated to a bartender, then learned how to be a sound engineer. It was a natural progression and it gave me the tools I’d later need to successfully run the club. I bought the club along with a good friend & business partner, Brian Landrum, in 2004. I’ve been the sole proprietor and talent buyer—an industry term for the one that books shows—of the club since Brian left in 2010. While not nearly as often since I’ve been sole proprietor, I also still run sound, bartend and work the door from time to time.
The history of the Grey Eagle is very interesting. Tell me how the idea came about to start the club.
Since I’m not the original owner, I can’t take full credit for the storied past of The Grey Eagle. The venue was originally in Black Mountain and moved to its current location in 1999, shortly before I moved to town. Working here for several years prior to taking over ownership gave me valuable insight into where I thought needed improvements could be made as well as diversifying the acts that played the club. While the previous owners, still dear friends of mine, did a great job of filling a much needed niche in the Asheville music scene, I saw a lot of opportunities that weren’t necessarily being maximized.
Running a listening room in the earlier days of the River Arts District must have been challenging. What were some obstacles you overcame?
In the early days, a lot of folks were scared to come down to the RAD—poor street lighting, there was literally nothing else opened after dark other than the Grey Eagle, a slew of street characters that migrated to this area. As the RAD has continued to grow, these hesitations should now be a distant memory, and it’s refreshing to see the volume of foot traffic through the RAD picking up more and more each passing week. The RAD artists and studios, such as Pattiy Torno at Curve Studios, along with the RAD Studio Stroll have been instrumental catalysts in making this such a desirable area, and that desirability continues to grow each month with the new additions going into the Wedge space and surrounding studios. John Payne, one of the early RAD pioneers, is sorely missed but I think he’d be proud of what Asheville’s RAD is becoming.
Do bands/managers reach out to the GE, or have you actively sought out bands to bring to town?
In order to run a successful venue, I think it’s important to not always rest on your laurels and let the good shows fall in your lap. While I do have the luxury of running a long-standing club that musicians love to play, I think it’s still important to seek out bands that I personally think will have a positive impact on the market—and sell tickets. While the Grey Eagle definitely has “regulars,” I also love seeing different faces night in and night out. I really enjoy being able to book a rock show, a bluegrass show, a hip hop show, a comedy show, a burlesque show, and a reggae show all in the same week. And I find a lot of personal satisfaction in knowing that those shows are bookended by our weekly contra dance every Monday night and church every Sunday morning (Highland Christian Church).
Not only does the Grey Eagle bring in excellent talent, you continue to put on some of the best local music. Is that still an important aspect for booking?
Absolutely—and we’re extremely lucky to live in an area with so much great local talent. I’m confident in saying that Asheville’s local music scene is one of the best in the country per capita. That, coupled with amazing local comedians, artists and dance troupes make it not only easy, but necessary, to pull from the local community to round out our calendar.
Lastly, let’s stroll down memory lane. Share some amazing nights you’ve witnessed at the Grey Eagle.
Some of my personal favorite shows that have happened at the club are Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (twice), Band of Horses, Nickel Creek (several times), Magnolia Electric Company (RIP Jason Molina), Avett Brothers, The Lumineers (played here several times before they blew up), Fleet Foxes, Ralph Stanley, Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott (two of my personal favorite musicians who also recorded a live record at the club which was just released last year), and more recently Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel), Frank Black (Pixies), Grandmothers of Invention (Zappa’s original band) and the countless times Vic Chesnutt performed at the club; he’s tops in my book.
But probably my all-time favorite memory from The Grey Eagle is John Hartford playing two of his last shows ever here. In 2001 he played a sold out show on a Saturday night, while nearing the end of his battle with cancer. I was working the door that night, and about midway through the second set he looked down the hallway towards me at the front door and asked from the stage, “How many people didn’t get in to see the show tonight?” I responded “Quite a few!”
He then asked Tyler, the former owner who was mixing the show, “Tyler, can we come back tomorrow afternoon and play another show for the folks that couldn’t get in?” We didn’t have anything booked the next day and Tyler responded “Sure!” It was a beautifully spontaneous moment where everyone in attendance witnessed a man who’d rather do nothing more than spend his limited number of remaining days performing for his fans. He and the band came back the next afternoon. Hartford, clearly exhausted, played another set of entirely different tunes and proceeded to call square dances for nearly three hours.