Alex Underwood is about as easy a guy to get into a groove with as laying down the needle on a James Brown record. I'd seen him in and around Saxapahaw, North Carolina at a couple different gigs, with with a mic, guitar, and his guitar case open and available for tips. His music certainly… Continue reading Boogixote Q&A: Alex Underwood
Author: Garrett Bethmann
Blue Cactus: Bound to Make You a Believer
The most cold-hard-facts line of 2025 was born from the grocery store checkout line. โI donโt know if Iโm getting better / If Iโm getting worse / But Iโm getting byโ I mean, have truer words been spoken for these times? That honest-ass line is the chorus of โThis Kind of Rain,โ a sunshower country… Continue reading Blue Cactus: Bound to Make You a Believer
Boogixote Q&A: Spencer Thomas Smith
โI'm a duck on a pond, just here having a good time.โ Thatโs how Durham, NC guitarist and songwriter Spencer Thomas Smith describes himself to me with a smile, as we share our morning coffees over Zoom, with a fresh inch of snow outside. The weather had interrupted our plans to meet in person, but… Continue reading Boogixote Q&A: Spencer Thomas Smith
Set, Setting, Tuneage: Sunsp.t: JoFi-2
It was a frosty January morning, the first legitimately cold morning of 2024. I had to swing by Food Lion and get some eggs, veggies, and a pie crust. I was cooking a quiche for brunch and it was going to be the first thing I had cooked in what felt like a year. My… Continue reading Set, Setting, Tuneage: Sunsp.t: JoFi-2
Boogixote Q&A: STOP MVP Compilation Album
"Don't mess with our homes/Leave our waters alone/Shove that pipe up your b-u-t-T" It's a note for West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, signed and sealed by North Carolina native Joe Troop, delivered as a solo screed from the frets of his banjo, from one Joe to another, on Troop's song "We Don't Want The MVP… Continue reading Boogixote Q&A: STOP MVP Compilation Album
What’s So Magical About Magic Al?
โTell me your company, and I will tell you what you are.โ That line comes from Miguel Cervantesโ seminal novel Don Quixote in 1615 โ namesake and phonetic inspiration for this wonderful site โ and a version of this sentiment has proliferated for centuries in a number of civilizations. Weโre a social species and much… Continue reading What’s So Magical About Magic Al?
Set, Setting, Tuneage: Setting Sounds #2- On The Eno River
I was in a quandry. I couldn't decide if should bring my inner tube - a three-foot wide cheeseburger - to this Friday night concert along the Eno River in Hillsborough, North Carolina. There were whispers of being able to float the river as you took in the music. But I was already dressed loudly… Continue reading Set, Setting, Tuneage: Setting Sounds #2- On The Eno River
Betamax: NC Climber’s Fest 2023
I've never been much of a climber, but I like to hang with a bunch. There was a big ol' hang at Pilot Mountain May 6th and 7th, for the Carolina Climbers Coalition's NC Climber's Fest. Early birds got cinnamon rolls whose sourdough starter goes back 100 years, but everyone got a bluebird day to… Continue reading Betamax: NC Climber’s Fest 2023
Stewarding with the Carolina Climbers Coalition
โStill on.โ Thatโs the two word answer I got over email from Will Rodgers, Pilot Mountain State Park Crag Steward, at 6:45 in the morning on April Fool's Day. I had emailed him asking if we were still meeting up at the park with thunderstorms in the forecast. I was somewhat hoping itโd be canceled.… Continue reading Stewarding with the Carolina Climbers Coalition
Boogixote Q&A: Empire Strikes Brass
Itโs April in the Piedmont and after a wet winter Iโm ready for one thing to warm my bones, wake my soul, and get my ass on the dance floor: Festy season. Itโs that beautiful time of the year when our bodies flow into a new equinoctial rhythm that manifests in communities throwing down together… Continue reading Boogixote Q&A: Empire Strikes Brass









