All Y’all Records Puts on Epic Showcase this Weekend!

All Y’all Records is the collaborative effort of Dave Hedeman from the Gone Ghosts and Nick Stroud from Heat Preacher. With extensive experience in the North Carolina and regional music scenes, they’ve come together to create a label that does things differently. Their shared vision is rooted in camaraderie and a deep understanding of the challenges facing independent artists today.

In an industry that has seen dramatic shifts, often to the detriment of independent musicians, Dave and Nick are committed to making a positive impact. All Y’all Records aims to provide up-and-coming artists with the support they need to navigate the modern music landscape, helping them achieve their musical goals through a community-driven approach. By leveraging their combined experience and connections, they hope to create a thriving live music scene in North Carolina and beyond.

The launch party for All Y’all Records promises to be a memorable event, showcasing a diverse lineup of talented musicians. The event will take place on June 1st at Local 506, a well-known venue in Chapel Hill that has long been a supporter of local music. The lineup includes OLD HEAVY HANDS, who bring a compelling brand of heartfelt southern rock informed by the Muscle Shoals tradition and the DIY punk rock of their youth. LORD NELSON, hailing from Charlottesville, VA, draws on a rich history of campfire sing-a-longs and barn parties to create music with a sense of tradition and belonging.

COUNTRY CRUEL from Chapel Hill offers loud, hard country music inspired by legends like John Prine and Doc Watson, while JACK THE RADIO from Raleigh blends rock, blues, Americana, folk, and country into a unique tapestry of swampy southern sounds. HEAT PREACHER, also from Chapel Hill, fuses alternative rock, soul, and indie to create a modern musical experience.
REESE MCHENRY, a prolific songwriter from Chatham Co, is known for her straight-shooting rock songs that mix humor with catchy hooks. THE GONE GHOSTS from Carrboro set out to create their version of American rock, fueled by themes of love, loss, and heartache. CHARLES LATHAM & THE BORROWED BAND from Durham marry vintage psychedelic country-rock with idiosyncratic songwriting, while THE YARDARM from Chapel Hill offers alternative rock with a distinctly North Carolina twang. Lastly, CRENSHAW PENTECOSTAL from Winston Salem delivers dive bar arena rock.

Doors open at 4pm, with presale tickets available for $15 and $20 on the day of the event. This launch party is not just a celebration of All Y’all Records but a testament to the vibrant music community in North Carolina. It’s an opportunity to support local artists, enjoy a diverse range of music, and be part of a movement that values collaboration over competition. Get your tickets today and join us for an unforgettable evening of live music and community spirit at Local 506!

Get your tickets HERE

We caught up with the All Y'all Records crew for an exclusive pre-show interview below!

Can you share the inspiration behind starting All Y’all Records?
Given the huge sweeping disruptive changes to the music industry over the past decade, with streaming and social media and all the new demands put on independent artists too try to build their audiences, we saw a need to find a different approach to building a strong local music community.

In this new world where fans are engaging more on their screens, and every band is competing for the attention of similar audiences, this idea of working together as a collective started making a ton of senses. By putting together a roster of really great bands form different parts of NC / VA / SC to start, working together to introduce each others music to each others fans and then going in on shows together, felt like a great way reach new people and put on great shows and build a strong community within our respective genre of what we call Y’alt-Country and Y’alternative Rock.

How did your experiences in the North Carolina and regional music scenes shape your vision for All Y’all Records?

Coming up in the 90’s music scene, where every city had something cool going and this was this real sense of community and a network of artists, and going out to see live music was the thing to do every weekend, a lot has changed since then. Fast forward to today, and the music industry and music scene has been turned on its head, in many ways for the good but in other ways it’s become more challenging.

Today bands and artists have much greater access to their fans, both locally and globally. However on a local level, we’re all competing for the attention of fans, and their weekend plans, and not just to see live music, but the with endless amounts of options people have to entertain themselves.

Both Nick and I entered the NC music scenes as outsiders, coming from different cities and settling in NC. Upon arriving in NC it was obvious to see NC has an amazing music scene covering tons of different genres and music styles. There is such a rich history between its roots in Americana, bluegrass and folk music but also in the 80’s and 90’s NC historically was one of the hotbeds for indie rock greatness spawning legendary indie acts and labels like Superchunk, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Archers oof Loaf, Ben Folds Five, Merge Records and more. That rich history has cultivated an amazing music scene throughout the triangle.

As outsiders coming into the scene looking to find our place, you could see that it was filled with a lot of really great micro scenes. But it was sometimes difficult to know how to connect with the right people, or where to go, or even who to see. So it was a lot of trial and error. When we first got to Carrboro, there was this really amazing open mic at a place called The Station. Every Monday night it would be filled with at least 150 musicians just hanging out, and that really became the place where most of our musical connections were made early on. I think a lot of us realized recently that ever since that went away, we lost that connection with one another. Add in a pandemic and it just felt like we were all floating around just trying to figure out what to do.
So I guess that was the impetus for starting All Y’all, to create community of musicians that would hopefully inspire others to go out and support each others art.

What sets All Y’all Records apart from other record labels in the industry?

I guess the big thing is we’re not motivated by profit, or exploiting and artist. We don’t own their music or have any rights to that. We think of ourselves more as an incubator or a vehicle, to try give bands support, help them promote their music and and help bands to get to where they want to go. And working together as a collective, one bands success is everyones success. I’m sure some record labels would think this is a little unrealistic, but were not really interested in being a traditional label.

How do you envision All Y’all Records contributing to the success of up-and-coming artists in Americana Rock, Roots Rock, Alt-Country, and Indie Rock genres?

I think by giving them a platform to connect with new audiences. And by working together the hope is that each band will introduce their fans to the other bands and so forth. So much that the ultimate goal is that no matter what the show, or the record coming out, fans will just know that All Y’all puts on some kick as shows, some amazing playlists and the artists make great records. And hopefully that little community will just grow. I think the other side is the ability to cross promote. The artists benefit from a spotlight begin put on all the cool things they each have going on, when you compound that, you realize this group of artists is crushing it. Additionally the clubs seem to appreciate the extra effort we put in to get the word out. SO in the end everyone is helping everyone to succeed.

Can you elaborate on the significance of fostering a thriving live music scene for independent artists?

We think it’s important to celebrate art. It’s important to celebrate people out there making things to enrich the lives of others and their community. And that starts with being there for reach other. Cheering people on, showing up, sharing it with people both in reality and the digital space. It’s the reason for everything. If we wanted to sit in our houses by ourselves and just play for ourselves, we could and that could be totally enough. But most musicians I know want people to hear what they’ve been working on. They want to share this little piece of themselves with the people they care about… and 100 of their friends as well. That kind of support, helps everyone. It inspires people to get out there and give it a go themselves, and when you have an inclusive supportive community around you, you can do great things. At least we think so.

What specific challenges do you see independent artists facing in today's music industry, and how does All Y’all Records aim to address them?

We think the signal biggest challenge is connecting with audiences. Technology has made it easier than ever to connect with your fans and has opened that up beyond your local zip code. But getting access to those fans is the challenge. Getting past the gate keepers is the challenge. Figuring out the algorithm is the challenge. Putting out good quality content is a challenge. Marketing yourself is the challenge. Booking shows is a challenge. All of it is an overwhelming insurmountable challenge for the independent artist. And that’s all on top of the challenge of Making and Playing great music and putting on a great show for fans. We’re trying to work together as collective to make all those other things less daunting.

Could you share some examples of how All Y’all Records plans to amplify the strengths of North Carolina bands?

The simplest answers is there s strength in numbers. ALL Y’ALL allows us to pool together our resources to cross promote ad draft off of each other’s success. It allows us to go to clubs with a stellar package of bands which will guarantee a great show, and hopefully a more well attended show and solves a lot of headaches for booking . It helps introduce each other’s bands to new markets and their networks too. From a collective stand point we play off each others strengths. Some of us are marketing experts, some of us are great a booking, some of us are great at selling merch, some are amazing designers, some of us have line on the best places to get vinyl pressed. So we figure out who’s good at what and figure out how they can help the greater good.

In what ways do you believe collaboration and community-building can benefit independent musicians?

It takes aways some of the heavy lifting. The duplicating of effort. The splitting of audiences. It exposed you to a broader audience and creates more opportunities for bigger and better shows. It allows for literal musical collaboration opportunities. We have so many ideas are are in the infant stages of this thing. But the possibilities are endless. We’re just building the plane as it flys and seeing where it takes us.

How does All Y’all Records plan to leverage its knowledge, experience, and connections to support artists on their musical journeys?

Exactly that way. The more access and information we share with each other, the more success we will all have. Whether it’s recording, marketing, booking or just tips on how to perform. We all have a ton to learn off each other.

Can you tell us more about the All Y’all Records Launch Party? What can attendees expect?

It’s pretty simple. We’re giving our community the opportunity to come out and see a top tier showcase of local and regional heavy hitter veteran artists, that are all tight, have great songs that all put on a great shows individually. You’re getting to see 10 bands for $20 bucks all in one show and it’s going to blow your mind how good these bands are and how much talent is gonna be on that stage. This is unheard of, and If Ii wasn’t in one of the bands, I would 100% be going to this. This his a live music lovers dream and what a better way to kick off the Summer. 506 is a great venue and its surrounded by some great Midway restaurants and bars. So I think it’s just gonna be a fun night. There’s also a late night after party at the Cave next door with even more live music.

What criteria do you consider when selecting artists to work with?

Well first off you have to be good. Like good presentation, tight set, good songs and be somewhat established with a growing following. Doesn’t have to be huge, but healthy. More important, you also have to be cool. Not pop culture trendy cool… Everyone in this collective is an actual friend or friend of a friend. Everyone is kind and respectful and supportive. Which goes to the third piece. You have to be the type of band or artist that goes out and supports other artists and sees a show. Nick and I have paid to see or played with every artist on this roster multiple times, and when we do shows wee see their faces out in the crowd too. If you don’t do that, then were not for you. Everyone is here because they want to be, not because we made them sign something. And if the go on to doo great things, all the better. We’ll be happy knowing we played some small part in helping them get there.

How do you see the role of technology evolving in the music industry, and how does All Y’all Records adapt to these changes?

It’s made everything easier ( recording, connecting with fans, promoting ) and it’s made everything astronomically more difficult ad daunting. The amount of time technology sucks you away from your craft ice alarming and at some ties feels artificial, but it’s the const of entry and it’s not going away. Then there’s AI, which will probably ruin everything because now you’ll be able to listen to the same 10 mega artists till the end of time. And it will write all our songs for us, so all we’ll need to do is make funny TikTok videos with cats.

The short answer is sometimes it’s amazing and sometimes it’s awful. And All Y’all will attempt to navigate our ways through it together… which is a hell of a lot better than trying to figure all this nonsense out on your own.

What advice do you have for independent artists looking to navigate the music industry successfully?

1.Do it because you love it. Don’t waste your time chasing cool, be authentic and do sit because you have to, and because you love it. I don’t car if you play a bucket, when people see you playing it genuinely with passion and joy, they will love it too. And if they don’t well... not everyone is gong to be into it and that’s ok

2. Be kind. Be cool. Be humble. Be Respectful. Be a Professional. IT gets you so much further. IT will make sound engineers want you to sound awesome. It will make talent buyers want to return your emails. It will make everything better.

3. Have fun.

4. Dig a hole. You’ll need it to throw the piles and piles of money and time you spend making a thing that no-one may ever hear or come close to loving as much as you do.
How do you measure success for All Y’all Records and the artists you represent?
If we break even then yay. If we can make some money to invest into different projects for the bands that would be another huge milestone. So buy some merch and be on the look out for that kickstarter campaign coming out way soon.

In terms of the bands, If they feel like we are helping them achieve what they want to achieve of help them get to where they want to get to then I’ll be satisfied because it means this idea is working.

Looking ahead, what are your long-term goals for All Y’all Records, and how do you plan to achieve them?

This showcase is just the beginning. We plan to do more in the future for sure. Our goal is to put out a Vinyl compilation album featuring a song from each artist and sell that to fund future projects. We’ll be selling some merch, mostly cause the name All Y’all is awesome and the t-shirt is rad, but if it can generate some income that will be used to fund future projects and promotions as well. The rest of the short term will be spent promoting shows, and releases and news for all our artists. So follow those instagrams and stuff.

Long term? We’ve talked about maybe trying to turn this into a non-profit to fund artists albums and projects through grants. Treat it like an actual incubator for independent artists, where they can learn from our years of experience… how to record, promote, how to distribute their music, how to make good content, how to present themselves, put together press kits, how to perform and add a little showmanship… all the things that both veteran artists or artists starting wish they had known early on. We think that would be cool.

We’ve all been doing this for a really long time and are all at a point in our careers where its time to mentor and share what we’ve learned with our peers and this next generation, to help ensure in some small way that some kid at coming out of School of Rock or jamming in their garage has a scene to show off their hard work. Other than that we all want to keep playing music as long as humanly possible, and hopefully All Y’all can provide an avenue four our artists to continue doing what they love for many many years to come.