_The New River Boys is a folk rock band from Boone, and will be performing at Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro Friday night.
Senior Writer Brooke Pryor talked with vocalist and mandolin player Aaron Simpson about the band and coming to Chapel Hill. _
*Diversions: * You guys just wrapped up the Down Home Tour. What was that like? Where were your favorite stops?
Aaron Simpson: That was a great tour. We had a blast everywhere we went. It was really unique. The crowds were really great.
I think I speak for the other guys in the group when I say that the band is very partial to Asheville and the Asheville area, since that is where we’re looking to set up in the next couple of months. Asheville treated us really well.
But Raleigh was fantastic. It was a ton of fun. We played out at Tir Na Nog in downtown Raleigh and that was just a blast.
*Dive: *Do you guys have plans for another tour soon?
AS: We are planning a couple of different trips, one in which we are going to head north and tentatively go, stay fairly close, in Virginia and then up in D.C. And then we’ll head south along the East Coast through Atlanta and Marietta, Ga., and perhaps as far as Birmingham depending on how that all goes.
Dive: You’re from Chapel Hill. What’s it like to come back and play in a place where you have so many ties to the community?
AS: I’m really excited about it. Anyone who spends any time in the Chapel Hill or Carrboro area understands that the music scene is really great. People are very receptive to musicians. It’s a great place to play. I think it’s an intelligent community and an enthusiastic community.
So it’s always been kind of a dream of mine to bring the music skills that were cultivated in Chapel Hill back to Chapel Hill, to be able to play there. I know the guys are excited as well because of our experience in Chapel Hill most recently. It was really fantastic, so we are extremely excited.
Dive: What’s bringing you to Carrboro, to Open Eye Cafe, specifically?
AS: Open Eye Cafe is just kind of an icon of Carrboro, and we were able to set something up. As we developed our tour schedule, we really liked a more intimate setting.
We’ll be able to communicate with our crowd and talk to the crowd. That really is always what we strive for — from our larger shows where we have hundreds of people to shows where we have a dozen people.
We always try to make sure that we’re communicating with the audience and making them feel at home.
*Dive: *You released your first full-length last year, Candor. Where did you get the name?
*AS: *Candor means having a quality of forthrightness, honesty, and that was something that really described the mind set with which we wrote a lot of our music.
We thought it was an apt reflection of who we are as a band and what we strive to do — to be forthright, to be honest.
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