Mountainous Pride and Patriotism: Wednesday

You could take the 'N' out of Nashville, add an extra 'E', and you'd get Asheville. The road trip from Middle Tennessee is home to North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains and the alternative band, Wednesday. Forming in 2020, the group has led a rising return to country songwriting to alternative scenes through lead singer and guitarist Karly Hartzman, who started Wednesday as a solo project in 2017. The band started a new leg of tour this March for their sixth studio record, "Bleeds", which came out in September 2025. Many tracks between this record and "Rat Saw God" cover her experiences growing up in Greensboro, North Carolina. The stage first opened to Florida hardcore band Gouge Away. Lead singer Christina Michelle considers herself more of a screamer than a singer, but that doesn't stop her from captivating a crowd. The band blazed through their set with songs from their latest record, "Maybe Blue," and the title track, "Deep Sage," released in 2024. They also included their newest single, "Figurine," and implored the audience to form circle mosh pits. Joyously but forcefully, the venue's kinetic energy persisted as the headliners began. Each member of Wednesday naturally links as they play, while Hartzman guides their sonic aura with twangy, weighted vocals. 

Songs like "Wound Up Here (By Holding On)" and "Bitter Everyday" match her emotional intensity with matter-of-fact lyrics, almost guarding the band from the trance ensuing below them. Though they looked smaller than usual, listening alone would not signal the absence of guitarist MJ Lenderman. Audiences seemed drawn to Wednesday through its blend of realism and vulnerability, which combines as a need to rock out. Christina Michelle brought a bit more angst to "Phish Pepsi," joining Hartzman on vocals without rehearsals. Their smooth musicianship also shone in the uncommonly slow sections, like the breeziness of "Eldeberry Wine" and Hartzman's cries while covering Gary Stewart's "She's Acting Single (I'm Drinking Doubles)." Most of the show, especially the closing, was bolstered by stacking shorter songs into continuous rounds. The sequence of "Townies" into "Bull Believer" and "Wasp" shook the pit one more time, even soliciting sparse crowd surfs. Audience physicality is a testament to the community that Wednesday fosters in a performance, based on "creating our own pride and patriotism through dissent of the government," as Hartzman said.

- Ria Skyer

Photos Courtesy of GC Moorman (For Bell Music Magazine)