Deep Chatham perform “The Cursed (Medley)”

It’s easy to get a little spoiled by the busking scene in Asheville. Often it seems like there’s outstanding musical talent waiting to be seen around every corner. On this sunny day in June of 2011, I turned a corner and ran into guitarist Julian Sikes and upright bassist Jeff Loops, better known as Deep Chatham. And they were unavoidably fantastic.

In the three years since this recording, Deep Chatham has made quite a name for themselves, releasing a fantastic full-length album (Words From The Well) and touring several times around the East Coast. Along the way, they’ve picked up two key members in fiddle player Matt Heckler and pianist/accordionist Trevor Grassi, who longtime followers of Busk Break may know better as Balkan Death Grip.

On a side note, “Medley” is actually an early version of their song “The Cursed.” I’m not sure when they changed it, but it seems like they were still working some of the kinks out of the final version of the song during this performance. The final version on Words From The Well is simply fantastic, and it’s well worth buying the album just for that track.