Live Music with 9DayTrip

9daytrip’s own recipe of soulful blues, homegrown Carolina country and rock-n-roll roots mixed with psychedelic jam presents an Americana sound all their own. Songwriters, singers, multi-instrumentalists Shelby Stover and Chad Butler formed a childhood friendship that creates a creative musical bond that can be heard throughout their incomparable entangled harmonies and sounds.  Bassist, guitarist, percussionist Terry Moore’s lead bass style brings unique melodic support to solidify their harmonic and rhythmic style. Antonio ‘Aminal’ Brown’s intricate beats brings an overall rhythmic quality to the group and is an integral player in overlapping genres throughout the listeners audio experience. Classically trained multi-talented violist, pianist, guitarist and vocalist Emanuel Wynter generates a fierce energy and anomaly of familiar but enigmatic sounds to the band’s realm. As a whole, the band’s diverse backgrounds and musical influences create an energized atmosphere that electrifies the air and tickles the bones of an often atypical audience. “I love how every show is its own entity that forms a genuine community vibe and before you know it…it’s over,” says Stover.

Harmonizing to tunes such as, Billy Joel’s ‘The Longest Time,” on the elementary school bus in southern Rowan County, NC was the beginning of Stover and Butler’s alluring and oscillating melodies. Stover recalls, “singing together and playing percussion to the back of the bus seat.”  Butler received his first guitar at the age of eight years old. “My dad played guitar and sang, and my mother played the piano and sang. They sounded amazing together. Mom taught me the beauty of harmony and dad showed me everything he knew about guitar.”  Music as their most common ground, Stover and Butler went through many of their years growing together, playing together, writing together and eventually melting their musical paths while playing duos shows into their young adulthood. In 2013, Butler was asked by some old band mates from the 90’s, including well versed guitarist Terry Moore, if he would be interested in jamming together. Knowing Stover as a talented singer/songwriter, Butler quickly enticed him into the ring.   With crazy work schedules and necessary family demands, the newly formed jam band, lost their drummer and eventually their bassist. As an important gig approached, Moore reluctantly rose to the occasion. Butler speaking on Moore, originally also a guitarist for the band and his transition to bass, “[Moore] was not happy at all trading the six strings for a four string, but he stepped up and found that he actually liked having his own sonic space to shine in.  Before we knew it he was selling off his guitars and amps for bass gear.”  

Coming across soulful and technical, yet unrefined drummer ‘Aminal’ Brown with his deep pocket groove was exactly the beats that their sound had been longing to feel. Brown invited his friend Emanuel Wynter, then described as “probably the best violist [you] will ever hear,”  to a show in Mooresville NC to listen. “Wynter set up and finished the show with us” and quickly became a part of the innovative team.  These five gentlemen have formed an instrumental union that is not only powerful and evolving, but beautifully delicate and can stir emotions.  Since performing their first public show in late 2015, they have perfected the beauty and prowess of the late night American bar scene. With over 250 shows in music halls and festivals across five states, they remain hungry for growth as artists and a longing for bridging with a larger fan base.  

9daytrip incorporates talented musical enthusiasts who strive to gratify and thrill their listeners.  In 2016 they recorded an EP, “Two Sides to Every Tale,” recorded with Rob Tavaglione at Catalyst Recording and were then nominated for Best Americana Group by the Carolina Music Awards.They released a new single titled, “9daytrip” in 2017, winning Best Americana Group of the Year Award.  Working with Tavaglione at Catalyst in 2018 resulted in the release their first LP, “Into the Great Unknown,” and yet another nomination. The band released, Truth and Other Folklore July 2020. This album being their best work to date, and is a great addition to their already ample catalog of ingenious work.  Although they enjoy the studio, 9daytrip live performances are exhilarating to both the audience and the band. Their novel story line songs have a way of intimately captivating to the listener in ways that are both personal and endearing.