The Stews

The Stews play the Neighborhood Theatre on Saturday, November 14, with The Back Alley Doors opening. It's a rock bill in the heart of Charlotte, and the headliners are coming off their first new release in two years.

That new record is Used To, which came out October 2 via No Coincidence Records. They tracked it at Real To Reel Studios in Atlanta with Will Turpin of Collective Soul producing, so it's fresh out of the studio and likely to take up a good chunk of the set. If you've followed them, you'll recognize the sound from their previous work: What Was in April 2022 and 2024's Chicken Fight, an eleven-track record they describe as drawing on the sonic palettes of The Allman Brothers, Audioslave, Pink Floyd, and Kings of Leon. That mix of Southern rock, heavy riffs, and psychedelic space gives you a pretty clear idea of where they sit.

There's a bit of a story behind the band, too. The Stews formed at Auburn University out of impromptu basement jam sessions in the fall of 2020. They eventually left school to keep up with the demand for their live, high-energy rock shows, rebuilding themselves as an Atlanta-based act determined to shake the 'college band' label. The four-piece consists of Preston Hall on lead vocals and guitar, Blake Dobbs on guitar, Bennett Baugus on bass, and Wyatt Griffith on drums. They burst onto the southeastern rock scene in 2021 with their self-titled EP, recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama; its single 'Make It Out' has since eclipsed six million Spotify streams, earned nationwide radio play, and landed in Netflix's Outer Banks.

Doors open at 7 PM and the show starts at 8 PM at the Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E 36th St, Charlotte, NC 28205.