Flatland Tourists ride up the mountain

The Carolina Music Awards as the 2015 Americana Band of the Year, the band Flatland Tourists is appearing at The Town Pump & Tavern in Black Mountain on Saturday, Sept. 12.

The Charlotte-based band, playing shows in support of its latest release, “Front Porch,” has opened for the national Americana act Shovels and Rope.

Its first record spent several weeks in the top 10 of the Roots Music Report-Album charts with the singles “No Work, No Pay” and “Cold Water River” on the Roots Music Report-Singles in the top 10 for 14 weeks, with “No Work, No Pay” charting as high as number two for several weeks.

The band draws from a wide variety of American roots music, incorporating styles from early country, folk, bluegrass, gospel, blues and early rock ‘n’ roll. Its live shows showcases the band’s versatility. Members switch up the instrumentation, going from acoustic, banjo-tinged bluegrass-like tunes to rowdy, electric footstompers.

One common thread evident through all their influences is the band’s connection to American roots music. It’s the music their parents and grandparents sang to them, played for them, and later, played with them. It’s evident in the band members’ musicianship, the way they blend their harmonies and even in their songwriting.

Into the hills

Who: Flatland Tourists

When: 9 p.m. Sept. 12

Where: Town Pump