Who: Ken Pomeroy
\nWhat: performing\/supporting Flyte
\nWhere: Eulogy ~ Asheville, NC
\nWhen: October 23
\nTime: 8pm (doors @ 7pm)
\nTix: $32.51 (ticket link)
\nAges: all ages
\nWebsite: www.kenpomeroymusic.com <\/p>\n
About Ken Pomeroy
\nKen Pomeroy will break your heart. She\u2019ll do it with a single line\u2013\u2013sometimes, just one word. The pain begins as an empathetic ache. Then, as Pomeroy sings her stories, you begin to see yourself in her hurt and hope. And you realize: We\u2019re in this together.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the topics that I\u2019m writing about are heavy, and I feel like it was hard for me, growing up in modern music, to find something that touched on deep topics and wasn\u2019t just sad music,\u201d Pomeroy says. She pauses, then starts to laugh, softly and darkly, adding, \u201cBut I do write for the disturbed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pomeroy\u2019s outstretched hand to the wounded manifests as startlingly good songs. Her soprano is comforting\u2013\u2013almost sweet\u2013\u2013but perhaps most powerful delivering a devastating line. A deft guitarist, she opts for beds of rootsy strings that can soothe or haunt. But it\u2019s her writing that really shines and stings. \u201cWriting was and is the only way I can fully express an emotion and feel like I got it out,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like once I get it out into a song, I don\u2019t have to worry about it anymore. If it\u2019s a traumatic thing that happened, I kind of act as if it\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Writing as a cathartic release has culminated in Pomeroy\u2019s highly anticipated new album, Cruel Joke. The 12-track contemporary folk collection creates a wild but safe space of Pomeroy\u2019s own\u2013\u2013a space that, like 22-year-old Pomeroy herself, is brutally honest, proudly Native American, and undeniably brilliant.<\/p>\n
People have noticed. Pomeroy\u2019s \u201cWall of Death\u201d made its way onto the Twisters soundtrack, while Hulu\u2019s Reservation Dogs featured her soul-mining gem, \u201cCicadas.\u201d Tour dates with Lukas Nelson, Iron & Wine, American Aquarium, John Moreland, Kaitlin Butts, and more followed. \u201cA lot of really cool things are happening, but it hasn\u2019t set in. I haven\u2019t had time to bask in it,\u201d Pomeroy says. \u201cEven when I started playing music, I never thought, \u2018I\u2019m a musician. I chose this life.\u2019 I feel like something way above me pointed at me and said, \u2018Okay, here\u2019s your path.\u2019 And I\u2019ve just been following it kind of blindly ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raised in Moore, Oklahoma, Pomeroy is Cherokee. Her mamaw gave her the name \u13a4\u13cd\u13d7 \u13c0\u13ef \u13d3\u13b6\u13c2\u13a8 \u13a4\u13cd\u13d7\u13a6, which means \u201cLittle Wolf with Yellow Hair.\u201d Parts of childhood were incredibly hard. \u201cMy mom wasn\u2019t around\u2013\u2013my biological mom,\u201d Pomeroy says. \u201cI had my dad and stepmom, but I feel like I was always put in a position to make an adult decision when I was a kid. I had really adult-sized feelings that I didn\u2019t know how to process and get through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pomeroy started writing songs at 11 years old. She remembers why\u2013\u2013and in signature Pomeroy fashion, it\u2019s somehow disorienting and charming, all at once. \u201cI think I wanted to be a songwriter because of John Denver,\u201d she says. \u201cI heard \u2018Jet Plane\u201d when I was like 6, and I became infatuated with it. My stepmom burned a CD of just that song playing 18 times in a row, and I listened to that for years. That type of music was new to me. I didn\u2019t know you could feel a certain way listening to music. And ever since then, I\u2019ve wanted to do that for other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Cruel Joke, that\u2019s exactly what Pomeroy has done. Raw and visual, her songs dare the rest of us not to feel\u2013\u2013and offer companionship when we inevitably do. \u201cI broke you like a mirror into pieces \/ A few of me staring back in disbelief,\u201d Pomeroy sings in the first two lines of \u201cFlannel Cowboy.\u201d With tenderness, she consoles a love that\u2019s treasured but unrequited\u2013\u2013and illustrates immediately her penchant for shocking with blunt beauty. Layered over strings, \u201cCicadas\u201d offers more heartbreaking self-reflection. \u201cThat\u2019s truly a self-realization song\u2013\u2013me accepting parts of me that I wasn\u2019t super happy with at the time, but also realizing that the good parts of me, which could be the cicadas, are always there, pushing to be front and center,\u201d Pomeroy says.<\/p>\n
Pomeroy weaves patterns of self-reflection and self-realization throughout the album. \u201cCoyote,\u201d featuring fellow Oklahoma songwriting stalwart John Moreland, is a vulnerable admission that sometimes, she has herself to blame. In Native stories, a coyote can be a troubling omen\u2013\u2013and one with which Pomeroy often identifies. Rich imagery from the natural world, spanning earthbound creatures such as wolves and dogs, to astral bodies like the sun, fill Pomeroy\u2019s songs. The vignettes serve as a moving example of embracing tradition, extending it, and making it personal. \u201cGrowing up Native, there are a lot of signs and works that include animals. Most every tale includes an animal somehow,\u201d Pomeroy says. \u201cI think that was just subconsciously ingrained in me. I realized listening back to the songs: There are so many animals on this album. I am really excited that those teachings made it in there. It\u2019s special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pomeroy wrote the sweetly sad \u201cGrey Skies\u201d when she was just 13. The song is a remarkable snapshot of a young songwriter who was already formidable. Anchored by banjo and Pomeroy\u2019s supple voice, \u201cWrango\u201d is an ode to innocence and a best friend.<\/p>\n
Several tracks feature gut punches\u2013\u2013so many, it\u2019s an unmistakable hallmark of Pomeroy\u2019s writing. In the shuffling \u201cPareidolia,\u201d images of bucolic destruction build up to a wry realization: \u201cI guess a cruel joke is all we can afford.\u201d The song is a tribute to Buck Meek, one of Pomeroy\u2019s songwriting heroes. In other tracks, Pomeroy opts to lead with the blows. \u201cStranger,\u201d a standout, opens with solo acoustic guitar, and then: \u201cThe wind keeps on hitting me like my mother used to \/ Unlike her, I feel like it doesn\u2019t want to.\u201d Pomeroy delivers the lines with a dewy, fresh voice, and clear diction. Pomeroy says writing the song was hard, and that she grew from it. \u201cThere are so many ways to handle what you\u2019re dealt. If you don\u2019t handle it the \u2018right way,\u2019 you\u2019re going to fall off the edge. That really scared me and forced me to understand my emotions a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInnocent Eyes\u201d is another deeply personal reckoning with trauma, sung over sparse acoustic guitar. Pomeroy wrote the song after a smell unlocked memories she didn\u2019t know she had. \u201cI had a whole new book to read about myself, and it scared me how much your mind can hide stuff from you to protect you, especially as a kid,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Moody highlight \u201cWolf in Sheep\u2019s Clothes\u201d is a favorite of Pomeroy\u2019s. It\u2019s also a love song\u2013\u2013and, according to Pomeroy, the only technical love song she\u2019s ever written. \u201cI feel like a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothes,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m really hard on my songwriting, but in this song, I nailed exactly how I was feeling, and how to get it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the entire point for Pomeroy\u2013\u2013and why she\u2019ll keep writing. She is chasing that sublime satisfaction that only comes with capturing a moment or a feeling that otherwise is gone forever. \u201cI want people to hear my songs and think, \u2018Wow, I went through something similar, or this line reminds me of something that happened in my life. Someone else feels it, and I\u2019m not alone.\u2019\u201d Pomeroy sighs. \u201cThat\u2019s what I want: People not feeling alone.\u201d<\/p>","excerpt":"","slug":"ken-pomeroy-performing-supporting-flyte-at-eulogy","image":{"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy.jpg","id":84050,"extension":"jpg","width":1600,"height":1081,"filesize":477047,"sizes":{"medium":{"width":300,"height":203,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":9684,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-300x203.jpg"},"large":{"width":1024,"height":692,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":100143,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-1024x692.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":4189,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-150x150.jpg"},"medium_large":{"width":768,"height":519,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":56467,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-768x519.jpg"},"1536x1536":{"width":1536,"height":1038,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":222157,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-1536x1038.jpg"},"wp_review_large":{"width":320,"height":200,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":9848,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-320x200.jpg"},"wp_review_small":{"width":65,"height":65,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":1558,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-65x65.jpg"},"vce-lay-a":{"width":810,"height":547,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":63267,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-810x547.jpg"},"vce-lay-a-nosid":{"width":1140,"height":770,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":124531,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-1140x770.jpg"},"vce-lay-b":{"width":375,"height":195,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":11109,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-375x195.jpg"},"vce-lay-d":{"width":145,"height":100,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":2993,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-145x100.jpg"},"vce-fa-full":{"width":1600,"height":500,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":118393,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-1600x500.jpg"},"vce-fa-grid":{"width":380,"height":260,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":15024,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-380x260.jpg"},"sow-carousel-default":{"width":272,"height":182,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":7831,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/KenPomeroy-272x182.jpg"}}},"all_day":false,"start_date":"2025-10-23 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