Larry Keel and Jon Stickley bring the two-guitar duo back to Asheville Music Hall

A Virginia flatpicker and Asheville's own Jon Stickley return to the Lexington Avenue room on Saturday, Nov. 7, with last year's EP to play from.

Two chairs, two acoustic guitars, and no band to hide behind. That's the whole setup when Larry Keel and Jon Stickley take the stage at Asheville Music Hall next Saturday, Nov. 7. The venue lists a 9 p.m. show, 21 and up, and it's the kind of night where the room gets quiet enough to hear a pick hit the strings.

The duo is newer than either of its members. Keel, who comes from Lexington, Virginia, has been one of the bluegrass world's most recognizable flatpickers and gravel-voiced singers for decades. Stickley is the Asheville half, best known here as the leader of the Jon Stickley Trio. When WNCW had the pair in for a Live in Studio B session last year, Stickley said the two had been friends for about 20 years. The project started with a text from Keel suggesting duo shows, and it took about four years before they actually made it happen.

What they made, once they did, is a self-titled five-track EP that came out on Sept. 5, 2025. WNCW's write-up breaks it down: three songs with lyrics, two of them written by Keel plus a cover of "Sailor Suit," and two instrumentals written by Stickley. That split is a fair map of what a night with them sounds like. Keel's songs keep it rooted, and Stickley's tunes push out toward the jazzier, more angular playing his trio has made its name on.

Both players point to the Doc and Merle Watson and Tony Rice and Norman Blake duets as the model.

That lineage matters. The two-guitar duet is one of the oldest formats in this music, and it has deep roots in western North Carolina. Doc Watson's records with his son Merle set the template, and Tony Rice and Norman Blake took it somewhere more exploratory. Keel and Stickley aren't recreating either. The venue bills the night as a celebration of "the pure joy of playing acoustic guitar music as a duo," and that's the point: two players who know each other well, trading leads and leaving room.

Asheville Music Hall has become the duo's home base for that. They played the room in August 2025, just ahead of the EP's release, and came back in February. Keel's name turns up on Asheville bills more than almost anywhere else, and pairing him with a local guitarist in a downtown room this size, a listening crowd of a few hundred, suits the format better than a festival field would. Next Saturday is part of a short regional run that also takes them to The Flat Iron in Greensboro on Thursday, Nov. 5.

If you've only seen Keel with a full band, or Stickley with the trio's drums and fiddle, this is a different show: slower to build, more conversational, and more about the space between the notes. The EP is out now if you want to learn the tunes first.

Get there early and get close. With no bass or drums, the best seats are the ones nearest the two guitars.

Sources: Asheville Music Hall — Larry Keel & Jon Stickley (Nov 7, 2026) (ashevillemusichall.com); Asheville Music Hall — Larry Keel & Jon Stickley Duo (earlier date) (ashevillemusichall.com); Etix — Larry Keel & Jon Stickley, Asheville Music Hall (etix.com); WNCW — Live in Studio B: Larry Keel & Jon Stickley (wncw.org); Mountain Xpress — Smart Bets: Larry Keel & Jon Stickley Duo (mountainx.com); The Flat Iron — Larry Keel & Jon Stickley (flatirongso.com); Jon Stickley Trio (jonstickley.com); Larry Keel - Bandsintown (bandsintown.com); Asheville Music Hall - Bandsintown (bandsintown.com)