For Jake Woodard and Dylan Harley, 2016 kicked off a tumultuous and satisfying journey — a seven-year span in which the two friends evolved from enthusiastic music fans to passionate podcasters to popular festival founders, and most recently founders of an alternative booking promotion company, which schedules shows spotlighting local and regional independent bands in two rapidly growing markets: Charlotte and Greenville, South Carolina. 

At ages 24 and 26, Woodard and Harley might seem young to be the masterminds behind the annual three-day Welcome to the Family Fest, which has become a genre-transcending celebration of the Queen City music scene each October at The Milestone.

In January, the pair drew on the expertise and experience gained in mounting the festival to begin booking other shows featuring local artists year-round. Continuity between the inclusive festival and the partners’ business direction is stressed by the name of their promoting brand: Welcome to the Family. As Woodard sees it, he and Harley’s expansion into booking is driven by a desire to lend a helping hand to the bands and music they love.

“Bands … in Charlotte have never been hungrier,” Woodard says. “They’re starting to go out on tour; they’re playing hometown shows and packing them in, but there is not much room for growth in the city. We want to change that.”

Harley, who collaborates with Woodard in hosting Welcome to the Family Fest in Charlotte, has branched out to booking shows for their promoting organization across the state line in South Carolina.

“There has been massive growth of the Greenville hardcore and heavy music scene,” Harley says. “Jake has a vast calendar of shows he’s working on, but I’m starting to dip my toes in [Greenville] so we can be developing two markets at the same time.”

“We call on each other [to book] these individual shows,” Woodard offers. “If there are any recommendations or suggestions that either one of us feels we need to make, we collaborate. But as far as the shows themselves, I take care of Charlotte and Dylan takes care of Greenville.”

A warped beginning; a welcome success

Though both Harley and Woodard grew up outside of Cleveland, Ohio, they did not meet until years later after both had relocated to the Carolinas. Woodard’s family moved to Charlotte in 2007, and at an early age he…