Upcoming Concerts

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS PRESENT 30th ANNIVERSARY FLOOD SHOW
In honor of the album that made them an international act, They Might Be Giants is celebrating Flood's 30th anniversary in 2020 by performing the album, in its entirety, on stages in select cities across the US. The show is "an evening with" and TMBG will play two full sets with their barnstorming live band featuring the show-stopping Curt Ramm on trumpet. How will it be presented? In sequence, in reverse sequence, alphabetical, or mixed into additional repertoire? It could be different on any given night. But, in addition to Flood, the song selection in the “evening with” show will span the band's entire career from early favorites to brand new tracks, as well as the live improvisations that have become a highlight of TMBG shows.

ABOUT FLOOD
Before Alternative Rock, when rock dinosaurs still roamed the earth, They Might Be Giants crawled out of the primordial performance art scene of the Lower East Side and on to the college rock scene with a series of breakthrough songs and best-selling albums. Vaulted into the national scene by a series of highly creative videos, the band ultimately garnered the attention of the powerhouse major-label Elektra Entertainment. Collaborating with British hit-makers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, as well as emerging indie engineers Roger Moutenot and Patrick Dillett, the band embarked on an album that would leave their lo-fi roots behind in exchange for a sonic adventure to be called Flood. Embraced by critics and audiences alike, the 19-song album would go on to go platinum and garner a clutch of timeless favorites for the band including "Birdhouse in Your Soul," "Your Racist Friend," "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "Particle Man," "Dead," and many others.

SOME MORE GOOD NEWS IN BAD TIMES FROM THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
In August, TMBG offered up a special limited edition benefit t-shirt with 100% of profits going to RAICES, a Texas legal team aiding separated families and detained minors seeking asylum in the US. Over the course of a wild month, the TMBG fan community raised $60,000. In the last days of the fundraiser, John Flansburgh accidentally auto-filled an email address meant for a Jeff on the band’s road crew with Jeff Lawson, the founder of Twilio, who had hosted the band at a company event a few years back. Jeff mentioned he was encouraged by the band’s effort to raise money to end this harrowing episode and he offered to match any funds raised by the band. This, in turn, led to a whole new wave of interest on social media, ultimately bringing the total money raised to $200,000. (Yes, the band raised $200,000 for a very good cause by selling t-shirts!)

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS PRESENT 30th ANNIVERSARY FLOOD SHOW
In honor of the album that made them an international act, They Might Be Giants is celebrating Flood's 30th anniversary in 2020 by performing the album, in its entirety, on stages in select cities across the US. The show is "an evening with" and TMBG will play two full sets with their barnstorming live band featuring the show-stopping Curt Ramm on trumpet. How will it be presented? In sequence, in reverse sequence, alphabetical, or mixed into additional repertoire? It could be different on any given night. But, in addition to Flood, the song selection in the “evening with” show will span the band's entire career from early favorites to brand new tracks, as well as the live improvisations that have become a highlight of TMBG shows.

ABOUT FLOOD
Before Alternative Rock, when rock dinosaurs still roamed the earth, They Might Be Giants crawled out of the primordial performance art scene of the Lower East Side and on to the college rock scene with a series of breakthrough songs and best-selling albums. Vaulted into the national scene by a series of highly creative videos, the band ultimately garnered the attention of the powerhouse major-label Elektra Entertainment. Collaborating with British hit-makers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, as well as emerging indie engineers Roger Moutenot and Patrick Dillett, the band embarked on an album that would leave their lo-fi roots behind in exchange for a sonic adventure to be called Flood. Embraced by critics and audiences alike, the 19-song album would go on to go platinum and garner a clutch of timeless favorites for the band including "Birdhouse in Your Soul," "Your Racist Friend," "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "Particle Man," "Dead," and many others.

SOME MORE GOOD NEWS IN BAD TIMES FROM THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
In August, TMBG offered up a special limited edition benefit t-shirt with 100% of profits going to RAICES, a Texas legal team aiding separated families and detained minors seeking asylum in the US. Over the course of a wild month, the TMBG fan community raised $60,000. In the last days of the fundraiser, John Flansburgh accidentally auto-filled an email address meant for a Jeff on the band’s road crew with Jeff Lawson, the founder of Twilio, who had hosted the band at a company event a few years back. Jeff mentioned he was encouraged by the band’s effort to raise money to end this harrowing episode and he offered to match any funds raised by the band. This, in turn, led to a whole new wave of interest on social media, ultimately bringing the total money raised to $200,000. (Yes, the band raised $200,000 for a very good cause by selling t-shirts!)

This show has been rescheduled from April 21 and August 8, 2020 - all tickets honored

David Archuleta became a star when he was just 16 years old. In 2008, more than 30 million television viewers fell in love with his angelic voice and their 44 million votes made him runner-up in Season 7 of ‘American Idol.’

Soon after, David had his first single, ‘Crush’ debut at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of its release. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the track sold 166,000 downloads that first week in the U.S. and subsequently more than 1.92 million digital copies to become double platinum. Three months later, David’s self-titled album, ‘David Archuleta,’ went gold, selling more than 750,000 copies in the U.S., and more than 900,000 copies worldwide.

With a faithful social media following (3.5 million Facebook followers, 1.3 million on Twitter and over 290K on Instagram), David has toured all over the U.S., Canada, Asia and even performed in the Middle East for the U.S. troops. In 2017, he relocated to Nashville and released his seventh album ‘Postcards In The Sky’ featuring all original songs that he had a hand in writing. David says it was an album of finding his own voice and what mattered most to him, and would begin shaping the music to come.

After a 2nd Christmas album release in 2018 with ‘Winter in the Air,’ David has started working on his 9th project for 2020. “There has been a movement with understanding oneself, going to therapy. I’ve been one of those people on that train and been discovering a lot about why I have these battles in my head, and how to separate myself from the negativity that can flood the mind a lot. I wanted to write about those battles, and I’ve been determined to show that we can win when the negativity and anxiety starts telling us we’re not good enough and can’t get through it. I’m determined to walk people through with me to prove we can be the victors of our minds, and that worrying paralyzing thoughts aren’t what define us, though I will say they can help us to become stronger by fighting forward.”

Wide Awake! is New York’s Parquet Courts’ fifth record since their formation eight years ago. It’s also their most groundbreaking. It’s an album about independence and individuality but also about collectivity and communitarianism. Love is at its center. There’s also a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that’s testament to the group’s restless spirit.

In part, this may be attributed to the fact that it’s produced by Brian Burton, better known as Danger Mouse, but it’s also simply a triumph of their songwriter’s art. The songs, written by Austin Brown and Andrew Savage are filled with their traditional punk rock passion, as well as a lyrical tenderness, but are elevated to even greater heights by the dynamic rhythmic propulsion of Max Savage (drums) and Sean Yeaton (bass).

The plan from the start was to introduce new musical ideas previously unexplored by the band. These were varied. For Brown, a few of the touchstones were Grace Jones, The Upsetters, Townes Van Zandt, Parliament and Augustus Pablo. For Savage though, the soundtrack to the sessions in Electric Lady Studios in New York and later at Sonic Ranch in Texas, was different.

“I found myself listening to a lot of ‘80s American punk,” he explains, “I’m talking about Big Boys, Minutemen, The Dicks, Flipper. Bands that were no doubt punk but don’t quite fit in. I’ve always loved the playfulness of Minutemen and Big Boys, and especially the way the latter mixed funk into their sound.”

Two early examples of what these influences meant in practise for the record arrive early. “Violence,” the album’s blistering second song, revisits the proto hip hop of “He’s Seein’ Paths” from 2013’s “Tally All The Things That You Broke” EP. Savage’s furious denunciation of the casual acceptance of violence as part of everyday life is given even greater urgency following the recent shootings in Florida and Sutherland Springs.

“Mardi Gras Beads,” on the other hand, offers a complete different, texturally ambitious standout moment. Brown has never been so vulnerable on a Parquet Courts record, and the band, for all their ferocity, has never played so movingly; it’s a prime example of Brown “writing songs I’ve been wanting to write but never had the courage.”

The band credit their producer Brian Burton with helping them carve out the essence of an idea and bringing his polish to the album.

“The ethos behind every Parquet Courts record is that there needs to be change for the better, and the best way to tackle that is to step out of one’s comfort zone,” Savage says of the unlikely pairing. “I personally liked the fact that I was writing a record that was aggressive and indebted to punk and funk, and he’s a pop producer who’s made some very polished records recently. I liked the idea that it didn’t make sense to work with him, which to me makes total sense as to why we should work with him.”

“I was expecting bringing in a producer would be a redefining element of the band, someone who would pilot us to a new place entirely,” expands Brown, “however where Brian excelled was rather to hold a mirror to the group, and help us bring out our best versions of ourselves.” Indeed it was Danger Mouse, an admirer of the Parquet Courts who originally reached out to work with them.

The record also reflects a burgeoning confidence in the band’s exploration of new ideas in a hi-fi context. For his part, Savage was determined not to make another ballad heavy record like the band’s 2016 Human Performance. “I needed an outlet for the side of me that feels emotions like joy, rage, silliness and anger,” he says. They looked to play on the duality between rage and glee like the bands Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits and Black Flag. “All those bands make me want to dance and that’s what I want people to do when they hear our record,” adds Savage.

For Brown, death and love were the biggest influences. One of the most courageous songs on the new record is “Death Will Bring Change,” a moving elegy, with a chorus not unlike the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” only this time, London’s Bach Choir were 15 twelve year olds from the upper east side being recorded at 9am on a Saturday. “Nothing scarier,” says Brown.

The songs on Parquet Courts new record also make you think of what Joe Strummer of The Clash once said, about why he wrote songs – i.e. “to expand people’s vocabularies.” So set against the likes of the elegiac “Mardi Gras Beads” is the opening track “Total Football.” Named after the eponymous theory of soccer pioneered by the Dutch that requires every player to be able to play every position on the field, it has shout-outs to iconic individualists like the painter Cy Twombly, the poet Mina and sculptor Eva Hesse.

It’s a song about “opposing the tired alpha-male-lone-wolf archetype that too many people rely on as an avatar,” Savage explains, and lauding “creative and inspiring individuals (the song also touches on KoBrA, The Beatles and The Black Panthers) that approached individuality in a way that wasn’t contrary to collectivism, and vice versa.” Much like the band themselves – four individual artists forging a brave new world of sound.

Ultimately then the message contained in Wide Awake! is complex. “In such a hateful era of culture, we stand in opposition to that — and to the nihilism used to cope with that — with ideas of passion and love,” Brown says. For Savage, it comes back to the deceptively complex goal of making people want to dance, powering the body for resistance through a combination of groove, joy, and indignation, “expressing anger constructively but without trying to accommodate anyone.”

That they’ve managed to weave such disparate themes into such a unified whole says everything about Parquet Courts’ achievement on Wide Awake!. This isn’t just another record by them, it might well be the record.

This show has been rescheduled from May 2 and Oct 3, 2020 - all tickets honored

Steve Forbert's folk-rock career has spanned four decades and counting. In June 1976, the twenty-one year old boarded a train in Meridian, Mississippi bound for New York City, then the epicenter of folk music. His combination of musicianship and authenticity demanded notice. In less than two years, he went from being a street performer and living at the YMCA to filling historic Greenwich Village clubs and signing a major label record contract with Nemperor Records.

From 1978 to 1982, Forbert released four acclaimed albums. Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild wrote that "now or then, you would be hard-pressed to find a debut effort that was simultaneously as fresh and accomplished as Alive on Arrival . . . it was like a great first novel by a young author who somehow managed to split the difference between Mark Twain and J.D. Salinger.'

Forbert's second studio release, Jackrabbit Slim went RIAA Gold Certified with its Billboard #11 hit "Romeo's Tune". Recording success vaulted Steve onto a broader musical stage, touring the U.S. and Europe many times over. Forbert even appeared opposite Cyndi Lauper in her music video for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.' His early accomplishments would be a career for most artists, but he continues to write, record, and perform to this day. His artistic pursuit has resulted in twenty studio albums and numerous live releases, compilations, and accolades. His songs have been recorded by Keith Urban, Rosanne Cash and Marty Stuart.

Any Old Time, a retrospective of the music of Meridian's Jimmie Rodgers, received a 2003 Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album. As Rodgers' music has inspired Forbert, so has Forbert's music influenced a new generation of artists.

In 2017, twenty-one artists paid tribute to Steve by recording a compilation titled: An American Troubadour: The Songs of Steve Forbert, further validating his artistic legacy. Forbert's 2018 memoir Big City Cat: My Life in Folk-Rock serves as a primer for young musicians setting out on their own journeys.

...His perspective on what life was like for a 20-something recently arrived in NYC is sharp. Forbert offers a sparkling observation about the pull of music as excellent as any I have seen,' said Entertainment Today.

Forbert's latest studio album release The Magic Tree serves as sound track to his memoir. The album rings with the verve and vitality that Forbert's fans have always come to expect. The Magic Tree underscores what revered critic the late Paul Nelson wrote about Forbert in Rolling Stone almost 40 years ago 'Nothing, nothing in this world, is going to stop Steve Forbert, and on that I'll bet anything you'd care to wager.'

Anyone who reviews Steve's catalogue of music can see the writer in the musician. His songs are as literary as they are musically vibrant. Brutally honest lyrics delivered with sensitivity create an uncommon trust with his listeners. Excelling in every decade of his career, Forbert exemplifies the best of the troubadour tradition.

This show has been rescheduled from July 22, 2020 - all tickets honored

An exhilarating blast of blues, soul and funk, Music!Music!Music! marks the recorded debut of the musical partnership between guitarist Charlie Hunter and vocalist Lucy Woodward.

The duo first performed together in February 2018, when Woodward, fresh off supporting her fourth solo album,met Hunter through their friends in Snarky Puppy at the GroundUP festival in Miami.

Woodward joined forces with Hunter as a last minute fill in on a tour he'd originally booked with another singer whose visa had been denied. Bonded by their shared love of blues, Hunter and Woodward quickly constructed a setlist of favorite songs and hit the road. Within less than a week of playing shows together, they realized that they'd hit upon something very special, indeed.

Hunter and Woodward are individually known as solo artists but have collectively toured and recorded with D'Angelo, Rod Stewart, Snarky Puppy, John Mayer, Pink Martini, Norah Jones and Celine Dion.

Music!Music!Music! features eleven radically reworked covers of songs by artists ranging from Blind Willie Johnson and Bessie Smith to Nina Simone and Terence Trent D'Arby. Soulful, spacious and deliciously in the pocket, Music!Music!Music! showcases the dazzling interplay between Hunter's funky guitar and Woodward's powerful voice, while also reflecting the spontaneity and good vibes of the duo's live performances

This show has been rescheduled from April 27 and December 6, 2020 - all tickets honored

The title of Griffin House’s upcoming release,”Rising Star,” references the first track on the album, which tells the story of a character who moves to Music City, like so many do, with a guitar and a dream. Although not intended to be auto-biographical, the listener gets the sense that this comical and fictitious tale could hardly have been woven by someone without a similar life experience to the protagonist in “Rising Star.”

Indeed, House’s story began in much the same way. He moved to Nashville in 2003, as a young man, with not much more than a guitar, and a handful of songs. He took a part-time job downtown on Broadway at Legend’s Gifts, biding his time before he caught his big break. That big break came, after just a few months, in the form of a phone call from Island Def Jam records that jumpstarted his career and led to him signing with CAA and Nettwerk Records.

After that, things happened quickly for House. His 2004 debut album “Lost and Found” was lauded by music critics such as Bill Flanagan (Executive VP MTV/VH1 Networks) who featured House on the CBS Sunday Morning show as one of the “best emerging songwriters.” House began touring, opening for acts like John Mellencamp and the Cranberries, and found himself meeting people like Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson. House seemed poised to be more of an “overnight success” rather than a ”rising star,” but that’s not exactly how things turned out. “I’ve been a “rising star” for the past 15 years” House jokes, “it’s a slow rise.”

Although House has enjoyed plenty of success as national headliner for over a decade and has earned a great deal of respect as a well-known performer and singer-songwriter, he seems to not take himself or his career in the music industry too seriously. Now married, sober, and a father, House has learned to balance his career by making his family and his sobriety his first priority.

He pays tribute to his wife and children (with) “When the Kids are Gone,” a song about watching his daughters grow up and imagining he and his wife as empty-nesters.

There’s a lightness in his new record that comes across especially in the first fews songs, such as “Mighty Good Friend,” where you can hear his kids on the recording, as well as the sense of humor in “15 Minutes of Fame.”

House acknowledges that his new album is a collaborative effort. “I teamed up with my old buddies Paul Moak and Ian Fitchuk who helped me make my very first record Lost and Found. It was so good to reunite with them and work together again. It’s amazing that these guys I started out with in the very beginning are now world class musicians and producers being nominated and winning Grammys. This album seemed to come together with a little more grace and ease than records I’ve made in the past, and I think so much of that is attributed to how good the people I got worth with on this record are, they all just happen to be really good friends too.”

Several songs on House’s album are also co-writes with friends and fellow Nashville musicians, including Brian Elmquist (The Lone Bellow) and Joy Williams (The Civil Wars).

“I usually lock myself in a room for 8 hours at a time until I have enough songs done,” House says, “But with touring part time and being a dad part time, that adds up to full time job, so I decided to call in a little help from my friends to write some of these songs. Some songs come easier than others,” says House. “I wrote Mighty Good Friend with Brian (Elmquist) and it’s a song about how I’d been fighting through writer’s block, and then there are songs like Change that I wrote with Joy (Williams). We sat on her couch one morning and I remember showing her the idea for the verse. We worked on the words for an hour or two, and then out of nowhere she sang this beautiful chorus. We broke for lunch and came back and finished it that afternoon. It was one of those songs that took years to live and only one short day to write.”

“I love making music with friends,” says House. “Hindsight was another one with my friend Brian (Elmquist). We share some similarities including our journey into sobriety together. There’s a line in the song “I’ve been thinking lately, of a boy young and on the run” that always makes me imagine Brian as a little boy with a dream, both running away from a hard past and on toward a brighter future. We’ve formed a bond and friendship through music and sobriety, and I think you can feel that in the songs we wrote together.”

Just when you think you have House’s album pegged, there seems to be a surprise around every corner. Each song is distinct in its own own way. The heavy guitar on “Hung Up On You,” a song that House says is a break up letter addressed to alcohol, gives way to the intro of “Cup of Fulfillment” which starts with a bag pipe solo and leads the listener on an epic journey that crescendos into one of the record's most moving moments.

We catch a glimpse of a much more rock n’ roll side of House than we’ve heard before from the Pink Floyd-esque “Crash and Burn” to the rowdy punk influenced “Natural Man.”

House’s new album “Rising Star” is set for release on June 28th 2019. Also set for release in 2019, is a full length film called “Rising Star,” in which House stars and co-produces with music video director and film-maker Shane Drake. The film features music from House’s new album as well as his previous catalogue and chronicles his life as a musician.

In each song she creates, Nicole Atkins reveals her incredible power to transport listeners to a much more charmed time and space. On Italian Ice, the New Jersey-bred singer/songwriter conjures the romance and danger and wild magic of a place especially close to her heart: the Jersey Shore in all its scrappy beauty. Inspired by the boardwalk’s many curiosities—the crumbling Victorian mansions, the legendary funhouse, the Asbury Park rock-and-roll scene she played a key part in reviving—Atkins transforms her neverending fascination into a wonderland of her own making.

For help in capturing the shore’s kinetic spirit, Atkins assembled a studio band whose lineup feels almost mythical. Recorded at the iconic Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, Italian Ice finds the Nashville-based artist joined by Spooner Oldham and David Hood (both members of The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who played on classic records from the likes of Aretha Franklin and Etta James), Binky Griptite of The Dap Kings, Jim Sclavunos and Dave Sherman of The Bad Seeds, and drummer McKenzie Smith (St. Vincent, Midlake). With special guests including Spoon frontman Britt Daniel, Seth Avett of The Avett Brothers, Erin Rae, and John Paul White, the album is a testament to Atkins’s uncommon talent for uniting musicians of radically different sensibilities. As Atkins explains, the abundance of collaborations on Italian Ice partly stems from a freak accident in which she stumbled into a sinkhole in a Knoxville parking lot—an incident that left her with a profound longing to fill her life with the people and experiences that bring her the most joy.

Co-produced by Atkins and Ben Tanner of Alabama Shakes, Italian Ice makes brilliant use of its A-list personnel, unfolding in a kaleidoscopic sound that Atkins likens to “an acid trip through my record collection.” At turns as opulent as symphonic pop and gritty as garage punk, the album wanders into shades of psych-rock and honky-tonk and girl-group melodrama, endlessly spotlighting the tightly honed musicianship and unbridled originality at heart of Atkins’s artistry.

This show has been rescheduled from October 24 - all tickets honored

“Bill Toms is a poet, a soul-shouter and guitar slinger with one foot in the gutter and an eye on the heavens above. And man, does he front a great rock n' soul band!” - Will Kimbrough/

While it’s hard to put a finger on any one sound that defines “American music,” the compositions of Bill Toms are as close a template as any. The Pittsburgh native, along with his band Hard Rain, delivers a sound that takes the greatest of America’s most beloved genres and melds them into a poetic representation of the best the country has to offer.

With his ninth full-length studio release, Good For My Soul (street date October 27), Toms channels a foot-stomping, wall-shaking blend of soul, blues, gospel, and rock vibes, all brought together with his lyrical specialty -- stories of everyday men and women doing their best to stay ahead while still managing to keep a dream or two in their heads.

Soaring horns, gritty licks, toe-tapping rhythms, and Toms’ own rough-hewn vocals will draw listeners in, as well as well-deserved comparisons to the greats such as Dr. John, Little Feat, Springsteen, Joe Tex, The Blasters, Otis Redding, and Rufus Thomas.

“The idea of a horn section behind my songs has been something I’ve thought about for a while,” explains Toms. “Albert King, and all the Stax artists come to mind when I think of what true rhythm and blues can do. I wanted a piece of that; creating dynamics, and drama within the song; and fostering the deep emotion that a great horn section can give. The words also needed this place-- in order to be fully interpreted as the representation of ‘my America,’ and the people who make up my small part of this world.”

Good For My Soul was recorded in February 2017 by Oscar-winning composer Rick Witkowski, who also co-produced the set with Will Kimbrough (Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider). Both artists have collaborated with Toms frequently on parts of his earlier catalog.

Toms launched his musical career in 1987 as lead guitarist of Pittsburgh’s legendary band Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers, During that period, he opened for and played with such legendary names as The Band, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Little Feat, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. While playing guitar, co-writing, and adding backup vocals for the Houserockers, Toms and the band recorded six studio albums and one live concert album. In 1995, The Houserockers released American Babylon, which was recorded and produced by Springsteen himself.

As a solo artist, Toms has opened for the likes of Buddy Guy, Levon Helm, Marshall Crenshaw, The Kennedys, Steve Forbert, and Ellis Paul. He’s plotting a string of regional east coast dates to support Good For My Soul, as well as a full European tour in 2018.

Paul Thorn has created an innovative and impressive career, pleasing crowds with his muscular brand of roots music – bluesy, rocking and thoroughly Southern American, yet also speaking universal truths.

Among those who value originality, inspiration, eccentricity and character – as well as talent that hovers somewhere on the outskirts of genius, the story of Paul Thorn is already familiar. Raised in Tupelo, Mississippi, among the same spirits (and some of the actual people) who nurtured the young Elvis generations before, Paul Thorn has rambled down back roads and jumped out of airplanes, worked for years in a furniture factory, battled four-time world champion boxer Roberto Duran on national television, signed with and been dropped by a major label, performed [on stages with Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, Sting, and John Prine among many others, and made some of the most emotionally restless yet fully accessible music of our time.

He’s also appeared on major television shows such as Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live, been the subject of numerous National Public Radio (NPR) features and charted multiple times on the Billboard Top 100 and Americana Radio Charts.

In 2018, Paul released an album titled Don’t Let the Devil Ride, which he describes as “the culmination of my whole life in music, coming back to my roots.” It marks his first time recording gospel music - featuring guests such as the Blind Boys of Alabama, the McCrary Sisters, and Preservation Hall Horns - and his creation of a body of strikingly original songs that address the foibles of human relationships without necessarily favoring the sacred over the profane.

New built to spill lineup features Melanie Radford and Teresa Esguerra.

Louis The Child is a Chicago-bred production duo comprised of Robby Hauldren and Freddy Kennett. After landing three singles on the Hot Dance/Electronic songs chart in 2017, they delivered a series of exciting releases in 2018, including collaborations with artists like Joey Purp and Quinn XCII, as well as “Better Not” ft. Wafia — a #1 hit on the US iTunes Electronic charts, featured on their EP Kids at Play. Also in 2018, Louis The Child scored the #58 spot on the first-ever Billboard Dance 100 artist rankings, then moved up to the #46 spot on the 2019 list.

This show has been rescheduled from April 20, 2020 and August 3, 2020 - All tickets honored

Crystal Bowersox, a northwest Ohio native currently calling Nashville home, has built her life around music. Crystal’s love for music developed at an early age from a need to find peace in a chaotic world. Through art and creation, Crystal was able to direct her energy and emotion, finding a way to mend a mind in turmoil. For her, music was always the most effective form of catharsis, and she would play for anyone, anywhere. In her own words, “my guitar was an appendage. I couldn’t live without it.”

Dead set on a career in music, Crystal moved to Chicago as a teenager, where she spent her days busking on subway platforms in between working odd jobs. While in the big city, she broadened her musical horizons and shared her talents with a variety of venues, ultimately auditioning for the ninth season of American Idol. Crystal’s time on the show proved to be well spent, as she immediately left the the soundstage for the recording studio. Since her introduction to the world through television, Crystal has released 3 LP’s, two EPs, several singles, and is currently developing an autobiographical, theatrical rock concert titled, "Trauma Queen". Additionally, she has used her talents to benefit several causes close to her heart, and has become an advocate and inspiration for people living with Type 1 Diabetes.

Similar to her beginnings, Crystal intends to make music that has healing power, but at this point, she sees far beyond her own troubles. Her live show is a safe space for concertgoers. Attend a Crystal Bowersox show, and you just might see a grown man cry and a child dance simultaneously. You’ll also likely get the chance to meet her personally; Crystal is typically the first one to arrive and the last one to leave the venue. Meeting with the fans and hearing their personal stories is something Crystal considers a blessing in her life.

By reliving her own painful moments in song, Crystal hopes to transcend that pain, lifting herself and her audience to a higher place. In the opening lines of “A Broken Wing” she sings, “I know there’s beauty in the burden / And even on my darkest day that sun will shine.”

Rescheduled from March 29 - All tickets honored

James McMurtry has been working with legendary Los Angeles-based producer Ross Hogarth at Santa Monica's GrooveMasters for his forthcoming album. Liner notes enthusiasts know multiple-Grammy-winning producer/engineer/mixer Hogarth from his work with Gov’t Mule, Roger Waters, The Black Crowes, Shawn Colvin, John Mellencamp, R.E.M.and Jewel, among many others. Hogarth’s wide and varied experience and taste opened up all creative doors and usual and unusual possibilities for all their classics. And no need to explain the incredible GrooveMasters Studio.

Hogarth has never allowed himself to be pigeonholed or trapped in any one musical genre as his studio work runs the gamut from the heavy metal icons Mötley Crüe to the Grammy-winning Americana favorite Keb’ Mo’ to recent releases by Van Halen, Ziggy Marley and the Sick Puppies. Exclusive and particular in its clientele, the semi-private Santa Monica recording studio where McMurtry will be recording has recently opened its doors to Laurel Canyon legends such as David Crosby, Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon, David Bromberg and more. The spiritual vibe and feel of this studio, along with the cast of characters, will most definitely bring out the best in the upcoming McMurtry record.

Other notable players on the album (in addition to his stellar band) include David Grissom (John Mellencamp) and Harmoni Kelley (Kenny Chesney). McMurtry will unleash this latest collection of poignant and timely songs on New West Records this fall! “I first became aware of James McMurtry’s formidable songwriting prowess while working at Bug Music Publishing in the ’90s,” says New West President John Allen. “He’s a true talent. All of us at New West are excited at the prospect of championing the next phase of James’ already successful and respected career.” McMurtry joins New West's singular roster of top-tier roots music all-stars including Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, John Hiatt, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Buddy Miller, Nikki Lane and dozens more.

Rescheduled from March 29 - All tickets honored

James McMurtry has been working with legendary Los Angeles-based producer Ross Hogarth at Santa Monica's GrooveMasters for his forthcoming album. Liner notes enthusiasts know multiple-Grammy-winning producer/engineer/mixer Hogarth from his work with Gov’t Mule, Roger Waters, The Black Crowes, Shawn Colvin, John Mellencamp, R.E.M.and Jewel, among many others. Hogarth’s wide and varied experience and taste opened up all creative doors and usual and unusual possibilities for all their classics. And no need to explain the incredible GrooveMasters Studio.

Hogarth has never allowed himself to be pigeonholed or trapped in any one musical genre as his studio work runs the gamut from the heavy metal icons Mötley Crüe to the Grammy-winning Americana favorite Keb’ Mo’ to recent releases by Van Halen, Ziggy Marley and the Sick Puppies. Exclusive and particular in its clientele, the semi-private Santa Monica recording studio where McMurtry will be recording has recently opened its doors to Laurel Canyon legends such as David Crosby, Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon, David Bromberg and more. The spiritual vibe and feel of this studio, along with the cast of characters, will most definitely bring out the best in the upcoming McMurtry record.

Other notable players on the album (in addition to his stellar band) include David Grissom (John Mellencamp) and Harmoni Kelley (Kenny Chesney). McMurtry will unleash this latest collection of poignant and timely songs on New West Records this fall! “I first became aware of James McMurtry’s formidable songwriting prowess while working at Bug Music Publishing in the ’90s,” says New West President John Allen. “He’s a true talent. All of us at New West are excited at the prospect of championing the next phase of James’ already successful and respected career.” McMurtry joins New West's singular roster of top-tier roots music all-stars including Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, John Hiatt, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Buddy Miller, Nikki Lane and dozens more.

This show has been rescheduled from April 18 and August 20, 2020- all tickets honored

Kim Richey
A Long Way Back: The Songs of Glimmer

"I started off that record scared to death," Kim Richey recalls of making Glimmer with producer Hugh Padgham back in 1999 in New York and London. A disastrous haircut, unfamiliar musicians, and oversized budgets didn't help matters. “It wasn’t the way I was used to making records.”

The way Richey was used to making records was with friends in a vibed-out, low-key setting. That's how she made her debut album with Richard Bennett, and it's how she made her new album, A Long Way Back... The Songs of Glimmer, with Doug Lancio. So Glimmer was different, and not just on the production side.

Then, as now, the compositions that comprise Glimmer, which was named one of the best records of the year by TIME magazine, were the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter's first collection of true confessionals. Prior to that she'd been a staff writer at Blue Water Music writing from a more arm's-length vantage point for her first two releases, 1995's Kim Richey and 1997's Bitter Sweet. But Glimmer was all her.

Revisiting that history for A Long Way Back was both emotional and edifying for her. “I was pretty broken-hearted when I wrote and recorded most of those songs and I remembered feeling that way,” she says. “At the time, I needed to really get out of my head and out of Nashville. I think that was what appealed to me so much about making a record somewhere that wasn’t home and with new people. Recording these songs again was a good way to look back and remember I made it through those times.”

The 20 years of distance between then and now provided another benefit, as well: Richey is more comfortable with her voice, both literally and metaphorically. As a result, A Long Way Back sounds like it has nothing to prove and nothing to hide. It's more spacious, but not less spirited, with Richey's voice, in particular, feeling more relaxed and rounded than on the original. Starting with “Come Around,” the 14 new renderings take their time to make their points, meandering casually around, much like their maker.

An Ohio native, Richey's passion for music was sparked early on in her great aunt's record shop where she’d scour the bins and soak it all in. She took up the guitar in high school and, while studying environmental education and sociology at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, she played in a band with Bill Lloyd. But it didn't stick... not right away.

After Kentucky, Richey worked in nature centers in Colorado and Ohio and traveled to Sweden and South America. She eventually landed in Bellingham, Washington, where she worked as a cook while her boyfriend went to grad school. Their deal was, she got to decide where they went after he graduated. One night in 1988, some old friends — Bill Lloyd and Radney Foster — rolled through town. She sold T-shirts at their gig, and they talked up Nashville. To drive the point home, Lloyd sent her a tape with Steve Earle and others on it. So taken by the songwriting, Richey and her partner loaded up their Ford F150 and headed to Music City.

In Nashville, Richey cooked at the famed Bluebird Café and gigged around town at writers’ nights. At a show one night at 12th & Porter, Mercury Records' Luke Lewis approached her. In classic Richey fashion, she didn't know who he was. Still, she went to a meeting with him and Keith Stegall, played one song, talked a lot, and got a record deal at the musical home of Billy Ray Cyrus and Shania Twain. Remembering the glory days of major labels in the '90s, Richey says, “They gave me way more than enough rope to hang myself with. I could do whatever I wanted.”

What she wanted was to work with her friend, producer Richard Bennett. So she did. For Bitter Sweet, she put Angelo Petraglia at the helm, before turning to Padgham for Glimmer. “Bitter Sweet was recorded in Nashville with my road band and friends,” Richey says. “That record was as if the kids had taken over the recording studio while the adults were away. Glimmer was more pro and less messing around having fun. The musicians were all super-talented and gave the songs a voice I never would have thought to give them. Hugh was up for trying anything and really encouraged me to add all those vocal arrangements that ended up on the record”.

For 2002's Rise, Richey took another left turn, signed to Lost Highway Records, and hired Bill Bottrell as producer. Though it was her first time writing in a studio with a band, the players' talent and Bottrell's whimsy proved to be great complements to Richey's own rule-breaking style. The resulting record was quirky, confessional, mesmerizing, and masterful. And it officially set her outside contemporary country's bounds, which was fine by Richey, whose music had always broken barriers.

A greatest hits collection dropped in 2004, buying her some time to tour, write, and make 2007's Chinese Boxes with Giles Martin in the UK, followed by 2010's Wreck Your Wheels and 2013's Thorn in My Heart, both produced by Neilson Hubbard in Nashville. The latter landed her at Yep Roc Records, where she also released 2018's Edgeland, made with producer Brad Jones in what she has described as the easiest recording process she's ever had, despite working with three different tracking bands in the studio.

Through it all, Richey has worn her heart on her lyrical sleeve, revealing herself time and again. “I started writing songs because of Joni Mitchell, probably like most women songwriters of a certain age,” Richey confesses. “I loved being able to write songs because I was really super-shy. I couldn't say things to people that I wanted to say. If I put it in a song, there was the deniability. If I ever got called on it, I could say, 'Oh, heavens no, that's just a song! I made that up.'”

Though she could fall back on plausible deniability, with Richey, what you hear is actually what you get. “I don't have a lot of character songs because I'm not that good at making things up out of thin air.” Even when it comes to the main narrator of a song like Edgeland's “Your Dear John,” Richey demurs with a laugh, “I do think that song is probably just another song about me and I'm pretending to be a barge worker.”

On A Long Way Back... The Songs of Glimmer, though, she's not pretending to be anything or anyone she's not, and neither are the songs. Richey and Lancio set out to make a guitar/vocal record, but the songs had something else in mind, and that something included drums by Lancio's legendary neighbor, Aaron “the A-Train” Smith, among other things. “Once we stopped making rules about what could and could not be on the record, the songs spoke for themselves,” Richey says. “I knew all along I wanted Dan Mitchell to play flugelhorn, and the two tracks he played on are two of my favorites. In the end, the songs decided.”

From her move to Nashville to her making this record, for Kim Richey, the songs have always decided.

Wishbone Ash celebrates a half-century of live twin-lead guitar power in 2020. Fans can look forward to enjoying repertoire from the band's vast catalog of exactly 101 unique releases with their new (28th) studio album "Coat of Arms" – 24 live albums, 43 compilations and box sets and five live DVDs, along with a DVD rockumentary (“This is Wishbone Ash”). Continually pushing their creative process, the band is taking this COVID-19 time of isolation to write their next release! "Music is the great healer and balm for us all," says Andy Powell. "It seems only appropriate, with immediate touring being postponed, for us to join together to reach for what may come in this incredible time."

https://WishboneAsh.lnk.to/CoatOfArms
The first single, “We Stand As One,” was officially released on Jan. 10. See the video at: https://youtu.be/87_t4ElxEfY.

The U.S. leg of the 50th anniversary tour completed on 13 March in Seattle, a center of the outbreak. The band felt it was important to play on, with all precautions of safety. Now their 2nd Leg of the U.S. Tour in September/October may be their next live concerts. "There will be an important time to come together in body," Powell says. "NOW is the time for us all to come together in Spirit."

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From left to right: Bob Skeat, Andy Powell, Joe Crabtree, Mark Abrahams.

Formed in October 1969 in London, England, Wishbone Ash is one of the most influential guitar bands in the history of rock. Inspired equally by British folk traditions, American jazz and R&B, the group vaulted to public and critical acclaim, touring arenas, stadiums and theaters throughout Europe and the United States. Power and melody have made the Ash a hard act to follow, while they are currently being discovered by new generations of loyal rock fans.

Through the years the band has delved into various musical genres, from folk, blues and jazz to pedal-to-the-metal rock and electronica. Whatever the style, Wishbone Ash’s signature is the distinctive twin-melodic lead guitar interplay that has influenced such bands as Thin Lizzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Iron Maiden and, more recently, Opeth.

“The blueprint and musical roots that we laid down in the early 1970s must have been really strong to have lasted this long,” says founding member Andy Powell (guitar, vocals). “Every band needs a plan and most importantly, to find THEIR own sound.”

The 50th-anniversary tour officially kicked off in October 2019 with 31 shows in the UK, followed by January and early-February dates in Europe that included a package tour with Nazareth and Uriah Heep.

True road warriors, each year Wishbone Ash logs around 30,000 road miles, roughly equivalent to circumnavigating the earth.

“The band basically lives together year-round on the road, so we have a very strong level of communication that translates in our performances and recordings,” says Powell. A key ingredient in the band's recipe for success is a devoted fan base, many who have followed Wishbone Ash from the beginning, and which often includes their children and even grandchildren. “We value our fan community above all else,” Powell says.

In 2015, Powell released his musical memoir, “Eyes Wide Open: True Tales of a Wishbone Ash Warrior,” co-written with renowned Irish music journalist Colin Harper and available in Kindle and Apple iBook formats.

“I’ve seen a lot of changes in the music business and the world in general, as you can imagine,” Powell says. On looking back over the 50 years of the band, he muses, “Like all success stories, a career like this has its downs as well as its ups, and and the true ups can only be measured in this way.”