Friday 9/17
Breland at the Fine Line – TICKETS
With the arrival of his instantly iconic, Platinum-certified debut single “My Truck,” singer / songwriter / producer BRELAND emerged as a bold new force on today’s music landscape. Originally from New Jersey, BRELAND moved to Atlanta after graduating from Georgetown University, kicking off his songwriting career by scoring cuts with artists like YK Osiris and Ann Marie.
Soon after releasing “My Truck” in late 2019, he saw the wildly catchy hybrid of Hip-Hop and Country hit #1 on Spotify’s Global Viral 50, with a remix featuring Country-hitmaker Sam Hunt landing on best-of-the-year lists from leading outlets like NPR and The New York Times. The song’s breakout success also paved the way for his signing to Bad Realm Records / Atlantic Records, and led to collaborations with heavy-hitters from the Country, Pop, and Hip-Hop worlds (including Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts, Nelly, Blanco Brown, Lauren Alaina, Chase Rice, and Keith Urban).
BRELAND’s early-2021 single “Cross Country” further reveals his passion for transcending boundaries and continues his mission of breaking down genre barriers and redefining the possibilities of Country music. Now at work on the follow-up to his 2020 self-titled debut EP, the Nashville-based artist made his national TV debut with “Cross Country” on The Kelly Clarkson Show, where she surprised him with a Platinum plaque for “My Truck”. He has also been praised by Rolling Stone as “1,000 percent the whole package,” featured on Billboard’s “Emerging Artists Spotlight,” and earned acclaim from major press outlets like Genius, Paper, and USA TODAY.
Selwyn Birchwood at the Uptown VFW – TICKETS
Birchwood Latest release is his third Alligator album, LIVING IN A BURNING HOUSE (released on January 29). Whipsmart songwriter,electrifying guitarist and lap steel player and commanding vocalist Birchwoodis one of the blues’ brightest young stars. His third album amazes with potent rhythms, startlingly fresh lyrics and jaw-dropping musicianship. No other band on the current blues scene is built quite like Birchwood’s. In addition to Selwyn’s searing guitar and lap steel playing, the other featured instrument is Regi Oliver’sdriving baritone sax. The group is rounded out by bass, drums and, for the first time, keyboards.
Birchwood Calls his original music “electric swamp funkin’ blues,” defined by raw and soulful musicianship played with fire-and-brimstone fervor. Produced by Grammy winner Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy,Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Susan Tedeschi), LIVING IN A BURNING HOUSE is a master class in distinctive, contemporary roots music and positively brimming with immediately catchy lyrics, undeniable grooves and some of the most exhilarating guitar playing in any genre.
Since The 2014 release of his Alligator Records debut, Don’t Call No Ambulance,Birchwood’s meteoric rise from playing small Florida clubs to headlining international festival stages is nothing short of phenomenal. The album received the Blues Music Award and Living Blues Critics’ Award for BestDebut Album Of 2014, and Birchwood won the 2015 Blues Blast Rising StarAward. Rave reviews ran in publications from Rolling Stone to TheWall Street Journal, from The Chicago Tribune to The SanFrancisco Chronicle. He followed in 2016 with Pick Your Poison. DownBeatsaid, “There’s a deep-seated power about Birchwood’s singing and six string/lap steel guitar work…and there’s an unmistakable emotion and honesty linking him to forebears like Muddy Waters. Thoughtful, persuasive and rugged.”
Saturday 9/18
Mdou Moctar at the Cedar – TICKETS
Mdou’s home is Agadez, a desert village in rural Niger. Inspired By traditional Tuareg melodies and YouTube videos of Eddie Van Halen’s six string techniques, he mastered the guitar and created his own burning style. Aborn charismatic, Mdou went on to tell his story as an aspiring artist by writing, producing, and starring in the first Tuareg language film: a remake of PurpleRain called Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai – which translates to “RainThe Color Of Blue With A Little Red In It” – winning the approval of his family and his community. The word and the sound travelled across West Africa via mobile phone data cards, a popular form of local music distribution. GruelingDIY world tours and albums on the independent US label Sahel Sounds followed, including 2019’s landmark Ilana: The Creator, whichearned Mdou an ecstatic international audience.
With Afrique Victime, the oft-hailed “Jimi Hendrix of the Sahara” rips a new hole in the sky – boldly reforging contemporary Saharan Music and “rock music” by melding guitar pyrotechnics, full-blast noise, and field recordings with poetic meditations on love, religion, women’s rights,inequality, and Western Africa’s exploitation at the hands of colonial powers.It is the result of the combined efforts of Mdou,Ahmoudou Madassane, Souleymane Ibrahim and Mikey Coltun. His crucial collaborator is Ahmoudou, who’s been his rhythm guitarist since 2008. Their two guitars are an alchemical combination. The band’s youngest member is prodigal drummer Souleymane, whose playing on this album ferociously sets a new standard for the “rock” drum set. Producer and bassist Mikey flies 20 hours fromBrooklyn, NYC, then takes a 28-hour bus ride to reach Agadez so the band can practice and record. Coltun recorded and produced AfriqueVictime around the band’s travels in 2019 – working in studios, apartments, hotel rooms, venue backstages, and in field recordings in Niger.
After a year and a half of inactivity, the band is more excited than ever to be embarking on lengthy North American and European tours this Fall through next Spring.You can catch a glimpse of the band’s famously electric live set via this livedstreamed concert Mdou Moctar – Live in Niamey, Niger
