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Armin Van Buuren at The Bluestone on Wednesday, October 10th, 2018!
*Doors open at 8PM
*Opening Artist: TBA
Tickets ON SALE: Wednesday, August 8 @ 11AM
Armin van Buuren is widely regarded as one of the world’s biggest DJs and producers within Electronic Dance Music for a whopping twenty years. His life-long dedication to Electronic Music has earned him a Grammy® nomination for ‘This Is What It Feels Like’ (feat. Trevor Guthrie) and he has been voted “#1 DJ” in the world for an unprecedented five times in the annual DJ Mag Top 100, not to mention the fifteen consecutive top 5 spots to date.
His weekly two-hour radio show, “A State of Trance” (ASOT), is broadcast weekly in more than 84 countries, drawing more than 37 million listeners every week. The ASOT brand has grown into a complete live show experience and touring concept, with stages and events all over the world. The next event series of A State Of Trance, A State Of Trance 800, is to kick off in Utrecht, the Netherlands on February 18th, 2017.
In the same month (February, 2017), Armin van Buuren is to open a brand-new radio studio in the HQ of Armada Music in Amsterdam, from which the A State Of Trance episodes are to be broadcast live.
Throughout the years, Armin has launched several ‘Armin Only’ world tours, including the ones based on (one of) his albums (‘Imagine’ in 2008, ‘Mirage’ in 2010, and ‘Intense’ in 2013). His latest world tour, ‘Armin Only Embrace’, is directly tied to the ‘Embrace’ album, his sixth and latest full-fledged artist album.
In addition, Armin is the co-founder of the Armada Music record label (together with Maykel Piron and David Lewis), which has been acclaimed internationally for releasing top-notch Electronic Music in a variety of genres.
As a performer, Armin headlines more than 150 shows a year at leading festivals and venues around the world, including Electric Daisy Carnival (Las Vegas, New York), Ultra Music Festival (Miami), Tomorrowland (Belgium); Omnia Nightclub (Las Vegas), Ushuaia (Ibiza), and numerous others.
Lastly, Armin has six full-length artist albums to his name: ‘76’ (2003), ‘Shivers’ (2005), ‘Imagine’ (2008), ‘Mirage’ (2010), ‘Intense’ (2013), and ‘Embrace’ (2015).
Jazz Arts One Night Only at The Bluestone November, 2nd 2018!
*Doors for the event will open at 5:30PM
Tickets On-Sale NOW!
One Night Only is Jazz Arts Group’s annual fundraiser. This year we will return to the Bluestone for “Blues at the Bluestone” featuring local favorite Sean Carney and Chicago Bluesman Omar Coleman.
The Jazz Arts Group of Columbus (JAG) is America’s premier not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to producing, performing and promoting jazz. Our mission is to advance and celebrate the art of jazz through performance and education. The Jazz Arts Group (JAG) divides its resources among two areas: performance and education.
JAG Performances include the Swingin’ With The CJO series at the Southern Theatre, JazZoo! At the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, a contemporary music series at the Lincoln Theater and other venues, and the PBJ & Jazz family jazz series at the Lincoln Ballroom and Topiary Park.
The Jazz Arts Group believes in the power of music to transform lives and is committed to offering lifelong-learning opportunities for individuals of all ages, interests, backgrounds and abilities. JAG achieves this with our JAG Education & Community programs and through our Jazz Academy activities.
Our Affiliate Musicians program continues to work with area musicians on professional development and performing opportunities for Columbus jazz musicians.
Ashley McBryde live at The Bluestone on November 8th, 2018 as part of her “Girl Going Nowhere Tour” performing live at The Bluestone on November 8th, 2018!
*Opening Artist: Dee White
*Doors will OPEN at 7PM
*Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 day of show
Tickets On-Sale Friday, May 25th 10AM!
Ashley McBryde Biography…
“I hear the crowd, I look around, and I can’t find one empty chair. Not bad for a girl going nowhere” sings Ashley McBryde on “Girl Goin’ Nowhere,” the seminal title track from her forthcoming LP. They’re words built from experience: over the course of her life, McBryde’s been finding her own way to fill those seats and sway those hearts since the very first time her teacher told her that her dreams of writing songs in Nashville would never see the light of day. Every time she was brought down, she persevered; trusting her timeless tone and keen, unwavering eye for the truth. It paid off. In April, Eric Church brought her on stage and called her a “whiskey-drinking badass,” confessing that he’s a massive fan. The rest of the world is quickly catching on, too.
Dubbed as one of Rolling Stone’s “Artists You Need To Know,” citing she’s “an Arkansas red-clay badass, with the swagger of Hank Jr. and the songwriting of Miranda Lambert,” McBryde fearlessly lays it all on the line, and it’s that honest all-in approach that has led to NPR critic Ann Powers to ask if McBryde could be “among the first post-Stapleton country stars?” McBryde’s album will showcase an artistic vision that will prove her to be one of the genre’s keenest working storytellers, bringing unwavering honesty back into a pop-preoccupied genre. Pulling tales from every corner of her human experience, McBryde sings with fire and fury, laughing and swigging that brown stuff along the way.
McBryde was raised in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. At three, she’d secretly pluck her father’s guitar like an upright bass, and after about the 17th time being caught, her father bought her a guitar of her own. When she was twelve, she played her parents and grandparents her very first composition. It was at Arkansas State when, while a member of the marching band, McBryde finally started sharing her voice with others, and finally moved to Nashville in 2007 where steadily worked a circuit of dive bars, biker hangouts, and colorful joints fighting to have her songs heard.
Her first EP, the self-released 2016 Jalopies and Expensive Guitars was just a taste of what McBryde can do, and, on her full-length debut, she will meld her songwriting chops with the vision of producer Jay Joyce, peppering her tales with a touch of guitar-driven rock fury. McBryde isn’t afraid to tell the truth, get raw and real and use the spirits of country, folk and rock when it serves her greater purpose. And that’s to tell the stories that shake us, make us and tell us a little more about what it’s like to be human.
Midland LIVE at The Bluestone on Saturday, November 17, 2018!
*Opening Artist: Desure
*Doors for the show will open at 7PM
*Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 day of show
Ticket On-Sale July 13th, 2018 at 10AM!
With all the chest-thumping going on in Nashville today, where bluster and swagger have replaced heart and soul, you half expect some of country music’s male stars to be sporting bruises. Which is what makes Midland, a trio of friends based in Dripping Springs, Texas, so undeniably refreshing. Made up of singer Mark Wystrach, lead guitarist Jess Carson and bass player Cameron Duddy, Midland is the embodiment of Seventies California country, all smooth Eagles harmonies and heart-on-your-sleeve lyrics. Their songs are intoxicating, sung with the twang of George Strait.
And it’s impossible to resist.
Now, after endearing themselves to fans with the hit radio single “Drinkin’ Problem” and a self-titled EP, Midland unveil their full-length debut, On the Rocks (Big Machine Records).
A collection of 13 tracks all written or co-written by Midland – the guys took their name from a Dwight Yoakam song – On the Rocks excels at setting a mood, transporting the listener to another place and time. It’s an album made for wide-open skies, endless deserts and wondering where the road is going to take you next.
“Drinkin’ Problem,” written with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, who produced the album with Dann Huff, reclaims the drinking song for classic country music, making it less about an endless party and more about self-medicating. “They call it a problem, I call it a solution / just sitting here with all my grand illusions,” sings Wystrach, evoking the best booze ballads of both Gary Stewart and Merle Haggard, two of the trio’s chief influences.
“Make a Little,” a rollicking ditty, is more optimistic, soaring with the brotherly harmonies of Wystrach, Duddy and Carson and a timely message: “There’s just not enough love in the world.” The rapid-fire lyrics embody the clever wordplay that is unique to country music – “we should make a little, generate a little / maybe even make the world a better place a little” – and also nod to Alabama, another country band that helped spark a revolution in the genre.
Midland hearken back to a time when an artist’s personal style – colorful suits, tailored denim and well-worn hats – dovetailed with the music. And they tip their hats to other groundbreaking artists throughout On the Rocks.
The kick-back and get-high ode “Altitude Adjustment” name-checks John Denver, the majestic “Nothin’ New Under the Neon” sounds like vintage Eddie Rabbit, and the glorious “At Least You Cried” channels Dwight Yoakam. By album’s end, the band 2 returns to the Eagles, recalling their famous intro to “Seven Bridges Road,” with the closing “Somewhere on the Wind.”
“On the Rocks is a confluence of our musical tastes and our reverence for classic country,” says Duddy, whose wife, photographer Harper Smith, shoots all of the group’s stylish photos.
“This record is truly a nod to the time period we are influenced by,” says Carson, a Pacific Northwest native, “and is an effort to bring that sound and that pageantry back to the forefront.”
“We write with a very visual storytelling approach. We paint that big picture and go to that place,” says Wystrach. “Where is this story going? Let’s paint it.”
“Electric Rodeo,” with its plaintive piano, sweeping strings and high-in-the-saddle chorus, is a prime example of the “picture” the band talks about creating. And “Check Cashin’ Country,” a solo composition by Carson, stands as the band’s true-life road diary: the tale of a country-rock band trying to find time to sleep as they hustle from gig to gig, barely making enough money to put gas in the tank. It’s the country equivalent of Seger’s “On the Road.”
Midland first came together at Duddy’s wedding in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the three members ended up jamming onstage at the rehearsal dinner.
“It was this serendipitous chain of events, and it was the best week ever,” says Wystrach, who, despite his hippie persona, was actually raised on an Arizona cattle ranch. “By the end, we knew the three of us had amazing chemistry.”
“Midland isn’t manufactured,” says Duddy, born in California. “We are three real friends who stumbled upon making music together.”
Whether they intended it or not, Midland are filling a void in country, with songs that run the gamut from lush Urban Cowboy anthems to loose campfire sing-alongs. Putting their own spin on a classic sound, they’re making something old relevant again.
“We are a band,” says Carson, declaratively. “That’s a big part of the spirit of what we do, that group experience and camaraderie.”
Says Wystrach, “We’ve poured our hearts and souls into writing and making these songs and are extremely proud of what we’ve been able to create.”
With On the Rocks, Midland have captured a sound decades in the making that is just right for today.
Louis The Child LIVE at The Bluestone on November 19, 2018!
*Opening Artist: NoMBe and R.LUM.R
*Doors for the show will open at 8PM
Tickets ON-SALE: Friday, August 10th @ 10:00 AM!
Ages: 18+
Sgt. Peppercorn’s Beatles Marathon is an event like no other. Experience Sgt. Peppercorn’s Lonely Hearts Club Band perform every Beatles song in chronological order.
215 songs, 1 day, 12+ hours.
For the Ninth consecutive year, Columbus musicians will play all 215 officially released Beatles songs, in a single performance. Beginning with the album, Please Please Me at 12:30 PM, and ending with Abbey Road some time after midnight, The Beatles Marathon is currently, the only single performance of every Beatles song.
Tickets On-Sale Thursday, October 25th at 12pm
PURCHASE TICKETS
The Beatles Marathon is arguably the most ambitious musical feat attempted in Columbus each year, and it has also become a beloved community event. For Peppercorn, who’s now known more for the Beatles show than for his band the Whiles, the event isn’t some excuse to play a bunch of covers and make some money. It’s an essential, sacred part of his life.
“You could find better musicians – especially with me,” Peppercorn said. “There are always at least 100 people in the Bluestone who could sing the song I am singing better than me. [But] we are the island of misfit toys, and this show is our home.” -Columbus Alive
Winter Week Out Festival
THE WERKS (TWO NIGHTS)
February 1st and February 2nd
Doors open at 6:30pm each night
PURCHASE HERE
WINTER WERK OUT MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL 2019
The Winter Werk Out returns to the beautiful Bluestone in Columbus February 1st & 2nd. feat. THE WERKS (TWO NIGHTS)EMANCIPATOREOTO (ft. Michael Travis & Jason Hann of String Cheese Incident)TROPIDELICZACH DEPUTYCONSIDER THE SOURCELITZ (Daft Punk tribute)MOM & DAD (ft. members of Dopapod)ANY COLOUR (Pink Floyd tribute)BULLS ON PARADE (Rage Against the Machine tribute)PRONTOHGHOST GARDENS X2SHATTERmany more TBA www.thewerksmusic.com
Devin Dawson will be performing LIVE at The Bluestone as part of his “Stray Off Course Tour” on
February 7th, 2019
Doors for the show will open at 7pm
Opening Artist: Jillian Jacqueline
Tickets are $15 in Advance and $20 day of show
Tickets On-Sale Friday, November 9th at 10am
PURCHASE HERE
Devin Dawson is a country singer and songwriter with a keen ear for clever turns of phrase and a knack for splitting the difference between rootsy and contemporary. A native of Orangevale, California, Dawson spent his formative years soaking in the sounds of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Alan Jackson, Marvin Gaye, and Johnny Cash. In 2012, he packed his bags and headed to Nashville, where he became ensconced in the Music City songwriting machine, penning songs for other artists. After spending a few years honing his chops, he decided to strike out on his own, and enlisted the help of producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Little Big Town, Brothers Osborne). He inked a deal with Warner Music Nashville and released his debut single, “All on Me,” which reached the Top 20 on the Hot Country Songs chart. The track was included on his 2018 full-length debut, Dark Horse, which also included collaborations with songwriters Luke Laird, Josh Kerr, Seth Ennis, and others.
Nelsonville Music Festival and Archie Fox Live are extremely excited to announce a brand new live music experience:
MELTED
Sunday, February 24th, 2019
1pm-11pm
Featuring live performances by Ty Segall & WHiTE FENCE, The Black Lips, Kikagaku Moyo / 幾何学模様, Deerhoof, Cherry Glazerr, MA HOLOS, DANA, with visuals by Hongo Gonzo Liquid Light Show, and more artists to be announced!
Earlybird tickets available now!
PURCHASE HERE
You can also purchase tickets in person (cash only) without any service fees at Lost Weekend Records, Used Kids Records, and Spoonful Records.
The Nelsonville Music Festival and local talent buyer Archie Fox Live just announced MELTED, a one-day music fest held at the Bluestone on Feb. 24, 2019, featuring national acts Ty Segall & White Fence, Black Lips, Kikagaku Moyo, Deerhoof, Cherry Glazerr, Ma Holos, Alive Band to Watch DANA and more, plus visualizations fromHongo Gonzo Liquid Light Show.
$50 tickets are onsale now at meltedmusicfest.com
CANDLEBOX live at The Bluestone on July 11th, 2019
Doors for the show will open at 7pm
This show is Ages 18+
Tickets will go on-sale Friday, March 8th at 10am
PURCHASE HERE
Candlebox is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. Since its formation in 1990, the group has released six studio albums, which have achieved multi-platinum and gold certification, as well as numerous charting singles, a compilation, and a CD+DVD.
Candlebox was the first successful act on Maverick Records, which went on to sign Alanis Morissette, Deftones and The Prodigy. They found immediate success with the release of their self-titled debut album in July 1993. It featured the band’s biggest hit songs, “Far Behind” and “You“, and was certified platinum by the RIAA four times.[5] Their next two albums, Lucy and Happy Pills, also sold well. After troubles with Maverick, Candlebox broke up in 2000 after an alleged attempt to be freed from their contract. The band reunited in 2006, and two years later, they released their fourth album Into the Sun, followed by an extensive tour. Their latest album, Disappearing in Airports was released April 22, 2016.
The band has toured or played selected shows with such bands as Living Colour, The Flaming Lips, Our Lady Peace, Rush, Henry Rollins, Aerosmith, Godsmack, Metallica, Radiohead, The Offspring, Sponge, Seaweed, Hinder, Suicidal Tendencies and Danzig.[6][7] They were also a featured band on the main-stage at Woodstock ’94 and made repeat live performances on Late Show with David Letterman.
LOCASH LIVE at The Bluestone on December 12th, 2019
Doors for the show will open at 7pm
Opening Artist: Drew Baldridge
Tickets are just $25 in advance and $30 day of show
Tickets on-sale Friday, August 23rd at 10am
PURCHASE HERE
Creating a sound that fuses modern Country and classic heartland rock with an edgy vocal blend, Wheelhouse Records’ LOCASH is the Country music duo made up of singer-songwriters Chris Lucas and Preston Brust; natives of Baltimore, Maryland, and Kokomo, Indiana, respectively. With two albums and eight charting singles to their credit, LOCASH broke out in 2015 with their gracious GOLD-certified hit, “I Love This Life,” followed by the flirtatious GOLD-certified #1 smash, “I Know Somebody” –their first trip to the top of the Country radio airplay charts –and 2017’s fun-loving romantic anthem “Ring on Every Finger.” All three singles were part of their album, THE FIGHTERS, which was released in the summer of 2016 to Top 15 success. In 2017, they earned their first round of awards show recognition, nominated at the ACM Awards for New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year, the CMT Music Awards for Duo Video of the Year (“I Know Somebody”), and the CMA Awards for Vocal Duo of the Year. The 2019 ACM Duo of the Year nominee released their latest album (and first with their new label BBR Music Group/BMG), Brotherson March 29, 2019 with their lead single, “Feels Like A Party” reaching Top 25. Their current single, “One Big Country Song,” is currently climbing the charts.
Morgan Evans live at The Bluestone on Saturday, December 14th, 2019
Doors for the show will open at 7pm
Opening Artist: Madison Kozak
Tickets for the show are just $15 in advance and $20 day of show
Tickets go on-sale Friday, June 21st at 10am
PURCHASE HERE
Morgan Evans Live at The Bluestone Dec. 14th
NEW TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED AS “DAY DRUNK” BUZZES INTO COUNTRY RADIO’S TOP 25
ON THE ROAD ALL SUMMER WITH RASCAL FLATTS; ADDITIONAL FESTIVALS ON TAP FOLLOWING BONNAROO, CMA FEST PERFORMANCES
Warner Music Nashville rising star MORGAN EVANS has announced the North American leg of his WORLD TOUR 2019, with more than a dozen dates set in the U.S. and Canada. Further expanding his international fan base, the Australia native will crisscross the globe with 26 shows in 8 countries on tap, including previously announced European and Australian dates. The career-milestone performances mark Evans’ biggest shows to-date in his home country, already selling out one of two Sydney shows, as well as Perth, Adelaide and Toowoomba.
Disco Donnie Presents and My Best Friends Party
Fright Night : Svdden Death . Must Die . Eazybaked – Saturday 10/30
**Tickets http://hive.co/l/frightnight1030 **
Featuring headliners :
https://www.facebook.com/suddendeath/
https://www.youtube.com/svddendeath
https://youtu.be/rcUB-A5k-Pc
https://soundcloud.com/mustdiemusic
https://www.youtube.com/user/MUSTDIEMUSIC
https://soundcloud.com/EAZYBAKEDBEATS
https://www.facebook.com/eazybakedbeats/
Disco Donnie Presents and My Best Friends Party
March 10 2022 The Bluestone
Subtronics The Fractal Tour : w/ Boogie T . Level Up. G-Space and Smith 3/10/22 Columbus
Tickets 
Here > hive.co/l/subtronics0310
Top of the World Tour
LAUREN ALAINA
Presented by maurices
March 25, 2022 7 PM
at The Bluestone
Columbus, Ohio
Tickets $20
Artist Biography
Lauren Alaina | Sitting Pretty on Top of the World
Ten years into her Nashville career, Lauren Alaina is in the upper echelon of country music’s most authentic voices, beloved personalities, and open hearts. She’s earned a reputation as one of the genre’s most compelling storytellers by boldly incorporating her struggles and heartache into her critically acclaimed first two albums. Lauren’s third studio collection, Sitting Pretty on Top of the World, is an artful evolution of immaculately penned, unflinching reflections of the mountains and valleys on her journey.
Sitting Pretty on Top of the World opens with the telltale sound of a needle dropping down on a record, and with that, Lauren sets the tone for some of the most captivating music of her career. Lauren was inspired to lean into the tenets of classic country music for this project and on the albums lead track, “It Was Me,” she offers a timeless country ballad filled with heartsick self-reflection. Lauren’s voice emotionally soars through the aching, introspective lyrics: “It wasn’t you I didn’t love, it was me.”
“The other person isn’t always the bad guy,” Lauren concedes. “On ‘It Was Me,’ I’m taking full ownership of being in the wrong. It was really hard to admit that I was the one at fault and to realize that I didn’t love myself enough to allow someone else to love me.” But the vulnerable “It Was Me,” co-written with Hillary Lindsey, is a song Lauren considers to be one of the best she’s ever written.
Lauren takes pride in the exposed transparency of her songwriting on this project, and though most writing sessions took place via Zoom, Lauren was crafting verses and choruses alongside the likes of award-winning songwriters including Liz Rose, Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, Emily Weisband, David Garcia, Jordan Reynolds, Ben Johnson and Kennedi Lykken. She co-wrote 14 of the album’s 15 songs, much of it inspired from recent life experiences including two impactful break-ups, the loss of her stepfather, and like much of the world, Lauren struggled with despondency as she adapted to life in the pandemic.
The album’s title track “On Top of the World” delves into the dark reality behind polished facades. Writing the song with Jordan Reynolds and Sasha Sloan after the pandemic forced her to stay home for the first time in a decade, Lauren, in a heightened emotional state, revealed how she felt enveloped in loneliness and sadness.
“I’ve been on the road and touring for 10 years and having that taken away so suddenly felt like an abrupt stop to everything I’ve been working for, and that was a really scary thing for me,” she says, “but the whole world stopped for everybody, and I needed to find new ways to connect with people.”
Lauren applies that same honest vulnerability throughout the album from the harrowing ballad “What Do You Think Of?” featuring Danish Pop Star Lukas Graham, to the pensive flow of “I’m Not Sad Anymore,” to the beautiful simplicity of “Good Ole Boy” with its scaled back production that truly allows Lauren’s vocals to shine.
“This whole thing [album] is about loving yourself and being brave and being strong,” Lauren says. “I was faced with all these trials, and I hope people feel themselves in these songs. I think we all live the same stories with different characters. And maybe people realize new beginnings can be good.”
“Getting Good,” a duet with Trisha Yearwood, is the only song Lauren didn’t write on the album. Penned by Weisband, the song is a poignant truth-telling about choosing to be happy. Drawn to the concept, Lauren says, “Life is all about perspective, and you sometimes you have to shift your perspective.”
Lauren punctuates the lovelorn with the playful yet forthright “When the Party’s Over” and with the propulsive yet nostalgic “Run.” She also teamed up with Emily Weisband and the album’s producer Paul DiGiovanni to write the lighthearted, here-for-the-fun, rebound tune, “Getting Over Him,” featuring country star Jon Pardi. Lauren rounds out the album with the beautifully hopeful “Change My Mind,” which she co-wrote with Seth Ennis and Cameron Bedell.
Then with the familiar crackle of a vinyl record nearing its end, the album comes to a close. A journey from start to finish. Lauren explores life in these unique times and Sitting Pretty on Top of the World is the salve and the soundtrack for anyone traversing their own personal quest for hope and new beginnings.
Ian Munsick
with Ryan Charles
May 13, 2022 7 PM
at The Bluestone
Columbus, Ohio
ABOUT IAN MUNSICK
Breathing fresh Rocky Mountain air into the Nashville music scene, Ian Munsick is pioneering a new brand of country. The Wyoming-born singer / songwriter’s upbringing was a mix of working the ranch and working crowds. Under the tutelage of their fiddle-playing father, Munsick and his two older brothers grew up playing everything from bluegrass to The Beatles. Incorporating elements across genres, he has now begun to establish himself as a progressive artist with an old soul. Captivated by traditional lyrical truth and the modern soundscape, Munsick followed his ear to Music City.
In 2017 he released a self-titled EP, winning iHeartRadio’s Rocky Mountain Song of the Year for the rootsy “Horses Are Faster” and becoming the only artist who simultaneously qualified two tracks as finalists in the NSAI/CMT songwriting competition. Since then, Munsick has signed a major label record deal with Warner Music Nashville, earned more than 100 million global streams and been named one of Spotify’s inaugural Hot Country Artists to Watch. His debut album Coyote Cry features his mile-high tenor underscoring self-penned songs that conjure equal parts epic adventure and down-to-earth wisdom. The record marks the dawn of western pop-laced country, pulling a thread straight from Chris LeDoux through Post Malone. Munsick hit the road in the fall alongside labelmate Cody Johnson and his own sold-out, headlining dates. He wrapped the year with his Grand Ole Opry debut and is starting 2022 strong as a MusicRow Next Big Thing artist. Fans are finding that with Ian Munsick, western country is reborn.
About Ryan Charles
Western rapper Ryan Charles hails from the valley of Buffalo, WY. Similar to his hometown, once referred to as the most lawless town in America, Charles brings a style all his own — meshing the cowboy lifestyle with flow of 2000’s rap. A natural-born entertainer, Charles quickly became one of the most skilled freestyle rappers on the school bus, eventually making the move to Seattle, WA to pursue his music career more seriously. As an artist, Charles has released a few singles, including the jiggy buckaroo bop “Gettin’ Western” in 2020 and most recently, “Old Dirt Fancy” in 2021. Known for his signature fashion sense, light hearted twang and high-energy live shows, Charles continues to work on new music in Nashville, TN.
Paul Cauthen
May 19, 2022 7 PM
at The Bluestone
Columbus, Ohio
Want to get a bead on Paul Cauthen?
Good freakin’ luck — especially on his third album, COUNTRY COMING DOWN.
Suffice to say that the singer, songwriter and proud son of Tyler, Texas — steward of a rich, resonant, bass-leaning tenor dubbed Big Velvet — covers a lot of ground and embodies a lot of characters. He’ll tell you right off the bat that he’s “Country As Fuck,” throwing down a wad of “Fuck You Money” and heading into the night to “Cut a Rug.” His “Country Clubbin'” has as much to do with swinging as his swing. But a song or two later dude’s vowing to be loving his wife “Till the Day I Die” and, in COUNTRY COMING DOWN’s title track, dreams of living in “a cabin in the country, far away from the city lights” where “life is slow and easy.”
The fact that all of that exists within the same guy, who’s full of good humor, sharp wit and a heart as big as his home state is what makes Cauthen someone who’s easy, and exciting, to spend 10 songs with.
“Y’know, you got your bangers and you got your ballads,” Cauthen acknowledges. “You got your meaningful songs where you’re opening up more of your vulnerable side, and then you’re putting on a fucking show — all in one album. And it’s all honest, I’ll tell ya that. Everything on there is something I’ve felt or thought before.”
COUNTRY COMING DOWN has been in motion awhile, actually. The title track, one of several co-writes with good Nashville pal Aaron Raitiere, has been around since before Cauthen’s dark sophomore album ROOM 41. Its sense of campfire calm and “damn near off the map” idyll set a bar, for both music and lifestyle, that Cauthen aspired to, while the rest of the new album, recorded at Modern Electric Sound Recorders in Dallas with regular collaborators Beau Bedford (Texas Gentlemen) and Jason Burt (Medicine Man Revival), shows that Cauthen was able to get there without losing any of the playful “hot dog holly golly dagnabit” good-time spirit that rolls off his tongue like a tumbleweed in the west Texas panhandle.
As he promises in “Country As Fuck,” “I ain’t gotta sell my soul. If I want it then I grab it.”
“I’m having fun,” Cauthen says. “I’ve finally figured it out. I’m more settled and comfortable. I know I’m good at making records and great at entertaining. That’s my gift more than anything, to be able to get up there and deliver these songs to people.”
That gift is part of Cauthen’s DNA, of course, from a family deeply steeped in music. Texan on both sides, his paternal grandfather went to school with Hank Williams while his maternal grandpa, who worked with Buddy Holly and the Crickets during his youth, introduced Cauthen to singing. His grandmother taught him to play piano, while his grandfather and great uncle were the song leader and preacher, respectively, of the local Christian Church of Christ.
“Yeah, I had no choice, really” Cauthen says now. “(Music) is what I call my birddog trait; You don’t have to tell a birddog to jump in the river and grab the duck and bring it back to you. And you don’t have to tell me to get up on stage and perform. That’s what I’m supposed to do. My family enjoyed watching me perform when I was a kid; I would get up in front of everybody at Christmas with my guitar and play ‘Jackson’ with my grandmother. I learned my trade, y’know?”
Cauthen pursued that trade into young adulthood, showcasing at Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos and forming the duo Sons of Fathers, whose early albums were produced by Lloyd Maines. After the group ran its course, Cauthen set off on his own in 2016, recording MY GOSPEL partly in Muscle Shoals, AL.; The album made Rolling Stone’s list of Top 40 Country Records that year. 2018’s HAVE MERCY EP began his association with Bedford and featured contributions by other members of the Texas Gentlemen, and also led to Cauthen’s Grand Ole Opry debut as a solo artist on June 22, 2018.
The critically acclaimed ROOM 41, meanwhile, chronicled and exorcised a rough period in Cauthen’s life, marked by a romantic breakup, substance abuse, depression and anxiety issues. “My growing years were like going to college,” Cauthen confesses. “I just got screwed so many times by so many different people on this whole freakin’ journey. I had this void I was trying to fill in my heart, with booze or any type of, just, abuse. I made every stupid mistake you can make in the business, and in life, in order to learn ’em all.
“I don’t feel that hurt anymore. I’ve changed.”
Marriage helped, he says. So did cleaning house and restructuring the business operation that surrounded him. That allowed Cauthen to plunge into COUNTRY COMING DOWN with a lighter heart and wicked humor — one that allowed him to find the profound meaning in a “schmoozie bougie brouhaha.”
If you want to know what that sounds like, tuck into the album’s sonic array, an austere, sinewy attack that puts Cauthen’s vocals dead center in the ride. “We’ve really unleashed Big Velvet in this situation, which I love,” he says. Nowhere is that more true than “Country As Fuck,” with a taut groove and loping gait tailor made for a 21st century honky tonk. Cauthen, Bedford and Burt play with that template throughout COUNTRY COMING DOWN, punctuating “Caught Me At a Good Time” with a sharp guitar solo, “High Heels” with a tasteful Wurlitzer break and the satiristic “Country Clubbin'” with a disco beat and chorus of female backing vocals.
But just when you buy in — and happily convert — to Cauthen’s brand of unapologetic hedonism, the soul comes out. “Till The Day I Die” smoothes his raw heart with the promise of true and lasting love, while the stock-taking “Roll On Over” takes a wistful look in his rearview mirror. And “Country Coming Down” realizes a dream of calm — although not exclusive of the next sojourn with “Champagne & a Limo.”
I’m always on a quest, sonically,” Cauthen explains. “I was wanting to go at this just serving the song, more, ‘What does this call for?’ rather than worrying about genre or sonic palette or any certain sound. I had a lot of these songs brewing for a long time, and we just let them grow on their own.”
His muse fully engaged, Cauthen is looking towards doing more of that in the future, with a few conceptual ideas up his sleeve about what he might do next. No matter what direction he takes, however, he won’t be abandoning that cabin in the hills or the “Country Clubbin'” life; Cauthen will just be adding more to the mix he’s stirred together.
“It’s just about looking at yourself in the mirror and knowing that what you’ve done to this day has been in good standing, with good morals and a good compass in life, driven the right way,” he says. “Legacy is all we have — that, and try to be a good person as well. If you get all that together, then you can do whatever the fuck you want and it’ll be alright.”
Kolby Cooper
February 9, 2023 at 8 PM
Doors Open 7 PM
The Bluestone
Columbus, Ohio
About
KOLBY COOPER
Kolby Cooper lost his childhood and found his voice.
Cooper was 14 when cancer took his dad, and he channeled that painful loss into songwriting. He was 18 with the responsibility of a wife and baby on his shoulders when he used his high school graduation money to record an EP. And now, barely old enough to buy a round for the band, Cooper is pouring his signature blend of scorching break-up anthems and gut-wrenchingly relatable songs into a new record for BBR Music Group.
Far from the typical music industry inroads, Cooper has been riding the fast track from a small Texas town driven by necessity and inspired by his fathers working-class principles.
“Losing my dad and then becoming a dad made me think, “This just can’t be a fun thing. I mean, it’s fun – but it has to be a job too,” Cooper said with candor. “I have to work my ass off. I’m not Just trying to pay rent.”
In three short years, Cooper has accomplished what has eluded seasoned Nashville insiders amassing more than 110 million Spotify streams and playing numerous, sold-out show around the country, with thousands of fans singing along to his searing, wry lyries.
Drawn to his unrestrained, fresh sound, Cooper is earning early praise for his rough-hewn velvet vocals, layered over wailing electric guitar, and a buoyant Texas bottom-end. His new record is Country with clear influences from his Lonestar State roots. ‘The result “is authentic to me,” said the humble outlier. “I m older and understanding more about myself, and the music, and what I want to say. This is exactly what I set out to sound like.
At 22, he is coming into his own as a master storyteller and an angry advocate for the heartsick as he writes each of his songs from the deeply personal “Boy from Anderson County,” an autobiographical look at how love can propel a boy into becoming a better man, to “Good For You,” a sneering, steel-guitar slice of resentment, and the dreaded “its not you, it’s me pathos of
“Excuses, which was inspired by his guitar player’s sudden breakup.
Cooper is refreshingly kind and happy for someone who can readily tap into rage and angst. He embodies and moves confidently between contradictions from the defiant to the forlorn.
“People ask me, ‘Why do you write these breakup songs? You must have a bad past with exes.” he said laughing. “Ive been dating my wife since we were seniors in high school. I write from the perspective of what I see – a lot of tough relationships in a small town that I witnessed firsthand.
Winter Werkout
February 17-18, 2023
The Bluestone
Columbus, Ohio
Grateful Shred Industries, Relix and PHILM Present
Grateful Shred
February 28, 2023 at 7 PM
Doors Open 7 PM
The Bluestone
Columbus, Ohio
buy tickets
About
Grateful Shred / Bio 2023
After a meteoric rise from obscurity to a national touring band, Los Angeles-based Grateful Shred has made the most of its time in the spotlight. The lineup, featuring Dan Horne and Austin McCutchen alongside keyboardist Adam MacDougall woke the Grateful Dead cosmos with a unique laid-back harmony driven sound. The band literally went from playing the Shakedown Street vendor area prior to Dead and Company shows to touring the United States.
The moment that sent the band’s popularity soaring is the “Busted at the Bowl” video, a YouTube video that features Shred members starting an impromptu set in the parking lot of the Hollywood Bowl before a Dead and Company show in 2017. They don’t get too far before drawing so much attention that the police shut them down. Instantly creating Shred-cred, this was a bit of good fortune that doesn’t get past McCutchen. “We’ve been dealt some pretty good cards,” he states. “It’s been cool to roll with it and push forward and continually make stuff happen. Things have gone our way. Even that video happened magically. It was put together at the last minute, and boom!”
The thing is, Grateful Shred manage to channel that elusive Dead vibe: wide-open guitar tones, effortless three-part vocal harmonies, choogling beats, and yes, plenty of tripped out, Shredded solos. The look, the sound, the atmosphere. It’s uncanny. Far from being a historical re-enactment, Grateful Shred’s laissez faire vibe infuses the band with a gentle spirit, warmth, and (dare we say it) authenticity. From their killer merch game to their eminently watchable
YouTube channel, they’re clearly having a rad time and spreading the love. Strangely enough, in a world overflowing with wax museum nostalgia and Deadly sentimentalism, we need the Shred, now more than ever.
Grateful Shred is: Austine Beede, Dan Horne, Alex Koford, Zeph Ohora, Adam MacDougall, Austin McCutchen, John Lee Shannon
