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Rachel Kushner
July 7thKhumariyaan Welcome Party
July 7thKhumariyaan
July 8thKhumariyaan
July 9thKhumariyaan
July 10thTelmary
July 12thAlly Venable
July 15thFlor de Toloache
July 16thFlor de Toloache
July 17thAndrea Magee's She Rises
July 18thOscar Butler
July 23rdCelloquacious and Eli del Puerto
July 24thInnastate
July 26thCelloquacious & Eli del Puerto
July 27thGreen Tara Puja
July 29thArkansauce
August 1stMark Hummel
August 2ndMark Hummel
August 3rdLuke Bulla
August 7thLuke Bulla
August 9th7Horse
August 9thRaul Midón
August 13thRaul Midón
August 14thThe WesternHers
August 23rdLevi Platero | Chris Dracup :Funk of the West
August 23rdThievery Corporation
September 3rdDevon Allman's Blues Summit
September 9thTab Benoit
September 9thTab Benoit
September 10thCoco Montoya
September 19thCoco Montoya
September 20thAlasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas
September 24thAlasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas
September 25thJ2B2
September 26thJohn Moreland
September 26thSlim Cessna + Maria de Cessna
October 4thShonen Knife
October 11th"Stop Making Sense" Screening
October 12th"Stop Making Sense" Screening
October 13thHayden Pedigo
October 22ndKurbasy
November 8thKurbasy
November 9thThe Bébé La La 15-Year Anniversary Concert & Celebration
November 15thLuca Stricagnoli
November 21stRyanhood
November 29thRyanhood
November 30thJohn Paul White
Carson McHone
Add to Cal
Tickets are $21 in advance, $25 day of show (including all service charges). They are also available by phone through Hold My Ticket at 505-886-1251.
Beulah.
It's a small, complicated word with a tangle of meanings.
It's the title of John Paul White's latest album, his first in nearly a decade, a remarkably and assuredly diverse collection spanning plaintive folk balladry, swampy southern rock, lonesome campfire songs, and dark acoustic pop. Gothic and ambitious, with a rustic, lived-in sound, it's a meditation on love curdling into its opposite, on recrimination defining relationships, on hope finally filtering through doubt.
Beulah is also a White family nickname. "It's a term of endearment around our house," White explains, "like you would call someone 'Honey.' My dad used to call my little sister Beulah, and I call my daughter Beulah. It's something I've always been around."
According to White, the songs came to him unbidden—and not entirely welcome. "When these songs started popping into my head, I had been home for a while and I was perfectly happy. I wasn't looking for songs. I didn't know whether any would pop back in my head again, and I was honestly okay with that. I'm a very happy father and husband, and I love where I live. I love working with artists for a label that I think is doing good work."
Far from the grind and glamour of Nashville—where he worked for years as a working songwriter before stepping into the spotlight himself—White settled in his hometown of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, a wellspring of gritty Southern rock and soul since the 1960s. Together with Alabama Shakes keyboard player Ben Tanner and Shoals native Will Trapp, he founded and runs Single Lock Records, a local indie label that has released records by some of the Yellowhammer State's finest, including Dylan LeBlanc, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, and legendary songwriter and keyboard player Donnie Fritts. The label is based in a small ranch house a stone's throw from White's own home, which would come in handy when those songs started invading his head.
Years before Rolling Stone was praising Carson McHone's rule-breaking roots music, the Austin, Texas native played weeknights in local bars like The White Horse, keeping dancers dancing and drinkers drinking. With her 21st birthday still in the distance, McHone entertained late-night crowds bearing witness to the good times and bad decisions that fill a busy bar. It was a rare, raw education. She pumped her music full of details from an early adulthood spent in the company of the heartbroken and high-toleranced. In 2015, McHone released Goodluck Man, which earned her a cover story in the Austin Chronicle as well as the support of local icons like Ray Wylie Hubbard, who said she "writes songs like her life depends on it." Then she hit the road, touring the U.S. (and beyond). Her writing style widened and her music evolved. Dark, driving, and evocative, 2018's Carousel captures this period of remarkable growth, shining a light not only on McHone's honky-tonk roots, but on her development as a modern, alt-country storyteller.