8:00pm $12 advance/$15 door
As singer/songwriter Dave Barnes tells it, he had a Harry Potter moment while in college. Like the poor, misunderstood boy living under the stairs with his Uncle and Aunt, Barnes also belonged to a magical tribe, but up to that point hadn't realized it. "I was thinking I was weird, or something was wrong with me. But when I found the magazine Performing Songwriter, I thought, 'you mean there's a group of people who relate to this? Who have a hard time talking when there is a melody in their head or will run off and call their voicemail so they can remember how this one lyric goes?'"
That's right, Dave, you're a wizard. Well, a songwriting wizard, anyway. So get out of that cramped room and get to Hogwarts—er, Nashville.
A few years later, Barnes graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Recording Industry Management—"I'm one of the few musicians in the world actually using my major," he laughs—and became a performing songwriter himself, relocating to Nashville to see what might happen.
At first very little was happening, with Barnes cutting his teeth in a 50-capacity room—and drawing just seven people at one point. But just a few years later, after crisscrossing the country and selling vanloads of two independent albums—Brother, Bring The Sun and Chasing Mississippi, the artist had landed songs on television and in films, and was well known to thousands who'd discovered his soulful, supple way with a melody, wrapping itself around a lyric that sneakily burrows under the skin. Those fans include Vince Gill and Amy Grant (who made guest appearances on Chasing Mississippi) and John Mayer, who said on his blog: "Go where this guy is taking you. My man's aim is true!"
Where is Barnes taking listeners? Judging by a spin of his latest, Me and You and the World, just about anywhere. The Steely Dan jazz-pop of "Someday." The Blind Boys of Alabama-style gospel of "Carry Me Through." The lighters-in-the-air sing-along chorus of "When A Heart Breaks." The crowd favorite and first single, "Until You." Or, perhaps, the delicate, cello-laced ballad of "On A Night Like This." It's all here.
In today's music market, it takes a truly unique voice to command the attention of listeners. Chicago native, Andrew Ripp, combines a voice that invokes both vulnerability and soul with a talent for undeniable hooks.
Operating independently of a label, Ripp focuses on touring and has shared the stage with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Fiction Family (Jon Foreman of Switchfoot and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek), Hanson, Dave Barnes, and Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers. Ripp and his band recently spent a month overseas performing for the U.S. troops stationed abroad in the UK, Mediterranean, and Middle East.
On his debut album Fifty Miles to Chicago, Ripp aimed to create an organic album reminiscent of those made in the 70s and by artists like Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, and Hank Williams. Musicians Pete Maloney (Dishwalla, Tonic), keyboard player Will Hollis (Eagles), and steel guitar player Eric Heywood (Ray LaMontagne) were brought in to help create a timeless record based around Ripp's rhythmic guitar playing and soulful voice. From the electricity of the full-band backed, organ-driven groove of "Get Your Smile On", to the solo acoustic guitar and vocals of "It's All Good", and the heart-wrenching rock ballad of "Dresden Wine", Ripp does just that.
Ripp co-wrote and co-produced Fifty Miles to Chicago with songwriter Randy Coleman and brought on Dan Lavery, bass player of the rock band Tonic, as producer. Funded by Andrew himself, the majority of the album was recorded in Lavery's back-house studio in Los Angeles.
"This record really portrays who I am not only as an artist but as a person," Andrew says of writing the album. "Honesty goes a long way because you can see right through it when somebody is slopping words on a page. And I feel like we took the time that was necessary to really work through every word."