× Down By The River: Theo Lawrence, Judy Blank, John Paul Keith, Caleb Elliott and more added

Down By The River: Theo Lawrence, Judy Blank, John Paul Keith, Caleb Elliott and more added

14-02-2019

We're extremely proud to organise the annual Down By The River festival, which is set to take place on Sunday 14th of April. Today we complete the line-up with the addition of five more artists: Theo Lawrence & The Hearts, Judy Blank, John Paul Keith, Caleb Elliott, Mercy John and Stompin' Grounds. Down By The River is a collaboration with yours truly and Poppodium Grenswerk.

Down By The River is on sale now! Get your tickets here.
Want to get in the mood? Check out the Spotify playlist or read and click through the full line-up hereunder.

How can you make something familiar sound fresh and new again? From Gentilly on the outskirts of Paris, France, Theo Lawrence might very well know how. As intimate as a whisper, as powerful as a church house cry, that band has the power to transport you in another world – one more soulful and magnificent. The tunes of Theo Lawrence & The Hearts reach out to the people on a deeper level than what you usually get. You donʼt just stumble upon those songs, they get under your skin, inside your brain, and thereʼs no labelling that. It burns with the purity of R&B, the story-telling of Country Music, the rawness of Rock & Roll. Call it what you want, they just tell it like it is, with stories that touch the hearts of ordinary people. 

To borrow a phrase from heaven's new poet laureate, Leonard Cohen, Nicole Atkins was "born with the gift of a golden voice." But somewhere along the way she misplaced it. Goodnight Rhonda Lee - the album which is out now - is the story of Nicole finding her voice, and how, in doing so, she went a little crazy.

With plenty of parlor piano, pedal steel and stacked harmonies: Cordovas mixes unpolished country-rock with woodsy warm blues and soul. Countercultural influences performed by a band that’s not interested in mimicking its source material as much as paying tribute to those influences. Their new release, That Santa Fe Channel marks the band’s label debut for ATO Records.

When you hear a Judy Blank song, you hear a worldly wisdom and a smokey voice seemingly far older than her 23 years. Hailing from Utrecht, Judy has traveled to all corners of the world to find her sound, which can loosely be described as 70s inspired Americana. Her second album Morning Sun was recorded by producer Chris Taylor (Elle King, Miranda Lambert, The Wood Brothers) in Nashville. 

Based out of Brooklyn NY, twin brothers Adam and David Moss are a musical duo unlike most others. Rich harmonies and thoughtful songs accompanied by guitar, cello, violin and banjo as only a group like The Brother Brothers can offer. Already established players and composers in a wide spectrum of genres throughout the NY musical circuit, for the last year and a half they've been traveling the world painting the world the color of their sound.

Matthew Logan Vasquez has been creating non-stop in 2018 with the release and touring of his Murder Ballads EP and producing and arranging and touring the Glorietta album (featuring a group of musical buddies: David Ramirez, Noah Gundersen, Kelsey Wilson, Nathaniel Rateliff and more) Included in this creative outpouring came his 3rd solo album, Light'n Up that will be released on February 22nd via Dine Alone/Orchard.

John Paul Keith is a veteran in the Memphis music scene, the singer, songwriter and guitar player has four critically acclaimed solo albums. His latest Heart Shaped Shadow has been released last year on Last Chance Records and has been produced by Texas guitar legend Will Sexton. Heart Shaped Shadow takes a hard driving approach, with a slight wildness that suggests a player with a few tickets in his glovebox. Memphis-style horns charge up some of the tunes, but his ultra-classic songwriting style and mind-boggling guitar work stand up to any of the gun slingers out there. The songs here reflect a man who spent some time unmoored, and feels his way back from a personal brink. And make no mistake, there are some brilliant honky tonkers that take the sting out.

On his second full length, Let It Go Easy, Mercy John has been able to write off some of his demons.  John already got praised on his songwriting skills for his debut This Ain't New York and on the follow-up he shows that writing about the deep emotions could lead into the most wonderful creations. Let It Go Easy came natural but it also changed his style a little bit. The Americana influences are still there but the general sound is more raw and gritty. You can hear this singer-songwriter has learned a lot in a short period of time

We’ve all heard the story of the preacher’s musical son before: the Stetson Stratoliner-wearing, bearded dreamer who up and moved to Nashville with nothing more than a Martin and a prayer. Caleb Elliott isn’t that. His story is something wilder. It comes from some place deeper. It’s a story the lanky, long-haired Louisianan has begun to tell on his debut album Forever to Fade. The swamp-art-rock record bridges the distance between the classically-trained sideman he was to the songwriting frontman he’s become; the 480 miles between his musical origins in Natchitoches and Lafayette to his new home in The Shoals of Alabama; and the shift between a gothic upbringing inside a cult-style religion to finding mental and artistic liberation. While riding in the backseats of tour vans with Dylan LeBlanc and Travis Meadows, and backing other artists like Lera Lynn, John Paul White, Donnie Fritts, and Sean McConnell in the studio, Caleb never stopped writing his own material. 

Stompin’ Grounds out of Roermond combine the heavy sound and shredding guitars of Blues-Rock with the virtuosity and swinging-grooves of the Gypsy-Swing in their music. This combination results in lots of energy bursting from the stage and sparking the audience in dance mode right away when these gents take the stage. So, put on your dancin’ shoes and shake it! Blend Pokey LaFarge and Triggerfinger and you have Stompin' Grounds: Bow tie, classic footwear, matching suspenders complemented by a 50s television set and you got the picture.

Related artist: Caleb Elliott back