The Church of The Lost Souls: Billy McLaughlin & SimpleGifts w. special guest, Nicholas David
Sunday, March 7, 2021
3:45 pm Doors/4:30 pm Show
$29 Advance/$39 At The Door
All Ages
In-person seating will follow state pandemic guidelines; patrons must be masked and practice social distancing. This performance will also be made available as a "pay what you wish" livestream here and also at BillyMcLaughlin.com.
Ticket purchases are final and non-refundable.
It’s not really a church. And you don’t have to be lost or found to attend or tune in.
But this new weekly concert series hopes to raise spirits and share the love of live music.
Performed by award-winning composer & guitarist Billy McLaughlin and his band SimpleGifts, and including a mid-concert set by special guest, vocalist Nicholas David, master of the blues and southern soul. Every show will feature an eclectic mix of originals and classic covers, capped off with a Q&A between Billy and the week’s special guest.
"As a kid, my first chance to play guitar was Sundays at my church. Problem was,
the music director kept telling us [that] the songs we really wanted to play were not allowed,” says award-winning composer & guitarist, Billy McLaughlin. “After all these years I thought it would be fun to share whatever feels right [and] that could send people into Mondays with a good feeling!"
The ‘message’ of The Church of The Lost Souls is the music, which will range from McLaughlin's new guitar and vocal compositions to favorite older work from his expansive catalog, to more universal fare that may include everything from classic artists like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bob Marley, The Beatles, Sly and the Family Stone — along with current favorites in contemporary music.
Billy McLaughlin has been changing people’s idea of what an acoustic guitar can sound like since the 1980’s. He is recognized as an innovative performer and composer who embraces the advantages of acoustic guitar amplification, unorthodox techniques and altered tunings while celebrating a gift for melody. His enormous yet fluid acoustic guitar tone has carried him around the world, to Billboard’s Top-Ten Chart and most recently through a devastating medical disorder called focal dystonia. McLaughlin has had to re-learn the guitar left-handed and is in the early stages of what might be described as ‘one of the great musical-comeback stories of all time.” His story is the subject of an award-winning documentary film called Changing Keys – Billy McLaughlin and the Mysteries of Dystonia.
“…you may swear Billy McLaughlin is two of the greatest acoustic guitarists you’ve ever heard.” — Pittsburgh Post Gazette
“… it’s amazing that such an extensive sound comes from one instrument.”
— Chicago Sun Times
Joining McLaughlin will be his signature band, SimpleGifts, featuring versatile singers Kathleen Johnson, Karen Paurus, Amy Courts, and Celtic multi-instrumentalist Laura MacKenzie.
Nicholas David is excited to bring his original music to listeners. The pull of the American South has been ever increasing in recent years, bringing this gifted pianist/singer/songwriter to the point where he can deliver, as he likes to say, “music from the heart for the heart.” David finds himself at this point in his musical journey due to two major events that led to this debut on Samantha Fish’s Wild Heart Records. David is a family man with young children who had a strong regional following in Minnesota, having released a steady output of albums and EPs over the past 15 years. He had begun to work on the songs heard on this album when he took a solo opening spot for the Devon Allman Project in 2015. David says, “We really connected on stage. Later our paths crossed after his mom and dad passed. After taking time off, he formed a bigger band and offered me the keyboard spot.”
A return to Minnesota at the turn of the 21st century prompted a more serious focus on his career. His 2004 debut, the Four Legged Light EP, was also the inaugural release of his own imprint, Wake the World, and began his prolific solo career. In 2012 David was invited to audition for NBC’s hit reality competition series, The Voice. Nicknamed by the show producers as the “Family Man,” David soon captured America’s attention with his outstanding vocal prowess and outsized personality. It’s fitting that, by the nation’s measuring stick, he nearly was crowned champion of The Voice. A Top-Three finish catapulted David from regional musician to international success. His recordings routinely charted on Top 10 lists for Billboard and iTunes, with over a million hits on Soundcloud, numbers that would take a touring band years to amass.
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