With special guest, Lydia Luce!
Friday, May 19, 2023
7 pm Doors // 8 pm Show
$30 Advance // $38 At The Door
All Ages
Ticket Purchases are Final and Non-Refundable
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Platinum recording artist Ron Pope returns to Minneapolis to perform his expertly crafted songs about lasting love, the joys of parenthood, growth, heartache and living with gratitude.
Once a die-hard New Yorker, Pope ultimately landed in Nashville where his songwriting is a natural fit for the Americana, roots, and country communities.
His last full album, Bone Structure (March 2020), received praise from Rolling Stone, Billboard, CMT, Relix, The Tennessean, and more.
Most recently he landed in Nashville Scene’s 12 Artists to Watch in 2022 list and released his 5-song EP, It’s Gonna Be A Long Night, supported by a US tour with sold out shows in Chicago, New York City, Denver, Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Nashville and Minneapolis.
Opening the night is Nashville-based singer-songwriter & multi-instrumentalist, Lydia Luce!
After his world tour was canceled in early-2020, Ron Pope passed three hundred afternoons at his living room piano, tinkering quietly as his daughter napped. He took to being a stay-at-home dad more naturally than anyone imagined he could, feeding ducks, singing countless duets of You Are My Sunshine with his three year old, and only writing songs for the joy he derived from it. Creating without agenda was freeing for Pope; after a lifetime on the write-record-tour-repeat treadmill of a working musician, he found it liberating to make music without any concern for schedule, genre or expectations. The resulting music is rife with Pope’s trademark heartfelt lyrics and feels like the older, wiser brother of his 2008 debut, Daylight. The love that a younger Ron Pope prayed for on his ubiquitous calling-card A Drop In The Ocean comes to fruition all these years later on songs like Love Is A Thing You Do and The Good Old Days.
As you might’ve expected, many songwriters stumbled bleary-eyed out of the pandemic with a pile of tunes about desperation and hopelessness. Pope, however, found quiet solace in the warm embrace of a home life that his tireless touring schedule had never allowed him to fully experience before, and in turn, he churned out an album’s worth of delicate, expertly crafted songs about lasting love, the joys of parenthood, and living with gratitude. To some, quiet ballads are synonymous with Pope’s name. Personally, he struggled with that notion and hated to pigeonhole himself, chasing a variety of muses through the past decade, from art-rock noise to Southern soul rave-ups. With an abundance of time to reflect, Pope circled back to how his solo career began - simple, honest, lived-in lyrics and melodies that take up residence inside your brain and refuse to be evicted. To listen to these recordings as he intended, close your eyes and pretend you’re sitting right there in his living room as the piano comes to life for an audience of one. Please remember to be quiet; the baby’s asleep in the next room.
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“Pandemic notwithstanding, Pope’s road-worn voice — clearly suited to punk — is a conduit for all of us to wonder, stunned, at what happens when the struggles of our 20s morph into the stability of our 30s. With his forthcoming EP It’s Gonna Be a Long Night, Pope continues to explore how raising a good human turned him into a better one” — Nashville Scene
"It's a stew of musical ideas and stories sourced from many different points in time, but firmly held together by Pope's consistent songwriting voice. From the tale of survival in "Work" to gracing international stages, he's done a thorough job of smashing through obstacles and proving his doubters wrong.” — Rolling Stone Country
"Pope has maintained a fierce independence, so if not a household name, the reward of his effort is that he doesn't have to care what other people think or how his music is classified. Ron Pope’s music is honest, it comes from the heart, and defies any glib categorisation. Work embodies that integrity with a collection of songs based on his own experiences involving people who have featured in his life and is perfectly recorded in a few takes to tape." — No Depression
“...Pope’s ability to express the sadness and uncertainty, doubts and desires that accompany life’s challenges and transitions translates on a universal level.” — American Songwriter
“Ron Pope has been compared to the likes of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. The fiercely independent, brutally candid indie-rocker has racked up quite a few accolades over the past decade and a half, drumming up a dedicated fanbase along the way.” — Houston Press
“There are few constants in the music scene, but one certainty is the depth of introspection that Ron Pope puts into each of his songs. A keen self-awareness allows Pope to explore his inner-self, while his gift for writing lets him share his reflections in a profound way.” — Mother Church Pew
Dark River is the evocative new album from Lydia Luce, a Nashville based singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist adeptly blending spellbinding strings, warm guitar tones and dream-like piano to create a sophisticated soundtrack that expands across vintage pop, contemporary classical, psychedelic folk and indie rock.
Produced with Jordan Lehning, Dark River showcases Luce’s hypnotic vocals, which share poignant tales of loneliness, isolation and clarity of mind. Her heart-rending personal stories reflect on tumultuous relationships, risky solo travel trips and draw on the experience of surviving the Nashville March Tornado after it ripped through her home in East Nashville.
Luce grew up in a strict musical household where her mother was a professional conductor and did not present learning the violin as a choice. From six years old she excelled in numerous orchestras but knew her path was not that of a professional classical musician. Luce has since found her way back to orchestral music, leading Lockeland Strings, a community arts organization and a showcase of local artists accompanied by string quartet arrangements, alongside performances of new contemporary classical pieces from local composers.