Blind Pilot at the Raccoon Motel -- July 23.
Tuesday, July 23, 7 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
With AllMusic.com calling the musicians' album We Are the Tide a "near faultless" work that set "a new benchmark in the Oregon/Washington folk-pop revival," the indie-folk and -pop musicians of Blind Pilot headline a July 23 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the ensemble also praised by NPR as a group that "makes wistful late-summer music – songs of reflection and connection, carried out in a subtle swirl of strings, horns, pianos and voices."
Based in Portland, Oregon, Blind Pilot was originally the duo of Israel Nebeker (vocals and guitar) and Ryan Dobrowski (drums and percussion). In 2008, Blind Pilot released their debut album 3 Rounds & a Sound on Expunged Records "Go On, Say It" was chosen to be an iTunes Single of the Week for July 7 that year, and for the week of July 26, the record reached number 13 on the Billboard Top Digital Albums chart, with AllMusic also awarding the recording three-and-a-half stars. In support of 3 Rounds & a Sound, the musicians completed a bicycle tour in 2008, biking from Bellingham, Washington, to San Diego, California, carrying their instruments on custom bicycle trailers they fashioned themselves. They made more than two dozen stops along the way, including in Port Townsend, Seattle, Olympia, Portland, Corvallis, Eugene, Coos Bay, Arcata, and Santa Cruz. Touring for their debut album continued in 2009, and that February, Blind Pilot made their network television debut on Last Call with Carson Daly, also going on to play Lollapalooza in Chicago and Outside Lands in San Francisco.
Before the release of Blind Pilot's second album, 2011's We Are the Tide, four multi-instrumentalists and singers would join the ensemble: Luke Ydstie (upright bass, bass guitar, backing vocals); Kati Claborn (banjo, mountain dulcimer, ukulele, banjo ukulele, guitar, bass guitar, additional percussion, backing vocals); Dave Jorgensen (trumpet, keyboards); and Ian Krist (vibraphone, additional percussion). Their We Are the Tide would go on to debut at number 56 on the Billboard 200, number 19 on the Top Rock Albums chart, and number two on the Folk Albums chart, selling around 8,000 units in the first week. Most recently, Blind Pilot's most recent album And Then Like Lions has proven to be the ensmble's most successful to date, reaching the top 10 of Billboard's U.S. Alternatibe, Indie, and Rock charts, and making it to number two on Billboard's Folk chart.
Blind Pilot headlines their Davenport engagement on July 23 with an additional set by Angela Autumn, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $46.29, and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
