Wednesday, January 17, 8 p.m.
Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel, 304 East Third Street, Davenport IA
Described by Glide magazine as “a classic folk artist that somehow manages to never remain too predictable,” the Nashville-based, alternative-country musician Rayland Baxter performs a Moeller Nights concert on January 17, playing from a repertoire that includes his most recent album Imaginary Man, praised by RedLineRoots.com for the “vibrant and lucid way in which he paints the characters of his stories.”
After a youth spent in his native Bon Aqua, Tennessee, Baxter's professional career began following a move to Creede, Colorado, where he played open-mic nights, busked for change, and eventually landed a job as a roadie with the band Moonshine Sessions, whose tour of Europe led to an extended stay in Paris. He then traveled to Israel, where Baxter immersed himself in classic albums by artists including Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Townes Van Zandt and committed himself to the art of songwriting, and by the summer of 2010, he had settled in Nashville, releasing his first EP The Miscalculation of Song a few months after his arrival.
Released in 2012 through ATO Records, Baxter's first full-length album feathers&fishHooks featured extensive instrumental work from the artist's dad, and was an immediate hit with reviewers; according to NoDepession.com, Baxter's “deeply personal songs, often featuring fierce pedal steel courtesy of his multi-instrumentalist father Bucky Baxter, puts one in mind of the dusty country songs recorded by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and even Steve Earle.” Numerous touring engagements opening for acts such as The Civil Wars and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals followed the album's success, as did the 2013 EP Ashkelon, and in 2015, Baxter released Imaginary Man – his second full-length studio album to date.
Rayland Baxter performs locally with an opening set by Jacob Thomas Jr., tickets are $15, and more information is available by visiting MoellerNights.com.
