Sunny Sweeney at the Codfish Hollow Barn -- July 15.
Saturday, July 15, 8 p.m.
Codfish Hollow Barn, 5013 288th Avenue, Maquoketa IA
Touring in support of her fifth studio album Married Alone, a work that inspired PopMatters to say that its artist "has taken a bold step forward by revealing her vulnerabilities without oversimplifying the complications that happen when one takes chances," singer/songwriter Sunny Sweeney headlines a July 15 concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, her latest inspiring Holler Country to rave, "Sunny Sweeney has always been cool, but she’s never been this cool before."
Born in Houston, Texas, in 1976, Sweeney graduated from Southwest Texas State University before releasing her debut album Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame in 2006. The album made its way to the Texas Music Chart and produced three regional singles in the songs “If I Could,” “Ten Years Pass,” and “East Texas Pines.” After gaining a following on the Texas club circuit, Sweeney signed to the independent Big Machine Records label and toured throughout Europe in 2007, and two years later, the singer/songwriter was signed as the first artist to Republic Nashville, a newly founded joint venture between Big Machine and Universal Republic Records. Her first single for the label, “From a Table Away,” was released in 2010 and became Sweeney's first charting single when it debuted at number 58 on U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs for the week of June 26. In March of 2011, the song entered the chart's Top 10.
Republic Nashville released Sweeney's second studio album Concrete that August, with the singles “Staying's Worse Than Leaving” and “Drink Myself Single” scoring as Top 40 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. After parting ways with Big Machine in 2012, Sweeney signed a recording contract with the Thirty Tigers record label the following year, and released her label-debut single “Bad Girl Phase” in the summer of 2014. Through the fan-sponsored PledgeMusic program, Sweeney issued her third studio record Provoked in 2014, with the critically acclaimed Trophy released three years later. According to Sounds Like Nashville, “There are quite a few cuts on Trophy that have that fun and spicy side to the singer, such as the quite-outspoken title cut – a track that one gets the feeling that Loretta Lynn could have pulled off quite easily circa 1972.” The recording eventually reached number 24 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart and number 20 on its Top Folk Albums chart, and among its hist singles was 2017's "Better Bad Idea". In 2020, Sweeney's first live album was issued on the Thirty Tigers label titled Recorded Live at the Machine Shop Recording Studio, and was followed last year by the critical smash Married Alone.
Sydney Sweeney performs her headlining engagement in Maquoketa on July 15 with an additional set by Lauren Morrow, admission to the 8 p.m. concert event is $30-35, and more information and tickets are available by visiting CodfishHollowBarnstormers.com.
