Event

Shelby Earl + Rainwater

Doors 730 Show 8 All Ages

With music described as gritty and soulful, raucous and beautiful, Seattle singer-songwriter Shelby Earl was named by NPR/LA Times music critic Ann Powers as her "new favorite songwriter" (see below for full letter), and her solo debut album, Burn the Boats (produced by John Roderick of the Long Winters, out on Local 638 Records) was named the "#1 Outstanding 2011 Album You Might Have Missed" by Amazon.com. She has since garnered praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, NPR, KEXP, No Depression, American Songwriter and many more. Earls sophomore album Swift Arrows (produced by Damien Jurado), was released in late-2013 to further critical acclaim, and in the words of Benjamin Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie/Postal Service) it proves [Shelby] has the most heartbreakingly beautiful voice in Seattle. Earl's 3rd full-length studio album will be out March 10, 2017.

A document of a cross-country move from New York City to the Pacific Northwest, these songs embody the ramshackle amble of the long drive itself. Full of radiant guitars, shuffling drumwork, and wide spaces, they glide like American roadside. As hushed and quietly beautiful as their debut, the serene atmosphere belies the anxieties in the lyrics. Like a diary written in the backseat, songwriter Blake Luley looks back at the places in the rearview and wonders about all the uncertainties waiting at his destination. Can home and happiness be carried with you, or are they forever elusive? Rainwater are hopeful, but deeply thoughtful, staring out the window. These thoughts are crystallized on lead single "Rolling Train", which clacks along like its namesake before dissolving into lingering echoes of longing.