Ben Nichols and Tim Barry

BEN NICHOLS (Lucero) and TIM BARRY LIVE at the Grog Shop!

Saturday, August 2

Doors 7:30 PM | Show 8:30 PM

All Ages

$25 advance / $28 day of show + $3 at the door if under 21

BEN NICHOLS

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Ben Nichols is the frontman for the Memphis alt-country band Lucero. Lucero formed in the late 90s and the band has released a half-dozen or so albums since 2001, each drawing praise for the group's gritty, rootsy, and almost punk approach to country-rock and for Nichols' smoky, emotional vocal style. During breaks from Lucero, Nichols began recording more acoustic-based material, and an EP featuring a stripped-down trio of Nichols on acoustic guitar, Rick Steff (Cat Power) on accordion and piano, and Todd Beene (Glossary) on pedal steel and electric guitar appeared under Nichols' name in 2009 from Liberty. Its seven songs are all based on characters and situations drawn from Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian.

TIM BARRY

And so begins Ain't Much For Talking, the opening salvo on Tim Barry's latest album, Spring Hill. In a fashion that can only be called perfectly Tim Barry, the line carries with it some rather immense weight and rather eloquently and succinctly sets the table for what's in store, both on the remainder of the song and on the album as a whole. If you're expecting a baker's dozen tales of introspection and honest reflection and occasional pointed-tongued humor and a handful of lines that'll punch you right square in the solar plexus, you've come to the right place.

It's been just about three years since Barry's last studio album, The Roads To Richmond, a span that pretty nearly matches the longest break between albums in a solo career that's now closer to the end of its second decade than it is to its start. And while it's fair to say that the years since The Roads To Richmond have seen the world-at-large continue to unravel in ways that are as varied as they are tumultuous, much of that turmoil is absent from Spring Hill. Instead, what follows, both on the remainder of Ain't Much For Talking and on Spring Hill as a whole, is a real and thorough examination of where Tim's been, a little of where he's headed, and perhaps most importantly, where all of the many hard-earned miles on the above-mentioned tires have brought him to right now.

+ $3 AT DOOR IF UNDER 21