First Avenue Club

Upcoming Events at First Avenue Club

• Chris Knight (intimate, acoustic performance) at First Avenue Club in Iowa City

  <p>Chris Knight returns to the First Avenue Club for an intimate (only 200 tickets), acoustic, seated show on Friday, October 29^th, 2021. Joe Stamm also returns as support. Doors open at 6:30pm and the show begins at 8:00pm. General Admission tickets are $25 (plus $3 service fee). GA customers will be seated with other people at their table. A Reserved Table for 4 (includes tickets) is $130. A Reserved Table for 6 (includes tickets) is $185</p><p>Tickets: <a href="https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/chris-knight/262?cs=true&cst=custom">https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/chris-knight/262?cs=true&amp;cst=custom</a></p><p>“It’s hard to know how people are gonna react,” Chris Knight says of Almost Daylight, his ninth album and first new recording in over seven years. “I’ve written songs about a lot of different things going all the way back to my first record, and some folks still think ‘somebody kills somebody’ is all I write about. Maybe that’s why I was bound and determined to get these particular songs on this album. If people like them, then we’ll be fine. But I wasn’t gonna do it any other way.”</p><p>For the past 20 years, Chris Knight has only made music his own way. He’s released eight acclaimed albums, played thousands of electrifying live shows and built generations of fervent fans from Texas honky-tonks to Manhattan rock clubs. He’s been hailed as “the last of a dying breed…a taciturn loner with an acoustic guitar and a college degree” (The New York Times) and “a storyteller in the best traditions of Mellencamp and Springsteen” (USA Today). Bottom line, he’s hard-earned his reputation as one of America’s most uncompromising and respected singer/songwriters. And now with Almost Daylight, Knight delivers the most powerful – and unexpected – music of his career.</p><p>Almost Daylight is very much a Chris Knight album, familiarly featuring vivid pictures of rural characters, desperate men and hardscrabble survivors. At the same time, it’s unlike anything Knight has done before, with formidable testaments to compassion, redemption and even straight-up love. It’s an album both tough and tender, as bare-knuckled as it is open-hearted. “I do think there’s a cohesiveness to this album,” Knight explains in his thick Kentucky rasp. “The title is key, I suppose. Through all these songs, you could find a theme about seeking shelter.”</p><p>Produced, mixed and mastered by Grammy-winner Ray Kennedy – best-known for his 30+ year creative partnership with Steve Earle as well as producing Chris’ Enough Rope (2006), Trailer II (2009) and Little Victories (2012) albums – Almost Daylight also sounds like no other Knight record, with scorching guitars by Georgia Satellites founder and two-time Knight album producer Dan Baird, rich background vocals by Chris Clark, Siobhan Kennedy and Lee Ann Womack, and deeper instrumentation than ever before. “Chris had been playing some of these songs on the road and started developing ideas before we got to the studio,” Kennedy says. “He and I talked about keeping the Appalachian factor with banjo, fiddle, harmonica and mandolin where it felt right. It was significant that Dan was involved, as he’s the man who can play guitar with the right feeling for Chris. The background vocals really brought the fire, and this led to ideas for piano, Hammond B-3, accordion and Wurlitzer electric piano. Everything evolved from the performance of each song and I let the songs dictate what they needed in order to evolve into an album.”</p><p>“I was determined not to do any acoustic songs on this album,” Chris explains. “I wanted it all to sound edgy and raw, but to feel big at the same time. We kept trying different approaches until I felt we landed on what worked. The thing is, some of my songs might take a year of writing before I even think they’re ready for recording and I fretted about every one of these. I’ve never put a cover song on any of my records before, but there are two covers on this one. And I think it all fits together pretty good.”</p><p>The album opens with “I’m William Callahan”, a defiant roar fueled by equal parts pride, memories and searing guitar. “Crooked Mile” is classic Knight, a piercing take on outsiders bound by love, while the poignant “Send It On Down” is a plaintive plea for salvation. There are tales of small-town despair (“I Won’t Look Back”), ominous rural menace (“Trouble Up Ahead”) and melancholic break-ups (“Everybody’s Lonely Now”). Chris’ cover of Johnny Cash’s “Flesh And Blood” – which originally appeared on the Dualtone 2002 tribute album Dressed In Black – is a poignant interpretation of Cash’s ode to devotion. The plainspoken positivity of “Go On” is one of Knight’s most life-affirming songs, while “The Damn Truth” is a ferociously clear-eyed look at our current cultural divide. The title track might be the most unexpected Knight song of all, an unapologetic paean to the power of love. “That’s probably my favorite song on the album,” Chris says, “because it’s closest to the truth.” He then quickly adds with a laugh, “I’m killin’ people with love now.” The album closes with yet another surprise; a joyfully raucous duet between Knight and longtime fan John Prine on Prine’s 1973 classic “Mexican Home”. “I love that song, but it took me 15 years to find a way to do it,” Knight says. “I kept playing around, changing the vocal key and finally landed on the spot. I’ve been singing it my kitchen table for the last few years, and when we were down to the last song, I knew this should be it.”</p><p>With the release of Almost Daylight, this native son of Slaughters, Kentucky (population 238) is eager to get back on the road and perform these songs for the faithful. Meanwhile, the singer/songwriter who was originally inspired by the likes of Prine and Earle now finds himself influencing a new generation of artists who revere Knight’s idiosyncratic talent and attitude. “There’s all kinds of different ways to make music, but this is the way I chose to do it,” Chris says. “If I don’t have something worth saying I’m not opening my mouth, which is probably why I took seven years to make this album.” And for an artist who has always defied expectations, Chris Knight’s next chapter indeed feels like the dawn of a new day. “I haven’t suited everybody, but every time I get a new fan it tells me I’m doing something right,” he says. “I think my previous records have set a precedent, if only for me at the very least. I just want people to think this one stands up to everything else I’ve done.”</p><p>Joe Stamm Band’s newest country-rock album is as brutally authentic as the Midwestern plains and people that inspire these songs. A year-round working musician, Stamm has become something of an anthropologist of the tiny towns dotting middle America. Thanks to his fondness for this so-called flyover country, and his crew of down-home troubadours, Stamm has created the soundtrack to the heart of America: Midwest Town (release date 9-10-21).</p> 2021-07-14 00:00:00 -0500

  10/29

  8:00 p.m.

  First Avenue Club

  Iowa City
  28

• Country Fuzz Presents: The Cadillac Three at the First Avenue Club in Iowa City

  <p>Country Fuzz Presents: The Cadillac Three with special guest Jobe Fortner on Friday, November 5^th, 2021. There are 3 price levels: Reserved Table: SOLD OUT Reserved tables are in a gated off elevated area on exterior walls of the club. Cadillac Pit: SOLD OUT. Pit consist of reserved standing area in front area of stage, beverage coupon and can koozie. General Admission tickets: $25. Doors are at 7:30pm and the show begins at 8:30pm.</p><p>Tickets: <a href="https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/the-cadillac-three-/55?cs=true&cst=custom">https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/the-cadillac-three-/55?cs=true&amp;cst=custom</a></p><p>It may be a ballsy move for The Cadillac Three to name their new album LEGACY, but if any country band has the shared history to lay claim to such a weighty title, it’s the longhaired trio of Nashville natives.</p><p>Singer-guitarist Jaren Johnston, drummer Neil Mason and lap-steel player Kelby Ray have known one another since they were teens and have been sharing stages together for nearly 15 years. This summer, they’ll headline their hometown’s most famous venue, the Ryman Auditorium, just a few blocks from where Johnston and Ray sat in high-school math class daydreaming about one day playing the legendary hall. Johnston’s connection to the Ryman goes back even further: his father has been a drummer at the Grand Ole Opry since Jaren was a child. And now he has a son of his own, who, like his old man, will be well-versed in all the sounds that make up both Music City and The Cadillac Three, from country and blues to rock &amp; roll.</p><p>So, yeah, “legacy” looks good on this band.</p><p>“We’re trying to build something and do it our way, which is always harder,” says Johnston. “If you’re going to leave something that people are actually going to remember, you can’t take the easy way. So we took all of our history, mixed it with the energy of The Cadillac Three and put it into a record that makes sense of where we’ve been and where we’re going.”</p><p>After nearly a full year on the road in support of 2016’s BURY ME IN MY BOOTS, their first full-length album recorded for Big Machine Records, the group returns with a more mature perspective. Johnston, Mason and Ray have experienced a lot on tour, whether opening arenas across the country on Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots Tour or headlining their own consistently sold-out string of sweaty club and theater shows in the U.K. and Europe. As they prepare to head back in November for another big run, for The Cadillac Three, the old saying really is true: this band is huge overseas.</p><p>“Europe showed us that we should bet on ourselves. It was a big gamble the first time we went over there,” says Mason, “but the shows and the fans have continued to grow.”</p><p>“And going overseas reinforced that we wanted to get more music out more quickly,” adds Ray. “They go through singles really quickly over there. They want more, more, more and that encouraged us to go into the studio, knock this album out and keep going.”</p><p>All that travel, from city to state, country to continent, could decimate a lesser band, but it only served to creatively inspire the mighty TC3. They wrote many of the 11 songs that make upLEGACY on the road, cut the tracks on rare days off in Nashville and then recorded all of Johnston’s vocals – one of the most “country” voices in the genre – in the back lounge of their bus in between shows, adding a crackling sense of vitality to LEGACY. They also produced the album themselves.</p><p>“We knew what we wanted to do with this record. Instead of putting it together in bits and pieces, we started with a batch of songs and then picked a single,” Johnston says. “That’s how this shit should be done.”</p><p>That back-to-basics approach to making music yielded the band’s most infectious single to date: the woozy sing-along “Dang If We Didn’t.” Written, as is most of the album, by Johnston and Mason (here, with Jonathan Singleton; other times with songwriters like Laura Veltz and Angelo Petraglia), “Dang If We Didn’t” teases fans with its ambiguous title, before revealing what the guys actually did in the chorus: get drunk last night.</p><p>“When you’re a songwriter, you can be critical of song titles,” says Johnston. “But with ‘Dang If We Didn’t,’ I thought it was a little bit mysterious. It makes you wonder, ‘Dang if we didn’t do what?'”</p><p>“Eat pizza last night,” quips Mason. “It could be anything.”</p><p>“American Slang” rivals “Dang If We Didn’t” in its grandeur. It’s a huge song, akin to Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin'” or The Cadillac Three’s own “Graffiti,” off BURY ME IN MY BOOTS. Lori McKenna (Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush”) began writing the tune with the intention of having The Cadillac Three finish it. “We are vampires on Hollywood Boulevard / angels and sinners of our hometown streets,” go the lyrics, painting a picture of life’s rebels, before a massive country-radio chorus kicks in: “We are the back roads, dirty water shore banks…we are born and raised on American slang.”</p><p>The constant throughout LEGACY, however, lies in the players: as on all three of The Cadillac Three’s albums, only Johnston, Mason and Ray are the musicians. There’s no guest keyboard player, no second percussionist and certainly no bassist. Ray holds down the low end on his lap steel.</p><p>Especially on the standout LEGACY track “Take Me to the Bottom,” which features Johnston reaching high for a breathtaking falsetto. “‘Take Me to the Bottom’ has the best bass sound of anything I’ve ever done,” says Ray, who also keeps things greasy on the intense “Tennessee.” A thrashing love song, it evokes the stomp of ZZ Top – a favorite of TC3 – and features a lyrical shout-out to progressive country hero Sturgill Simpson, a kindred spirit of the band.</p><p>No matter the influence, though, the trio stays faithful to their own unique sound throughout LEGACY. “Hank &amp; Jesus” glides along with Tennessee twang; “Demolition Man” is distinguished by the space between the notes; and the swaggering “Cadillacin'” is a band anthem. “We don’t put anything on our albums that we can’t re-create live,” says Mason. “If there is a TC3 rule, it’s that: keep it honest.”</p><p>Honesty, or authenticity, is a favorite buzzword around Nashville. But few artists come to it as naturally as The Cadillac Three. These guys couldn’t fake it if they tried. In the album’s title track, they offer a heart-on-the-sleeve testimony to what’s really important at the end of one’s days: love and a family tree.</p><p>When Mason and Ray heard “Legacy,” co-written by Johnston, they flipped, and pushed for it to be the title of the record. “We’re far enough along in our careers where doing an album called LEGACY doesn’t feel presumptuous to me,” says Mason.</p><p>Not when you run through The Cadillac Three’s milestones. It’s all there, from boundary-pushing albums, Grammy-nominated No. 1 songwriting across genres and fan-favorite singles to sold-out club shows and massive festival gigs alongside Aerosmith.</p><p>“With this album, we’re continuing to build this thing we’ve created. We’re touring nonstop, headlining shows in the U.K., playing the Ryman, and putting out a new record,” says Johnston. “Shit, that’s a pretty good legacy so far.”</p><p>Jobe Fortner: Hailing from Dahlonega, Georgia, country singer and songwriter Jobe Fortner’s musical roots run deep. Jobe grew up singing hymns in church alongside his family. “You didn’t have to be good, and it didn’t matter if you were bad. I think everyone would just feel the environment, room, music, and love… that’s really what translates directly to what I do today!” Jobe moved to Nashville in February of 2016 to start to make a name for himself. His debut self-titled EP was released in early 2018 and sparked a different level of buzz for Fortner. It garnered the attention of other national acts and led to opening gigs with Frankie Ballard, Riley Green, Toby Keith, The Cadillac Three, Whiskey Myers, Cody Johnson, The Steel Woods, Dwight Yoakam and also led to more shows with Luke Combs. Jobe’s sound crosses over extremely well from Southern Rock all the way to some modern country influence. It blends all his aspects of his gospel roots, to his country upbringing and his time on the road.</p> 2021-07-14 00:00:00 -0500

  11/05

  7:30 p.m.

  First Avenue Club

  Iowa City
  25.0
  25.0

• Josh Ward, Texas Country Artist, at the First Avenue Club in Iowa City

  <p>Texas country artist Josh Ward returns to the First Avenue Club on Friday, November 12th. General Admission tickets are $15 (plus $3 service fee). A reserved table for 4 (with tickets) is $90. Doors open at 7:00pm and the show begins at 8:00pm.</p><p>Tickets: <a href="https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/josh-ward/266?cs=true&cst=custom">https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/josh-ward/266?cs=true&amp;cst=custom</a></p><p>“All grit and no quit.” These are the deeply rooted words that Josh Ward lives by to an absolute fault. An anchored mindset that has led this Texas country music rising star from a drifter’s adolescence to the jeopardous game of the rodeo circuit to the punishing toil of the Texas oil fields, and on into the fickle arms of the music business. Some might argue whether it is having nine consecutive #1 hit singles in Texas under his belt that has garnered him staying power, or that he is killing it in the social media world with over 2 million views on YouTube and over 6 million streams globally on Spotify. Maybe it’s his 3 venerated album releases, or maybe because he can not only bat a full house on a 200 plus dates a year touring average, but also rope in crowds on a first-time performance in an unfamiliar town. While impressive, all those distinctions can come and go in the world of music. The reason for his staying power turns out to be quite a simple one. And that is because Josh Ward is country music blood to bone, and both Josh Ward and country music are simply not going to go away.</p><p>Josh spent 2017 heavily touring off the strength of his previous album “Holding Me Together.” All six radio singles hit the #1 spot on the Texas Regional Radio Chart and Ward quickly found himself going from opening act to the headlining spot in a matter of months. But in the midst of his growing popularity, he gladly bent the knee to fellow country music artist and comrade Cody Johnson who introduced Ward to his West Coast audiences. Getting the chance to be endorsed by Cody Johnson and perform at sold out shows in brand new markets is the kind of opportunity music artists chomp at the bit to have. When Ward and his band returned to those areas a few months later all by their lonesome, he simply could not have guessed at the reception he would encounter. “When we went back to the West Coast by ourselves, it was sold out shows. I was literally blown away.” It was at that very point while far away from his familiar stomping grounds in Texas with new fans slapping him on the back that Ward knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that his music was catching on in a big way.</p><p>The culmination of his radio success and his victories out on the road can easily be attributed to the actual man behind the music. In life, sometimes a person gets dealt a lean hand and has to choose his family from strangers along the way, people who make a conscious choice to take you under their wing and help guide you through life. Ward considers himself a very lucky man despite some rough teenage years. The love and support of his extended family and his chosen family was the concrete foundation he built his life on, and his fans are a big part of that. It’s why they are drawn to him through the speakers, because he is what he sings. It’s why they are drawn to him from the stage, because he’s an old friend who’s come back to visit. He’s the animated truth of all he stands for, a self-made family man who always has a welcome smile and an open spot in the family. To his loyal fans he feels he owes everything. “Words can’t describe the emotion that gets put into these runs and the work that we do. And these people pay their hard-earned money to see it every night. Thank you. Every time I step on stage, you guys remind me that I have more than I deserve.” And so, his brand-new album, so aptly named, is Ward’s dedication to his growing family.</p><p>“More Than I Deserve” marks Ward’s fourth full length album release and it will greet the fans on May 4, 2018. With the philosophy of “don’t fix what isn’t broken,” Ward went right back into the Rosewood studios where he recorded all his previous releases and joined producer Greg Hunt once again behind the board to create the next dimension of Josh Ward country music. The new album is 11 tracks strong featuring the signature instrumentation from guys like John Carroll (Cory Morrow) on guitar, Nate Coon (Aaron Watson) on drums, Milo Deering (The Eagles) on acoustic guitar, steel, dobro, fiddle, viola and mandolin, and Terry McBride (McBride and The Ride) on backing vocals and also writer of three of the tracks. The album is classic Josh Ward style on every front with just a little more gusto and a little more miles on it. Full bodied and emotionally fragrant, every song jumps out kicking up the kind of country music nostalgia Ward is revered for. The first single “All About Lovin’” (written by Brice Long, Terry McBride and Chris Stapleton) tells you everything you need to know about this album, a sexy tonkafied driver of a song that guarantees you’ll be lacing up your dancing shoes by the time you hit the chorus. “Home Away From Home” is country piled on top of more country, and is, as the song says, “a two steppin’ juke box heaven.” While Ward has never been afraid to sing other people’s songs due to his belief that a good song simply needs to be heard, his own savvy for the art just so happens to be represented on three of the most powerful tracks. “A Cowboy Can” is the true grit of this album and is what Ward says best describes himself. “One More Shot Of Whiskey” is a sobering tale told with 90 proof conviction, and then there is “More Than I Deserved” ringing out with its vulnerable steel and head hanging resolve. “More Than I Deserve” is country music addiction in its purest form. Josh Ward did not reinvent the wheel here, but damn, it’s polished surface sure rides smooth.</p><p>Josh and his band will be seeing a lot more of the country this year hitting a lot of new places on his never-ending tour. It’s still hard for him to believe he has come this far and he doesn’t take one mile of it for granted. “I never thought I would be rolling down the road with one of the hottest bands in Texas playing shows across the United States. I’m happy to be here.”</p><p>The Josh Ward band is Josh Ward (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Steve Cargill (bass), Justin Cogneato (drums), Woody Woodruff (lead guitar) and Glen Shankle (steel guitar).</p> 2021-07-14 00:00:00 -0500

  11/12

  7:00 p.m.

  First Avenue Club

  Iowa City
  18

• Flatland Cavalry at the First Avenue Club in Iowa City

  <p>Flatland Cavalry returns to the First Avenue Club on Friday, December 10^th, 2021. General Admission tickets: $20 (plus $2 service fee) and a Reserved Table for 4 (with tickets) is $105 (plus $7 service fee). Tables are in a gated, reserved area. Doors are at 7:00pm and the show begins at 8:00pm</p><p>Tickets: <a href="https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/flatland-cavalry/258?cs=true&cst=custom">https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/flatland-cavalry/258?cs=true&amp;cst=custom</a></p><p>With their highly anticipated sophomore album, Homeland Insecurity, Texas’ Flatland Cavalry wants to stop and smell the roses. Bandleader and chief lyricist Cleto Cordero is fine with examining the present. There’s an appreciation for all the sharp detail and high-spirited emotions of today.</p><p>Flatland Cavalry—the aforementioned Cordero, guitarist Reid Dillon, bassist Jonathan Saenz, drummer Jason Albers, and newest member, fiddle player Wesley Hall—has been stretching their legs across the country this past year after honing their craft and voice in the music boomtown of Lubbock, Texas.</p><p>Homeland Insecurity finds Flatland further evolving as musicians and storytellers. They continue to expand their sonic palettes while remaining true to those defining characteristics that made them rising standouts years ago.</p><p>On their previous releases, Come May and Humble Folks, Cordero and company harnessed untethered emotions, feel-good rhythms, and simple raw energy to make it into the hearts of fans and critics. There was power in Cordero’s proverbial pen that resonated with the highs and lows of college life.</p><p>“We’re all just out of college,” says Cordero. “We’re in our mid-twenties. We’re all told growing up that by the time you’re out of school, you’ll have it all figured out, but that’s not really how it is. You’re still out there trying to find yourself.”</p><p>It’s not a jump into adult life. That’s a facade and outright lie. Life doesn’t happen that way. You don’t turn 25 and become a fully-formed person. Rather, Homeland Insecurity finds Flatland exploring the anxieties, unsureness, growth, resilience, falters, fear, maturation, and eventual lessons learned as your grow older.</p><p>By no means does Cordero and company feel they have it figured out, but rather, are trying to figure it out themselves as well.</p><p>“I think at some point, you feel like you need to grow-up, but you don’t know how,” says Cordero. “You’re searching for that path though. You’re overturning every rock trying to find the secret that gets on to the next. I’m not trying to be a teacher or anything. I just wish someone would have told me earlier on and saved me the heartache of it all.”</p><p>Flatland is unabashed in this search knowing that they’ve always wanted to be band where their crowd grew along with them. Cordero knows he could have just revisited old themes, young lust narratives, and drinking days glory for another album. He could have easily rehashed old ideas and gotten a pass for them as long as they were catchy, but he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself.</p><p>There’s an uneasiness in his voice when even broaching the subject of cookie-cutter songs. You can hear him loosening a tie around his neck that isn’t there.</p><p>“I had a lot I wanted to say,” says Cordero. “I knew there was a better way of saying it. I didn’t want to write at the same pace I was at during Humble Folks. And I don’t want to write at this pace in the future.”</p><p>Homeland Insecurity sees Cordero sanding and smoothing the edges as a lyricist and storyteller. He’s always had an ear for memorable melodies and a gift at finding the heart of the story. But here, he expands and challenges himself to not only write at a deeper thematic level, but to simply become a better songwriter.</p><p>“Everything I’d written before, it was always just something I had to get out. It was always spurred on by an emotion, but that doesn’t mean the lyrical side was rich,” says Cordero. “I have to really say something. Everything has to purposeful. I can’t get stuck.”</p><p>Indeed. Flatland Cavalry isn’t stuck in a rut. Despite embracing the harsh realities of modern civilization and the anxieties of life, Flatland carves out their own path on Homeland Insecurity.</p> 2021-07-14 00:00:00 -0500

  12/10

  7:00 p.m.

  First Avenue Club

  Iowa City
  22

• The Bellamy Brothers at the First Avenue Club in Iowa City

  <p>The First Avenue Club welcomes The Bellamy Brothers on Friday, December 17th, 2021. TABLE OPTIONS: Reserved Table for 4 with tickets $185. General Admission Ticket with a seat at a shared table (seated with other patrons) $40. Reserved table patrons must have at least one person check in at 7:00pm to get their table assignment. Standing General Admission Tickets: $25. Doors are at 7:00pm and the show begins 8:00pm. This is an all-ages show.</p><p>Tickets: <a href="https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/the-bellamy-brothers/275?cs=true&cst=custom">https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/the-bellamy-brothers/275?cs=true&amp;cst=custom</a></p><p>Howard and David Bellamy continue to prove that the trail they’ve ridden to fame has been as unique as their music itself—music that is now celebrating over 40 years of success.</p><p>The road that started on the pop music charts in the ‘70’s, took a winding turn into country music in the ‘80’s, paving the way for duos to come, such as Brooks &amp; Dunn, Montgomery Gentry, Big &amp; Rich and previously—The Judds. But before the road forked into country, the musical odyssey of brothers Bellamy started creatively smoldering in their home state of Florida, before exploding nationally amidst the ’70’s pop music culture of L.A.</p><p>The brothers first official gig was in 1968, playing a free show with their father at the Rattlesnake Roundup in San Antonio, Florida. They honed their early skills playing Black clubs throughout the south, and singing backup for artists such as Percy Sledge, Eddie Floyd and Little Anthony &amp; The Imperials. Within a few months, the brothers moved north, immersing themselves and their rock/country sound in the Atlanta market, where the Allman Brothers were the emerging kings of the music world.</p><p>With the dawning of the Age of Aquarius on the horizon, and America embroiled in a smoke haze of drugs, civil unrest and an unpopular war, The Bellamy’s music picked-up the hard driving edge that bespoke the times. Songwriting had become David Bellamy’s drug of choice during the long road gigs he and Howard were regularly pulling bodies and equipment to and from. It was his songwriting that was posed to soon provide the duo a national breakout.</p><p>The break came in the form of the hit, “Spiders &amp; Snakes,” written by David and recorded by Jim Stafford. The song became a smash, eventually selling more than three million units worldwide. It became the catapult that rocketed the brothers onto the L.A. music scene. Young and impressionable, Howard and David fell into the musical circle of the greats of the day: Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Van Morrison, as well as West Coast based country rockers like Poco and the Byrds.</p><p>It was a creative shoe that fit.</p><p>Now known by their music and the company they were keeping, The Bellamys officially lifted off the launch pad in 1976 when their single, “Let Your Love Flow,” became an instant smash in both the U.S. and Europe. It stayed on the international charts long enough to build a huge international fan base for the hip young brothers that endures to this day. In Germany alone it perched at No. 1 for more than two months. The love was indeed flowing as The Bellamys jammed for audiences on their sold-out concerts and shared stages with the likes of Loggins &amp; Messina, the Doobie Brothers and the Beach Boys with their patented blend of rock/country music. True to their musical roots, their style and their songwriting was moving steadily more towards their raising.</p><p>By the late ‘70’s The Bellamys were emerging on the country charts with another bona fide smash. “If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body (Would You Hold It Against Me),” originally scrawled on a dinner napkin by David, rocketed them to the top of the country charts the way “Let Your Love Flow,” had done in the pop market just a few years earlier. It proved to be the first of a string of fourteen No. 1 singles in the U.S. alone.</p><p>Success followed success: “Dancing Cowboys,” “Sugar Daddy,” “You Ain’t Just Whistlin’ Dixie,” “Lovers Live Longer,” “Do You Love As Good As You Look,” “Redneck Girl,” “For All The Wrong Reasons,” “I Love Her Mind,” “I Need More Of You,” “Old Hippie,” “Too Much Is Not Enough,” “Kids Of The Baby Boom,” “Reggae Cowboy” and “Crazy From The Heart,”…all have lined the corridors of the Bellamy’s musical history and their walls with platinum and gold.</p><p>Along the way, Howard and David created a patent on the newly cool “duo” category in country music. In the era of the 2000’s, The Bellamy Brothers hold the record in both the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and the Country Music Association Awards (CMA) for the most duo nominations. Numerous GRAMMY nods have also been directed toward the brothers. Internationally, the story has been the same—though the titles may be different. The Bellamys have released more than two-dozen hit songs outside the U.S. that were never released here. With a sharp eye on the songwriting skills that have been the bedrock of their success, Howard and David concur that their career is unique in their international finesse for matching their songs to the market.</p><p>“For the international releases, you have to have a strong melody,” notes David. “The lyric is very important, but internationally the melody is something fans can lock into, even if they can’t understand the lyrics.” Howard and David continue to perform and film TV specials in Europe and around the world.</p><p>These days when the subject turns to touring, The Bellamys are showing a new generation of country music how it’s done. Country superstar Blake Shelton has helped introduce a new era of fans to the hits of The Bellamy Brothers during his annual Friends And Heroes Tour, where they continue to captivate arena audiences around the country. “We’re old road dogs,” grins Howard when asked about the motivation behind the brothers 200 plus concert dates each year. Adds David: “Our live draw is bigger than it was in the ‘80’s. I think the same people that grew up with us and with our music in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s obviously have raised a whole new generation of Bellamy fans who started toddling to our music. Now they’re turning up at our concerts as college kids, who are really turned on and tuned in to us and our music….it’s a great feeling.”</p><p>On the infrequent off days from the road, Howard and David head the bus back to their 150-acre family ranch in Darby, Florida just north of Tampa. A working ranch, the spread consists of Purebred Brahman Cattle and quarter horses. The Bellamys are opening up their lives to television audiences with their hit reality show “Honky Tonk Ranch.” Each episode of “Honky Tonk Ranch” enthralls viewers with the unpredictable misadventures of the Bellamys attempting to balance their globe-trotting touring schedule while also running their sprawling family ranch in south Florida. The show was originally broadcast on “The Cowboy Channel” (a subsidy of RFD-TV) and streamed around the world. Season two of “Honky Tonk Ranch” airs now on Thursday evenings at 8:30 p.m. ET on the Circle Network and will also be available for worldwide streaming in the very near future.</p><p>The Bellamy Brothers celebrated their 40th anniversary with the release of a two-CD collection, 40 years, an ambitious project containing 20 of their biggest hits and 20 brand-new songs. In 2019, the Bellamys released Over the Moon as well as their first book Let Your Love Flow – the Life and Times of The Bellamy Brothers. The book is about two Florida cowboys who journeyed from country poverty to worldwide musical stardom because they had the talent and because it never occurred to them, they couldn’t make it.</p><p>Their most recent project, Bucket List, debuted in July of 2020 with “Rednecks (Lookin’ for Paychecks),” a timely take on the current situation, leading the EP. Bucket List also includes “No Country Music For Old Men,” a collaboration with longtime friend John Anderson inspired by the loss of Kenny Rogers, and more light-hearted songs like “Lay Low, Stay High,” which ties into Howard and David’s recent partnership with the Florida-based medical marijuana company, Trulieve, on their flower product line Old Hippie Stash.</p> 2021-07-14 00:00:00 -0500

  12/17

  7:00 p.m.

  First Avenue Club

  Iowa City
  25