Sheridan Opera House: Evening with Rayland Baxter, 7/5; Doussan Plays SHOW Bar!

03 Jul Sheridan Opera House: Evening with Rayland Baxter, 7/5; Doussan Plays SHOW Bar!

The Sheridan Arts Foundation presents “An Evening with Rayland Baxter” at Telluride’s Sheridan Opera House on Friday, July 5, 9 p.m. (Doors, 8 p.m.) Tickets are $30 general admission on the floor; $40 reserved seats in the balcony. (A $5 ticketing fee is charged at all ticket outlets.) Tickets and additional event information are available at www.sheridanoperahouse.com or 970.728.6363.

Event is in conjunction with Telluride Plein Air. (Details here.)

For a preview of Baxter”s show, listen here and/or scroll down.

Prior to Rayland’s show, Mike Doussan plays the Opera House’s SHOW Bar, 6:30 p.m. Scroll down for more on the artist.

Nashville native Rayland Baxter takes the stage with his band over the Fourth of July weekend, part of the 16th annual Telluride Plein Air celebration.

Baxter has performed at a variety of festivals all over the country, from Bonnaroo to Newport Folk, in addition to tours with an astonishing array of artists including Jason Isbell, The Lumineers, Kacey Musgraves, The Head and The Heart, Shakey Graves, Lauryn Hill, and Grace Potter.

Following up his debut album feathers & fishhooks and 2015’s Imaginary Man, Baxter’s 2018 album Wide Awake is the culmination of three months spent writing songs in an old rubberband factory in Franklin, Kentucky. Baxter emerged from the isolation with over 50 tunes he eventually narrowed down to the tracks on Wide Awake.

Deftly produced by Butch Walker, the record infuses Baxter’s easygoing, soulful sound with British Invasion melodies and rock and roll swagger, marrying lean, muscular songwriting with adventurous, inventive arrangements. It’s a cutting, insightful collection, one that takes a sardonic view the violence, greed, and division that seem to define the modern American landscape. Rather than point a finger, though, the music holds up a mirror, offering a sober reflection of the times thoughtfully bundled in bright, infectious hooks. There’s no judgment here, only keen observation, and Baxter implicates himself as much as his neighbor through it all.

“This is an album about decision-making,” he explains. “It’s about being a human at the crossroads. Do I do good or do I do evil? Do I lie or do I tell the truth? Am I going to be happy or am I going to be sad? All of these questions and emotions are things I see in myself, and they’re the same things I see in everyone else no matter where I go.”

For sure you will be Wide Awake at Baxter’s Opera House show.

Mike Doussan, more:

Mike Doussan, a New Orleans native, is fresh off the heels of releasing his new full length album, Yesterday’s Troubles. The follow up to Doussan’s 2014 release, Sin or Salvation, Yesterday’s Troubles was released on CSB Roxy Music and was produced by Charlie Wooton. The record boasts an all-star lineup of New Orleans musicians including Wooton, Doug Belote, Keiko Komaki, Mark Mullins, Marc Paradis, Jeff Watkins, Arsene DeLay and more.

Doussan is traveling through Colorado this summer with his wife and youngest son mainly for vacation, but he has set aside some time for a solo acoustic performance during the Plein Air Fest in Telluride, which became one of his favorite destinations while touring as lead guitarist for Dave Jordan & the NIA.

“Mike Doussan’s story is intrinsic to the human condition. There’s pain and pleasure, grit and grace, but much like the city of New Orleans and music itself, true beauty rises from chaos. His songs are proof,” Brett Hutchins, Live & Listen.

Sheridan Arts Foundation, more:

The Sheridan Arts Foundation was founded in 1991 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization to preserve the historic Sheridan Opera House as an arts and cultural resource for the Telluride community, to bring quality arts and cultural events to Telluride and to provide local and national youth with access and exposure to the arts through education. The Sheridan Arts Foundation is sponsored in part by grants from the Telluride Foundation, CCAASE and Colorado Creative Industries.