NASHVILLE |FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/TODD BRODGINSKI/LATHUM NELSON
CHRIS ROBINSON
TO OPEN SHOWS FOR ELVIS COSTELLO
BEGINNING JULY 7 ON EAST COAST; WRAPPING JULY 19
AT GREEK THEATER IN SAN FRANCISCO
Singer and songwriter CHRIS ROBINSON has been invited to open a string of U.S. shows for Elvis Costello beginning July 7 at Wolftrap in Vienna, VA and wrapping July 19 at the Greek Theater in San Francisco. ROBINSON and guitarist/collaborator Paul Stacey will perform acoustically for these shows, drawing on a selection of songs from ROBINSON’s New Earth Mud solo disc and new compositions written since that album’s release, plus a few select covers.
ROBINSON has toured the U.S. both acoustically and with the electric “New Earth Mud” band, often performing more than three hours a night. “For me, to get to play with Elvis Costello—a renowned songwriter and musician in his own right—is a real thrill,” says ROBINSON. “I’ve never seen him live, so it will be a treat for me as well.”
ROBINSON is looking forward to debuting new material on these shows. “This keeps it really fresh and energized for me.” As for the new music, the Georgia-native who now calls Southern California home says, “I just want to make something beautiful. And that’s something I’ve always felt about the creative process. The strangest thing can be beautiful and the saddest things can be beautiful. I just want to be able to have the freedom to put all those things together…I’m not afraid of that becoming popular and commercial, because truth and honesty will come through in cycles.”
After the Black Crowes went on hiatus in 2002, ROBINSON headed to Paris where he and Paul Stacey recorded the New Earth Mud album. Dan Aquilante of the New York Post described the album in a review as “…uncharacteristically gentle and very, very heartfelt. The melodies that Robinson plays with are simple and wistful often relying on piano, acoustic guitar and vocal arrangements” (10/22/02). In the U.K.’s Mojo magazine, Sylvie Simmons praised the album for being “…pitched musically, atmospherically and temporally between Humble Pie’s Town And Country, Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book and Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection—the late ‘60s/early ‘70s cusp in other words…there’s nothing egotistical here; its shimmering country-soul ballads and musically complex, simple-sounding rock-Americana are The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion and Amorica’s natural successors.”
Tour dates are as follows:
DATE CITY VENUE
Mon 7/07 Vienna, VA Wolftrap
Wed 7/09 Philadelphia, PA Festival Pier @ Penn’s Landing
Fri 7/11 New York, NY Summerstage
Sat 7/12 Boston, MA Fleetboston Pavilion
Sun 7/13 Guilford, NH Meadowbrook
Tue 7/15 Detroit, MI Freedom Hill
Wed 7/16 Denver, CO Universal Lending
Fri 7/18 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
Sat 7/19 San Francisco, CA Greek Theater
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