Music Announcement: Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams and Robbie Fulks Perform June 3
Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter LARRY CAMPBELL and singer-guitarist TERESA WILLIAMS will take the stage at Cain’s Ballroom on Saturday, June 3. They had an acclaimed eponymous 2015 debut, released after seven years of playing in Levon Helm’s band – and frequent guesting with Phil Lesh, Little Feat, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, brought to the stage the crackling creative energy of a decades-long offstage union. A whirlwind of touring and promo followed, and when the dust cleared, the duo was ready to do it all again. Which brings us to Contraband Love, a riskier slice of Americana.
Their new album Contraband Love stands as a new, bolder chapter in a story that arose triumphantly joyous from loss. Although it was not his conscious intent, three of the eight tunes Campbell penned for Contraband Love deal either obliquely or directly with various emotions surrounding addiction. Musically, Contraband Love revisits the Americana textures of the duo’s debut, deftly channeling Memphis, Chicago, the Delta, and Appalachia with equal assurance. Larry’s world-famous guitar work – scorching here, funky there, stellar always – punctuates the proceedings with riveting emotion, often like a third voice weighing in on a myriad of emotional states.
Campbell is perhaps best known for his time as part of Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour band from 1997 to 2004. He also has extensive experience as a studio musician, having recorded with Levon Helm, Judy Collins, Sheryl Crow, and Paul Simon, just to name a few. The duo spent seven years of playing in Levon Helm’s band – and frequently guested with Phil Lesh, Little Feat, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady.
ROBBIE FULKS is a singer, recording artist, instrumentalist, composer, and songwriter. His current release, Bluegrass Vacation on Compass Records, returns him to his bluegrass roots, with a large group of masterful musicians including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Justin Moses, Ronnie McCoury, Alison Brown, David Grier, Tim O’Brien, Todd Phillips, John Cowan, Brennen Leigh, Randy Kohrs, Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan, Shad Cobb, and Chris Eldridge. Across 11 new original songs (and one freewheeling interpretation of the Delmore Brothers), Robbie covers themes like small-town blues, the endurance of childhood memory, inebriation, love, divorce, the role of music in strengthening family bonds, losing a loved one to Alzheimer’s, and bluegrass itself.
His most recent release, 2017’s Upland Stories, earned year’s-best recognition from NPR and Rolling Stone among many others, as well as two Grammy® nominations, for folk album and American roots song (“Alabama At Night”).
His early solo work — Country Love Songs (1996) and South Mouth (1997) — helped define the “alternative country” movement of the 1990s. For most of the present century, Robbie has been playing acoustic music through microphones, which lets him give more attention to his flatpicking and banjo playing, and complements his more sepia-toned subject matter — the slings of time, the troubles of common people. His repertory of traveling players includes folks like Shad Cobb, Missy Raines, Robbie Gjersoe, Jenny Scheinman, Matt Flinner, Don Stiernberg, and Jesse Cobb. However, two non-acoustic recent side projects are his 2018 duo record with Linda Gail Lewis, Wild! Wild! Wild!, an NPR favorite which leans to rock-and-roll and classic country-and-western, and his double-vinyl reinterpretation of the Bob Dylan record Street-Legal, which is titled 16, is musically unbounded and is no one’s favorite.
The PAUL BENJAMIN BAND will take the Horton Records Stage at the Hyatt Regency Tulsa during the afterparty. Groove-based tunes with more than a nod to the elusive Tulsa Sound and other forms of American music. Signature guitar licks apply a vintage hue that is both nostalgic and fresh, with a strong dose of guitar power. Totally Tulsa. Recommended if you like JJ Cale, Wilco or Warren Haynes.
Register now to join us for this performance as well as dozens of other sessions featuring keynotes, artist conversations, roundtable discussions, and much more. Switchyard will be held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Tulsa, which has made a special rate available for festival attendees.