Page 18 - SYNC 10.28.15

LIVE MUSIC
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Genre-bridging artist Mat Kearney to play Juanita’s
BY CALEB HENNINGTON
Although never explicitly branding himself as a Christian artist, Eugene, Oregon, singer-songwriter Mat Kear- ney has bridged the sometimes harsh gap between Top 40 and Christian contemporary music.
Kearney started school at California State University-Chico under a much different set of interests than music. He played three years of collegiate-level soccer on a scholarship but soon found a love for music that overrode his passion for the sport. After learning how to play guitar, using his Nashville, Tennes- see, roommate’s instrument, Kearney discovered his love for music and formed a unique style consisting of acoustic-guitar grooves with interchanging rap-and-sing verses.
His major-label debut album, 2006’s N othing Left to Lose, was received to critical acclaim and gave him a Billboard Hot 100 hit with the album’s title track. It was then that Kearney found his knack for pleasing both secular- and Christian-music fans and charted numerous times on both the Billboard 200 and Top Christian Albums charts.
He also received the 2006 GMA Dove Award for Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year for “Trainwreck,” a song off his first album, Bullet.
He’s currently on tour in support of his latest album, Just K ids, which received rave reviews from critics, citing its infec- tious poppiness and charisma as a defining factor of its com- mercial success. Pop-rock band Parachute, known for the 2009 single “She Is Love,” will open for Kearney at Juanita’s at 9 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $25.
MAT KEARNEY PERFORMS AT JUANITA’S AT 9 P.M. THURSDAY.
THIS WEEK’S MUSIC
RICK SPRINGFIELD PLAYS THE UNIVERSITY OF CEN- TRAL ARKANSAS’ REYNOLDS PERFORMANCE HALL IN CONWAY AT 7:30 P.M. THURSDAY.
WEDNESDAY
Barrett Baber is an Arkansas native with a small- town feel to his music. That’s probably because he grew up singing in his church in Marion. But the inspiration behind his country sound comes from a town with a more bluesy background: Memphis. His big break came from an appear- ance this year on the hit NBC show The Voice. He performs alongside another The Voice alum, Luke Wade, and country singer David Adam By- rnes at Rev Room at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.
THURSDAY
Known for his 1981 No. 1 hit single, “Jessie’s Girl,” musician, actor and best-selling author Rick Springfield plays a show of hit singles and de- cade-defining music from a career that spans more than 40 years. Besides “Jessie’s Girl,” Springfield also had a string of other Top 40 hits, including “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “An Affair of the Heart” and “I’ve Done Everything for You.” His latest album, Stripped Down, features acoustic versions of his hit songs. Springfield performs at the University of Central Arkansas’ Reynolds Performance Hall in Conway at 7:30 p.m. Only a few tickets remain, and they start at $27.
It’s only taken a few short years for members of Nashville, Tennessee, indie-pop band Colony House to make a name for themselves. May- be that’s partly due to brothers Caleb and Will Chapman’s ties to the music industry (their fa- ther is contemporary Christian pop artist Ste- ven Curtis Chapman). Although Colony House’s music is tinged with themes of modern Chris- tianity, the brothers, along with guitarist Scott Mills, play music that blurs the lines between Top 40 and Christian contemporary, giving them an even wider audience to spread their bright and catchy tunes. The Rocketboys, an- other indie-pop band with the same infectious optimism to their music as Colony House, will open the show at Stickyz at 9 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 day of show.
FRIDAY
Alt-country band Old 97’s hail from Dallas, a mecca of sorts for a genre that’s rougher around the edges than its mainstream country counterpart. The band members formed the group in 1993 and released their first album, Hitchhike to Rhome, the next year. They’ve re- leased a string of albums since ’94, but their latest album, Most Messed Up, is the only one to crack the Billboard 200’s Top 40 albums,
reaching No. 30. Fellow alt-country band Ban- ditos will join the Old 97’s at Rev Room at 9 p.m. Tickets for the 18-and-up show are $20.
SUNDAY
When the members of Miami’s Black Tide formed their heavy-metal band in 2004, most of them had yet to even graduate high school. Ranging in age from 14 to 19, Black Tide played heavy music like true veterans of the genre and released their debut album, Light From Above, in 2008. Their first hit single, “Shockwave,” sounds like a melding of Judas Priest, Ozzy Os- bourne and Motley Crue. Check them out at Juanita’s, along with Exotype, Murder FM and Arkansas band Dark From Day One at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8.
TUESDAY
Grindcore, gorecore and slamcore are all genres that North Little Rock metalheads Splattered in Traffic identify as. They play a chaotic, demonic, gut-wrenching sound full of blast beats and frantic guitar strumming. Catch them, along with Dendritic Arbor, Sol Inertia and Apothecary, at Rev Room at 8 p.m. Tickets are $7.
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