MOONLIGHT MUSICFEST
The Moonlight MusicFest team proudly introduces two more groups from the festival lineup, bolstering a bill that is sure to entice you to grab your tickets today.
Check out all the music and info for the August event at moonlightmusicfest.com
THE RECORD COMPANY
The Record Company has just announced a fall tour with the band Blackberry Smoke, and both will be playing on Saturday, August 17 at the Moonlight MusicFest in Big Sky, Montana. Their dynamic music will certainly top off the night for great memories of the 2019 festival.
By now, The Record Company’s story is well-known: a trio of musicians grit it out on their own for years in bars and clubs, join forces in LA, set up some microphones in a living room, and cut an album that turns their world upside down.
Released in 2016, their album “Give It Back To You” spawned three Top Ten hits at Triple-A radio (including the No. 1 smash “Off The Ground”), and earned the band a slew of festival appearances, sold-out headline dates around the world, and a Grammy nomination.
The group has made rounds on late night TV, shared bills with John Mayer, Zac Brown Band, My Morning Jacket and Nathaniel Rateliff, among others, and has racked up more than ten million streams on Spotify. The critical response has been just as ecstatic, with Rolling Stone raving that the band “kick[s] up a raw, rootsy racket” and Entertainment Weekly calling the album a “soul scorcher.”
When the gritty, back-alley blues-rockers made their debut on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, they showed off a down-and-dirty sound and megawatts of onstage intensity. Made up of vocalist Chris Vos, bassist Alex Stiff and drummer Marc Cazorla, the L.A.-based power trio doesn’t need much to deliver their roundhouse kick of rock. They fire up crowds with pounding drums and trashy cymbals, a fat bass line and a wild, distorted harmonica, with Vos scream-singing through that same harmonica mic.
JOSH RITTER
The Moonlight MusicFest is excited to have Josh Ritter play for the crowd on Friday August 16, where Ritter will be bringing his exuberance for life—he has knack for spreading his happiness into the crowd.
Ritter, a songwriter from Moscow, Idaho, was named one of the 100 greatest living songwriters by Paste Magazine, a distinction he shares with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young. Joan Baez and Bob Weir have covered his songs, and he regularly sells out legendary venues such as the Fillmore, the Beacon Theatre, and London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
His latest record, “Fever Breaks,” was recorded in Nashville and produced by Jason Isbell, the alt-country star who also plays guitar on the album alongside his regular backing band the 400 Unit. Ritter had toured with Isbell for a month before they decided to head into a studio together.
“It was a beautiful, natural thing….It was very organic. It wasn’t set up by anybody,” Ritter said. “We really felt a kinship, and their music blew me away.”
Ritter hits a couple of round-numbered milestones this year, most notably 20 years since the release of his debut and 10 albums under his belt. So it only makes sense that he’d stir up his process a bit, bringing in new collaborators in pursuit of a jolt worthy of these jolt-filled times.
Throughout “Fever Breaks,” Josh Ritter tweaks and further reinvigorates a sound and songwriting approach that’s lost none of its vitality or urgency over 20 years. He remains a hydrant of ideas while embodying an endless capacity for empathy and indignation, often within a single song.
Actress Mary-Louise Parker once wrote in Esquire Magazine, “If you love music and have a device on which to play it, you should listen to Josh Ritter.”
August is coming up quick, reserve your limited Headwaters VIP or General Admission tickets on line. Stay up to date on all the news, festival shuttles and more on Facebook, Instagram and moonlightmusicfest.com