Rayland Baxter Brings Original Alt-County to Helsinki Hudson

Rayland Baxter

Rayland Baxter

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – The Nashville-based Rayland Baxter brings his singular brand of alt-country to Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday, April 22, at 8pm. Baxter should appeal to fans of Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Justin Townes Earle, and Ryan Adams.

Baxter released his first full-length album, “Feathers & Fishhooks,” in 2012. Last year, he released his second full-length album, “Imaginary Man.”

Reviewing “Imaginary Man,” the New York Times wrote, “Rayland builds melodies with lush guitars, keyboards and harmonies far closer to the Shins than Blake Shelton.” Stereogum proclaimed, “…this record is choose-your-own-adventure indie-country-bliss… On ‘Imaginary Man,’ Baxter proves that Nashville sensibilities can work like a prism: filtering indie, pop, outlaw, and gospel into the musical ethos of a single man. “

Rayland Baxter first began writing songs in earnest in 2008, when he lived for a half-year in Israel. He traveled back three more times, before he released the EP “Askhelon” in 2013, named after the Israeli beach town.

Baxter has appeared at the Newport Folk Festival, toured with the Civil Wars, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Kacey Musgraves, The Head and the Heart, Shakey Graves, Boz Scaggs, and Tedeschi Trucks Band.

Baxter is the son of Bucky Baxter, who played pedal-steel guitar in Bob Dylan’s band from 1992 to 1997, and appeared on his Grammy Award-winning comeback album, “Time Out of Mind.” Rayland Baxter once told an interviewer the most perfect song is Dylan’s “The Man in Me.” The elder Baxter appears on most of his son’s recordings.

 

 

 

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