John Paul White Brings Grammy Award-Winning Country-Folk to Helsinki Hudson

John Paul White

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – John Paul White, one half of the Grammy Award-winning duo the Civil Wars, brings his country-flavored neo-folk music to Club Helsinki Hudson on Saturday, June 24, at 9pm. Special guest singer-songwriter Lera Lynn, of TV’s “True Detective” fame, will warm up the crowd for White.

John Paul White’s most recent album is “Beulah,” his first in nearly a decade, a remarkably and assuredly diverse collection spanning plaintive folk balladry, swampy Southern rock, lonesome campfire songs, and dark acoustic pop. Gothic and ambitious, with a rustic, lived-in sound, it’s a meditation on love curdling into its opposite, on recrimination defining relationships, on hope finally filtering through doubt.

Far from the grind and glamour of Nashville — where he worked for years as a working songwriter before stepping into the spotlight himself — White settled in his hometown of Muscle Shoals, Ala., a wellspring of gritty Southern rock and soul since the 1960s. Together with Alabama Shakes keyboard player Ben Tanner and Shoals native Will Trapp, he founded and runs Single Lock Records, a local indie label that has released records by the likes of Dylan LeBlanc, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, and legendary songwriter and keyboard player Donnie Fritts.

White cut several songs on “Beulah” at the renowned FAME Studios in his hometown, where Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, the Allman Brothers, the Osmonds, Bobbie Gentry, Arthur Conley, and Clarence Carter recorded some of their most popular hits.

Formed in 2008, White’s previous group, The Civil Wars, won four Grammy Awards – in both folk and country music categories – prior to their 2014 breakup.

Lera Lynn juggles multiple roles “Resistor,” an album that finds the Nashville transplant embellishing her Americana roots with a mix of spacey, left-of-center rock (think the Cars) and experimental pop-noir. Following the 2014 release of her critically acclaimed sophomore release, “The Avenues,” Lynn spent 2015 in a creative whirlwind, kicking off the year with an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman and, months later, wrapping things up with a 39-date headlining fall tour.

Lera Lynn

Along the way, she also played a role in shaping the dark direction of the second season of “True Detective,” both appearing in the popular HBO series as a barroom singer and contributing a handful of original songs to the show’s soundtrack. The response was overwhelming. The teaser trailer for the show featured a clip of Lynn’s “The Only Thing Worth Fighting For” (co-written with Rosanne Cash and T Bone Burnett), racked up more than 35 million views in a matter of months, giving Lynn the assurance that a wide audience did, indeed, exist for her brand of otherworldly music.

“Resistor” at once embraces the darker and more provocative sides of Lynn’s songwriting. Moody and muscular, it pairs Lynn’s voice — a warm, anchoring instrument that sweeps its way through all 10 songs — with the deep-seated rumble of baritone guitars, the atmospheric swirl of keyboards, and the gauze of her own double-tracked harmonies.
For reservations in The Restaurant or in the club call 518.828.4800.

 

 

 

 

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