NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The award-winning Northern Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance launches a new tour – his first live dates in more than two years – this fall, making a stop in Nashville at Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Polk Theater on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Tickets for Foy Vance go on sale Friday, June 7, at 10:00 a.m. at TPAC.org, by phone at 615-782-4040, and at the TPAC Box Office, 505 Deaderick St.
Vance will release two albums this year, including From Muscle Shoals, out June 28 on Ed Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records, and To Memphis following in September. The albums are intended as companion pieces and pay homage to the deeply rooted Soul and Americana traditions that have influenced Vance’s approach to songwriting.
Co-produced by Vance with Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes, John Paul White, Nicole Atkins), From Muscle Shoals was recorded at the legendary FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The album features two of the original ‘Swampers’ house band that played on so many iconic hits of the 1960s and 1970s, Spooner Oldham (keys) and David Hood (bass), alongside a crack team of session musicians and singers.
Seeking inspiration for his fourth album, Vance was digging out old demos when he came across a handful of songs he had labeled “Soul” and “Americana.” This discovery became the catalyst for the two new albums, with the “Soul” songs providing the genesis of From Muscle Shoals, and the “Americana” songs forming the basis of To Memphis, recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee.
“When I had demoed the soul songs years ago, I had tried to emulate the old school southern soul sound of Muscle Shoals,” explains Vance. “So, when I came across this collection of songs again, I knew immediately where I needed to go to document them. I suppose that is really what this project is. Documenting songs that would otherwise go unheard.”
There will be a new studio album from Vance in 2020, a more traditional follow-up to The Wild Swan, which contained the Radio 2 playlisted singles “Coco,” “Upbeat Feelgood,” and “Noam Chomsky Is A Soft Revolution.” Vance’s previous album, Joy Of Nothing, won the inaugural Northern Ireland Music Prize for Best Album in 2013.
If you go:
Foy Vance
Oct. 19, 2019
8 p.m.
TPAC’s Polk Theater
505 Deaderick St.
Tickets:
TPAC.org
615-782-4040
Performance schedule, prices, and cast are subject to change without notice. Institutional sponsors for TPAC include Nissan North America and Coca-Cola. TPAC is a nonprofit arts organization funded in part by support from the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission. TPAC reminds ticket buyers that the only official place to buy tickets online is TPAC.org.