Unplugged Punk

(poster from Myspace)
I've been trying to see Avail-turned-folk-troubadour Tim Barry for some time now. Thursday's show at the Jewish Mother sounds like it should be something unusually good. Can I make it all they way to the oceanfront on a Thursday night? We'll see about that.

Here's a press release about the tour that includes Thursday's show ...

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In a match made in folk-punk heaven, Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan, Avail’s Tim Barry and Lucero’s Ben Nichols will embark on The Revival Tour this fall, , a series of shows that will see all three artists playing solo sets as well as performing on each other’s material. “All the tours that I’ve done since I’ve been doing this solo stuff have in some way or the other ended up with a bunch of friends onstage by the end of the night,” Ragan explains, adding that each performer will be joined by a backing band that will change based on geography and include many of their peers and previous tourmates. “I’ve always loved seeing that and now I’m absolutely loving creating something like that with good friends who think and believe along the same lines.”
The tour will mark Ragan’s final run in support of last year’s solo debut Feast Or Famine, after which he’ll begin pre-production on his next album for SideOneDummy. Barry is touring in support of his own folk debut, Rivanna Junction. Although the two musicians met in the nineties while fronting two of the most influential DIY punk bands of the era, in recent years both songwriters have begun to explore folk and bluegrass compositions, making this tour a perfect pairing of ideologies and instrumentation.
Nichols entered the picture when him and Ragan recently toured in January, but it wasn’t until this year’s SXSW Festival in Austin , Texas , that the plan was solidified. “We were both doing our own thing and weren’t there in conjunction, but ended up sitting down for some drinks after one of the long days,” Ragan explains. “We agreed on a time, shook hands and kept on drinking.” While the tour will feature individual sets from each artist, it will be more reminiscent of the folk tradition of involving multiple artist collaborations—and each performer will have guests coming on and off stage, including the three primary songwriters who plan to hunker down in Barry’s Richmond, Virginia backyard this summer to learn each other’s respective tracks.
“The three of us have been in bands that each have their own sound, but I think we’re all coming from the same place musically concerning this tour,” Nichols explains. “When it comes down to it, we all appreciate good songs and good songwriters and that’s what this tour is all about,” he adds, “stripping everything down to its basic form and playing some good songs with some of your friends. The idea of Woody Guthrie, just a man and a guitar, is very appealing to all of us—and the chance to be a part of something like that with Chuck and Tim is something I couldn’t pass up. We all have our own types of songs, but I think it’ll be a blast basically sitting around a campfire every night playing music with some friends.”
“I don’t know what it’s going to end up sounding like from night-to-night and that’s the coolest thing about it,” explains Barry. “I don’t think anyone is going to know what it’s going to sound like until we get up there, but I can honestly say that I’m more excited about music now than I’ve been in a long time.” The routing hasn’t been confirmed yet, but The Revival Tour will tentatively take place from late September through mid-November and traverse the entire country. “There’s only a few bands that I feel that kinship with as far as personalities beyond music; there’s some people where you’re like, ‘this is my family on the road no matter what.’ Hot Water Music and Lucero are two of the few bands I feel that way about,” Barry summarizes. “It’s going to be a thrill to do this.”
Chuck Ragan has been the co-frontman for the Gainesville , Florida punk act Hot Water Music since 1993. He released his debut full-length Feast Or Famine last year on SideOneDummy.
Tim Barry has been the singer of the Richmond, Virginia-based punk band Avail since 1990. Barry released his solo debut Rivanna Junction last year on Suburban Home Records.
Ben Nichols has been the frontman of the alternative-country/punk act Lucero since 1998. The band released their latest album Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers on their own label Liberty & Lament in 2006.

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Tim Barry's new album "Manchester" will be out Nov. 4 on Suburban Home Records.