Gates: 6:30PM / Doors: 7:30PM / Show: 8:00PM
Katie Pruitt
Katie Pruitt is living proof of music’s power to transform the way we experience the world. Soon after the arrival of her acclaimed debut Expectations—a 2020 LP on which she documented her journey in growing up queer in the Christian South—the Georgia-bred singer/songwriter/guitarist heard from countless listeners that her songs had impacted their lives on an elemental level. “A lot of people told me how the record helped them navigate their relationships with family—I even had some parents tell me that it helped them understand their children better,” she recalls. With her sophomore album Mantras, the Nashville-based musician now looks inward to explore such matters as gender identity, self-compassion or the lack thereof, and the struggle for peace in times of chaos and uncertainty—ultimately arriving at a body of work that speaks to the strength in undoing harmful self-beliefs and fully living your truth.
“One of the big themes of this record is the idea of building a home inside yourself rather than seeking it in others,” says Pruitt. “Over the past couple years I’ve tried to change the way I speak to myself and turn my negative internal dialogue into a kinder voice, because that ends up influencing everything: the kindness starts with us and ripples outward into the world. Mantras is about finding that light within ourselves instead of falling into the trap of chasing validation from our parents or friends or religion or social media.”
Mainly produced by Collin Pastore and Jake Finch (both known for their work with boygenius and Lucy Dacus), Mantras delves deeper into the empathetic storytelling and incisive self-examination that defined Expectations—an album that earned Pruitt a nomination for Emerging Artist of the Year from the Americana Music Association, in addition to drawing praise from major outlets like Rolling Stone (who hailed Pruitt as a “dynamic new presence”) and Pitchfork (who noted that “[h]er songs are patient but determined, navigating serious subjects with quiet familiarity”). This time around, Pruitt sets her lived-in lyricism to a folk-leaning sound informed by her love for the more experimental edges of indie-rock, stacking her songs with plenty of propulsive grooves and overdriven guitars. “Most of this record came from Collin, Jake, and I tracking everything in their studio—this tiny little shed filled with a whole bunch of fun musical toys,” says Pruitt, who also created the album with musicians like string arranger Laura Epling (Orville Peck, Spencer Cullum). “We built the tracks from the ground up as opposed to cutting everything live, which gave us so much more room to let the songs evolve and become what they needed to be.”
Although several songs took shape with the help of co-writers like singer/songwriter Ruston Kelly (Bethany Cosentino, Amanda Shires), Pruitt wrote most of Mantras on her own and imbued her lyrics with an expansive element of autobiography. In penning the album-opening “All My Friends (Are Finding New Beliefs),” she mined inspiration from a Christian Wiman poem of the same name, dreaming up a fuzzed-out and summery track etched with both self-aware reflection and sharp-witted observation (from the opening lines: “Gold cross on your first communion/Got stoned at the school reunion/Moved away and unfriended the Jesus freaks”). “I wrote that song thinking about how everybody’s trying to find the thing that grounds them and gives them clarity and purpose, like how all these ex-Christian kids I know are getting into horoscopes and astrology,” says Pruitt. “Maybe in some cases you don’t agree with or understand someone else’s beliefs—but if it makes them a kind, happy, loving person, then what’s the harm?”
Jess Nolan
When Jess Nolan began writing her third album at home in Nashville, she'd been on the move for years, balancing an acclaimed solo career with her work as a harmony-singing keyboardist for Jenny Lewis, Katie Pruitt, and Joy Oladokun. Living alone for the first time ever and looking to prioritize her downtime, she began writing new songs that bridged the gap between intimacy and expansiveness. She'd already explored the softer, meditative side of her music with her previous record, '93. This new material was something different: darker, autumnal, nocturnal, and playful. It felt right to record the songs in the same place she'd written them, so Nolan turned her house into a makeshift studio and got to work. Joined by co-producer Megan McCormick and a small cast of bandmates and friends — nearly all of them female — she tracked the album in a matter of days, avoiding overdubs altogether and letting childlike curiosity lead the way. The result is an unfiltered view into Nolan's past and present, with songs that turn personal details into something communal and cathartic.
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