Chuck Mead added to Community Concert Hall Spring line-up

DURANGO, Colo. – One of the artists lauded for the ‘90s alternative country explosion, Chuck Mead, takes the stage at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College Wednesday, May 20, 7:30 p.m. Special guests the Lawn Chair Kings will open the show. Tickets go on sale April 27.

Revered as the “Hillbilly Renaissance Man” for his successes as songwriter, performer, producer and musical theater director, Mead is a co-founder of the three-time Grammy nominated BR549. On tour promoting his first solo album, Journeyman’s Wager, Mead has more than a decade under his belt as one of the most uncompromising and consistent talents in the American roots music movement.

 

“I respect the term ‘journeyman,’ because that’s what I consider myself,” said Mead. “I’ve been living by my wits musically form more than 20 years now, going from job to job and doing them all pretty well. Certainly there’s a hustle to what I do, but there’s always been a gambling aspect to it too. With this album, it’s finally all me going all-in.”

For Mead, life and music have always been irrevocably intertwined. He joined his first band at age 12, and throughout his twenties he led several groups in and around his hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, including the popular Mid-western cult band The Homestead Grays.

By the early ‘90s Mead found himself on Nashville’s then-seedy Lower Broadway and within months he co-founded a quintet that began performing must-see marathon sets in the front window of bar/bootery Robert’s Western World. BR549 would become one of the most improbable success stories of the past decade.

With BR549 currently on an extended hiatus, Mead founded the touring collective, The Hillbilly Allstars featuring members of The Mavericks, co-produced tribute albums to Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings and became a staff writer at one of Nashville’s top song publishers. In 2007, he was named musical director of “Million Dollar Quartet,” the stage musical based on the night in 1956 that Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley came together for an impromptu jam session.

“It’s been incredibly liberating to do all these things I’ve never done before,” said Mead. “But most of all, I wanted to call my own shots and make a record that mattered.”

Journeyman’s Wager was produced by Grammy award-winning producer Ray Kennedy, and fuses country, pop, pub rock and honky-tonk. Mead kicks off his promotional tour on May 1, touring with Mark Miller (BR549), Martin Lynds (Marah) and Carco Clave (Asleep at the Wheel).

 

Tickets for Chuck Mead, with special guest the Lawn Chair Kings – $15 for Orchestra and Balcony and $20 for Plaza – are available on the web at www.durangoconcerts.com or by calling 970.247.7657, or at the Ticket Office in Downtown Durango at 7^th and Main Ave. All sales final.

Showtime is 7p.m., with doors to the Concert Hall and concessions, serving beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages and snacks, opening at 6:30 p.m.

The Community Concert Hall is located in the growing arts complex of Fort Lewis College.  It operates through a partnership with the college, a state-supported, independent institution of higher education, as well as the city of Durango, and with financial and in-kind contributions from generous members of the community.