Special to the
Opelika Observer
Liz Brasher will perform at Waverly’s Standard Deluxe on Jan. 16, with showtime set for 7:30 p.m.
Brasher makes her own kind of Southern music — one that’s caught halfway between the garage, the church, the bar and the bedroom. She’s a soul singer. A guitar-playing rocker. A one-woman girl group. A gospel revivalist who sings the praises of secular bands like the Box Tops.
Her diverse sound is rooted in the influence of Brasher’s two homes: her adopted hometown of Memphis, where she recorded her debut LP “Painted Image,” for Fat Possum Records and her childhood stomping grounds in rural North Carolina, where she was raised in a musical, multi-ethnic household.
Brasher’s musical horizons expanded as she grew older. Raised on everything from the spirituals of Mahalia Jackson and harmony-heavy hooks of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, she moved to Chicago during her late teens. There, as a college student living far north of the Mason-Dixon line, she gained a new appreciation for the sound of her Southern roots. She dove deep into the early icons of American music, from Stephen Foster to Delta Blues heavyweights like Geeshie Wiley and Leadbelly. That led to an appreciation for latter-day pioneers like Bob Dylan and the Staple Singers, two acts that modernized old-school American traditions to suit a new generation. Inspired, Brasher taught herself to play guitar, then began writing songs shortly thereafter.
After a move to Atlanta brought her back south, Brasher began playing shows, fronting her lean, three-piece live band — later championed by Rolling Stone as a “soul power trio” — for the first time. A love for the music of the 1950s and 1960s eventually convinced her to relocate to Memphis, where labels like Stax and Sun Records had shaped popular music during the previous century. She felt at home there. Like her, Memphis was a melting pot of influences, its internal soundtrack filled with music that crossed generation gaps and genre lines. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that her songwriting flourished in the new town, inspiring the material that appeared on Brasher’s Outcast EP — released in April 2018, not longer after her acclaimed first appearance at SXSW.
Guests at the show can also enjoy supper in the Feed Shak at 6 p.m. before the show. More details will be released on the Standard Deluxe website soon.
This is a bring-your-own-beer event. However, no glass is allowed in the venue.
Tickets are $15 and must be purchased online at www.standarddeluxe.com. No phsyical tickets will be mailed, so guests must select “Will Call” in the shipping information at checkout.
For more information, call 334-826-6423, like and follow Standard Deluxe’s social media pages and or visit the website. The venue is located at 1015 Mayberry Ave.
Jason Ringenberg
Enjoy a show by Jason Ringenberg of Jason and the Scorchers on Jan. 25 at the Little House venue of Waverly’s Standard Deluxe. The show will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Ringenberg was born and raised on an Illinois hog farm that bordered the Rock Island Line Railroad. When he left for Nashville on July 4, 1981 to pursue his dream of “making a band that could kick American roots music into the modern age,” little did he know just how far that kick would go. He immediately formed Jason & The Scorchers and never looked back.
Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, the group tore up venues across the planet and became known as one of the most exciting live bands of their era. On classic LPs like Fervor and Lost and Found, they “singlehandedly rewrote the history of rock ‘n roll in the South” according to Rolling Stone Magazine. Their instinctive ability to combine traditional country music with high-energy punk rock has not been surpassed to this day. In 2008, they were awarded the Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance.
In 1999, Ringenberg went solo. To date, he has released five solo albums, with everyone from the BBC to USA Today lauding his songwriting. His high octane one-man show prompted The Times (UK) to call him “one of the most exciting performers of his generation.”
In 2002, Ringenberg created a children’s music character called “Farmer Jason,” winning numerous awards including an Emmy for his PBS video program It’s A Farmer Jason. Often, this relentless barnstormer will perform a Farmer Jason kids show in the daytime and a Jason Ringenberg concert at night in the same city. His latest album “Stand Tall” was written whilst participating in the Artist in Residence Program for the National Park Service at Sequoia National Park.
This is a bring-your-own-beer event. However, no glass is allowed in the venue.
Tickets are $15 and must be purchased online at www.standarddeluxe.com. No phsyical tickets will be mailed, so guests must select “Will Call” in the shipping information at checkout.
For more information, call 334-826-6423, like and follow Standard Deluxe’s social media pages or visit the website. The venue is located at 1015 Mayberry Ave.