Finding beauty in broken things is a theme in Bill Mallonee’s music that might resonate here in Buffalo.
Proclaimed by Paste Magazine to be number 65 among the 100 Greatest Living Songwriter’s (between Frank Black and Sting), this singer songwriter will play at Lafayette Ave. Presbyterian Church on Saturday, Oct 3, at 7:30. Tickets are $10, $5 with student ID.
New York Press says that he’s “…the best folk-rock act nobody’s ever hear of…The intelligence and intensity of Mallonee’s writing has elicited comparisons to Dylan from his loyal underground admirers.”
According to Rolling Stone, “Bill Mallonee… [has] remained fascinated with the shadowy emotional toils and struggles inherent in the American experience, compelling, insightful, [he] continues to probe through Americana rock and roll proving that sometimes the only story worth telling is that of the journey.”
“Mallonee’s songs give words to shadowy fears of intimacy, of it’s loss, even of the value of what he feels compelled to do,” reported USA Today.
Yes, it’s odd music for a concert in a church, but he’s an oddball himself (His song “Love Cocoon” got him banned from many Christian music outlets.) But – as I’ve established before – Lafayette Church is an odd church, with an odd pastor.
Mallonee, the lyrical and musical source behind the late Americana indie band, Vigilantes of Love, started playing music in the late 80s. His early work was inspired by the post-punk-pop of XTC, Joy Division, the Clash, and Echo and the Bunnymen. Still, his deeper love for Dylan, Neil Young and other artists and writers of the “American experience” left an indelible mark on his writing and vocal delivery.
“Being a son of the South, it’s hard not to be surrounded by the beauty of things fractured and incongruous…it’s the stuff of real songs…you learn a lot by doing 180 shows a year. From 1994 till about 2002 we recorded, played and toured constantly…It was the best way to ‘find one’s own voice’.”
With Vigilantes of Love behind him, Bill is focusing on his solo artist career. He’s 8 albums into his solo work and back to being “just a guy from a college band from Athens, Georgia.” He tours and performs with his wife, keyboardist and vocalist, Muriah Rose.
Mallonee has been privileged to play with many great artists, including REM, North Mississippi All-stars and Bruce Cockburn. He has toured extensively here in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom where BBC Radio 2 has played much of his work. His collaboration with Buddy Miller (Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle) in 2000 produced “Audible Sigh,” an Americana Top 5 in the UK in 2000. Recently he toured with blue-eyed soul rocker Edwin McCain who covered two of Bill’s songs “Babylon” and “Welcome to Struggleville” in 2006.
Click here for a sampling of Bill Mallonee’s music.
Come to hear some amazing music. Come to support a church doing all that it can to preserve its building AND serve its neighborhood. Come to hear faith and desperation, hope and despair, beauty and brokenness, all in a beautiful setting.
Houghton College is proud to sponsor this concert.