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Jon Langford & Kelly Hogan with Joe Adragna of The Junior Leaguedoors 630pm, music 7pm
advance tickets at https://www.handstamp.com/e/jon-langford-kelly-hogan-with-joe-adragna-stoxl749
Kelly Hogan (The Jody Grind, The Rock*A*Teens)
https://www.instagram.com/hoganhere/
Jon Langford (The Mekons, The Waco Brothers)
https://www.instagram.com/jonlangfordoffical/
https://www.instagram.com/mekons_official/
Joe Adragna (The Junior League)
https://www.instagram.com/thejuniorleague/
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Jon Langford is a visual artist and founder member of legendary British punk rock band the Mekons and Chicago country-rockers the Waco Brothers.
Since the mid-1980s, Langford has been a key figure in the nexus between country and punk rock, as well as a vital collaborator with a wealth of musicians from around the world.
Langford's career began in 1976 when he founded the chaotic leftist punk band The Mekons, and he would continue to record with them for the next four decades, while they detoured into folk, electronic music, country rock, and any number of other styles. After relocating to the United States in the1990s, he formed the celebrated alt-country band The Waco Brothers.
From 2000 onward, the prolific Langford recorded with a variety of projects, from the covers-friendly and the R&B-influenced Four Lost Souls to the acoustic/electronic combo Jon Langford & the Bright Shiners. He also established a reputation as a respected visual artist.
From an early age, Langford had an artistic bent and an interest in politics, and when he relocated to Leeds, England to study art at the University of Leeds, he fell in with a group of fellow students who had been emboldened by the burgeoning punk/new wave scene. With Tom Greenhalgh, Langford co-founded The Mekons. Langford was originally the group's drummer, but as various members dropped out and were replaced, he moved to guitar and became one of the group's vocalists and songwriters. Originally a purposefully sloppy punk band fascinated with the politics of daily life, began to expand creatively by the time they released their debut album in 1979, The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strnen, exploring folk and electronic sounds before they went on hiatus in 1982. Langford soon formed a new combo, the guitar-and-drum machine provocateurs , who released seven albums and co-existed with after they returned to duty in 1985, having become involved in the movement to support striking miners in the U.K. Langford's passion for classic country music had caught on with the new lineup, and their next three albums -- Fear and Whiskey (1985), The Edge of the World (1986), and Mekons Honky Tonkin' (1987) -- would fuse raucous roadhouse country with angular rock music and clever political observations.
During this period, the Mekons developed a cult following in the United States; not surprisingly, several members of the band relocated to the United States, and in the early 1990s, Langford settled in Chicago. With the Mekons and as a solo artist, Langford continued to record for independent labels Touch and Go and Bloodshot Records. His artwork is shown throughout the United States and Europe and has shown the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.
He is considered a pioneer for the alt-country movement that emerged that decade and continues his prolific recording and visual art career to this day. In New Orleans, his artwork can be found at LeMieux Galleries.
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Kelly Hogan began singing as a child in Atlanta, and performed in bar bands while still in high school -- offering heartfelt versions of classics like “Stormy Weather” and “Trouble In Mind” -- but her creative trajectory was truly formed in her twenties in a ramshackle community of dilapidated Atlanta row houses called Cabbagetown. This rough and tumble neighborhood, built to accommodate Appalachian mill workers, provided cheap housing and a sense of freedom and camaraderie for the city’s impoverished creative community.
Out of this landscape came Hogan’s first band, The Jody Grind -- purveyors of a unique and intoxicating mix of cabaret, country, jazz, and punk -- featuring Hogan’s soulful voice alongside talented instrumentalist-songwriter Bill Taft. The Jody Grind soon became torchbearers for the Cabbagetown scene, were heralded by R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe and released two influential albums before meeting an untimely end. Hogan followed with a stint playing guitar and singing back-up in the raucous rock and roll outfit The Rock*A*Teens before releasing a solo album of her own titled The Whistle Only Dogs Can Hear. All Music proclaimed Hogan “a talent to watch.”
In 1997, Hogan relocated to Chicago and briefly attempted to quit music, but soon failed miserably. Within months she began singing as much as she could. In 1998, she joined the band of celebrated singer-songwriter Neko Case — a venture she describes as "finding my family,” and, in the ensuing Chicago years, Hogan released two additional solo albums for Bloodshot Records.
She also toured and recorded with a number of artists including Jakob Dylan, Otis Clay, Tortoise, Andrew Bird, the Decemberists, Silkworm, Alejandro Escovedo, Drive-By Truckers, the Mekons, among many others. Her Chicago-based band the Flat Five have released two critically acclaimed albums of country, soul, and pop tunes, as well as originals by cult songwriter Chris Ligon.
She is officially a vocalist with the Mavis Staples band since 2010. The partnership started during the production of Staples’ Grammy-winning album, You Are Not Alone, which was produced by Jeff Tweedy and recorded at Wilco's studio in Chicago.
Her album I Like To Keep Myself In Pain is a powerful and moving testament to Hogan's talent and years spent dedicated to music. And it is from all these accumulated experiences that she has selected a set of enchanting songs from renowned artists met along the way. She's sung with them (Andrew Bird, Jon Wesley Harding, M. Ward, Jon Langford), she's performed and recorded their songs (Jack Pendarvis, The Magnetic Fields, Vic Chesnutt), she's toured with them (Robyn Hitchcock), and some are inspiring friends and neighbors (The Handsome Family, Catherine Irwin of Freakwater).
I Like To Keep Myself In Pain is a musical tour de force that seamlessly blends elements of the past and present. From her time fronting visionary bands to her role as a creative, nimble, and sought-after vocalist, Hogan's every performance and recording has led to this deeply personal and affecting work. "I had all these incredible songs sent to me by people I really admire, and I was working with legendary musicians in a holy-to-me studio space," Hogan says "And then my job was just to listen to what the songs were telling me to do. The song is my boss. Always has been. Always will be."
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Event venue
1172 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA, United States, Louisiana 70130
Tickets
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