It has become one of the better Sundilla traditions: every other year Randall Bramblett comes to town, packs the AUUF, puts on one of the best concerts anyone will see anywhere, sells a bunch of CDs, and sends everyone home happy and humming. It’s time to renew that tradition: on Friday, August 22, Randall Bramblett returns to Sundilla. Admission at the door is just $15, but a limited number of $12 tickets are available at Spicer’s Music, Mama Mocha’s Coffee, and online at this very site.
Realistically, Randall Bramblett is too big and successful to play Sundilla. Fortunately for us, there are many incarnations of Randall. The guy who was a major part of the seminal jazz-rock group Sea Level is too big for Sundilla. The guy who tours and records with The Allman Brothers, Traffic, Levon Helm, Elvin Bishop, Steve Winwood, Govt. Mule, Widespread Panic and so on is too big for Sundilla. BUT… the guy who brings his guitar, keyboard and harmonica into small intimate venues and blows the audience away is PERFECT for Sundilla.
So how can a guy THAT successful and THAT renowned be perfect for an intimate venue like Sundilla? Because of the music, the songs. Rolling Stone calls Bramblett “One of the South’s most lyrical and literate songwriters.” Bill Berry of REM says “Randall is the most talented and prolific songwriter I have the privilege of knowing.” Chuck Leavell of The Rolling Stones and The Allman Brothers believes “Randall is the most gifted & talented southern singer-songwriter musician of the past several decades.” And Hittin’ the Note puts it succinctly: “Randall Bramblett is the William Faulkner of Southern music.”
The challenge of composing moving, often emotionally driven songs with words that aim to stir the listener’s feelings has always motivated Bramblett. Writing a song is “like playing with the pieces of a puzzle or playing in the sand until you start seeing something,” he asserts.
His latest CD is called “The Bright Spots;” it is a masterful recording soaked with the soulful feel that has defined his music and that of his Southern contemporaries. Elements of pop, soul, blues, and the sounds of the church combine with Randall’s often wistful, beautifully conceived lyrics on a dozen ruminative, roots-based tunes.
Randall Bramblett is one of those performers that single-handedly destroys the misconception that outstanding, nationally-revered musicians don’t come to Auburn, and don’t play Sundilla. If you have friends who have refused to check out what we do at Sundilla, THIS is the concert you want to drag them to. They want you to drag them to it, too, they just don’t know it yet.
Randall Bramblett will be appearing at Sundilla on Friday, August 22; showtime at the AUUF is 7:30. Admission at the door will be $15, but $12 tickets are available at Spicer’s Music, Mama Mocha’s Coffee, and online at this site. We’ll have free coffee, tea, water and food, though as always attendees are welcome to bring whatever food or beverage they prefer.