Columbia Theatre to present new artist concert series
Wednesday, March 11, 2015 
by: Tonya Lowentritt
COLUMBIA THEATRE'S NEW CONCERT SERIES - Southeastern Louisiana University's Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts is presenting a new series for up and coming bands called the New Artist Concert Series. First on the calendar is a concert featuring an Indie American/Folk band from Asheville, NC, called River Whyless. The group will perform on March 24, at 7:30 p.m., in Columbia Theatre.
HAMMOND – See them before they make it big and say, "I saw them perform before they were famous." Southeastern Louisiana University's Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts is presenting a new series for up and coming bands called the New Artist Concert Series.
Columbia Theatre/Fanfare Interim Director Roy Blackwood is excited about the new series for bands.
"The New Artist Concert Series was designed to provide an exciting additional category of presentations for music lovers in our area," he said. "Please come enjoy the music and give us some feedback on what you think."
First on the calendar is a concert featuring an Indie American/Folk band from Asheville, NC, called River Whyless. The group will perform on March 24, at 7:30 p.m., in Columbia Theatre.
"River Whyless is a band much like that titular body of water – a mingling of currents, a flow of time and physical space, all brought together in a murmuring sense of purpose," Blackwood said. "It is the expression of a group of musicians, three of which are songwriters, who have played together in various forms since their college days in the North Carolina mountains."
Blackwood said their forthcoming EP (extended play), the first release since their 2012 debut album, is the next evolution of the band's collective voice.
"The English trade-folk sounds are the band's obvious touchstones, putting them in a category similar to contemporaries like "Fleet Foxes" and "Stornoway."
Opening for the band is Denton Hatcher and The Soap Box Blues from Baton Rouge, a Blues/Americana band. Blackwood said that Hatcher is one of the South's budding singer-songwriters.
"His music is familiar but diverse," Blackwood said. "It is simple but clever, wounded yet strong, which he holds together with the honest joy of a powerful guitar riff and strong rhythm."
Tickets for the River Whyless concert are $12 and are available at the Columbia Theatre box office Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. or by phone at (985) 543-4371. Patrons may also get tickets online at www.columbiatheatre.org.
All Southeastern faculty, retired faculty or university staff with ID may purchase one ticket for River Whyless and receive one ticket at half price. Both tickets must be purchased in the same transaction and for the same price at the Columbia box office. Contact the box office at 985-543-4371 for more information.
