Crys Mathews & Grace Theisen at The Clover room
Doors @ 7 pm
Show @ 7:30 pm
Tickets are $25 - $35
A troubadour of truth, Nashville resident Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. An award-winning, prolific lyricist and composer, Matthews blends Country, Americana, Folk, Blues, and Bluegrass into a bold, complex performance steeped in traditional melodies punctuated by honest, original lyrics. She is made for these times.
Of Matthews, ASCAP VP & Creative Director Eric Philbrook says, “By wrapping honest emotions around her socially conscious messages and dynamically delivering them with a warm heart and a strong voice, she lifts our spirits just when we need it most in these troubled times.” Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation adds, her gift is a "reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides." In her own words, Matthews says her mission is: "to amplify the voices of the unheard, to shed light on the unseen, and to be a steadfast reminder that hope and love are the truest pathways to equity and justice." Her new album is an embodiment of and a testament to that mission.
When Matthews attended a panel at Folk Alliance International in February of 2024, she heard a Scottish Folk artist inquire as to how many record labels pursue what the artist referred to as "music from my tradition," four words that intrigued Matthews. "I loved the idea of that. It seems like the best way to talk about music: what is your tradition, who are your people, what is the fabric of you?"
A daughter of the South by way of Nashville now and North Carolina forever, and the self-proclaimed poster child of intersectionality, Matthews is boldly answering those questions on her new album aptly titled Reclamation.
Recorded in Nashville, TN at Sound Emporium Studios, Reclamation was produced by Levi Lowry (co-writer of Zac Brown Band's hit song Colder Weather). The project features her partner on and off stage Heather Mae, her friends and fellow singer-songwriters Kyshona, Melody Walker, and Chris Housman, and some of the best musicians in Music City like Megan Coleman, Megan Elizabeth McCormick, Ellen Angelico, Ryan Madora, Jen Gunderman, and Michael Majett.
"This album is both sonically and ideologically the fullest representation of who I am as an artist and as a human," she says. A preacher's kid, a Black woman, a Butch lesbian, and a proud Southerner who sings social justice music right alongside 'traditional' Country and Americana music, Matthews is reclaiming not just of the space Black artists have been denied in Country and Americana music, not just of the space LGBTQ people have been denied in communities of faith, not just of the autonomy women have been denied over their own bodies, she is reclaiming the South that raised her.
Grace Theisen (pronounced “Tyson”) is a queer Americana artist originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Hope College in 2014 with a double major in Gender Studies and Psychology, Grace moved to Nashville, TN from 2015-2018 to run her nonprofit, Songs Against Slavery, full-time. Their mission was to raise awareness and fight sex trafficking in the U.S. through benefit concerts. They ended up raising over $375,000 to aid in the fight. In that time, she opened for Emmylou Harris, played the infamous Bluebird Cafe, participated in songwriter rounds at The Listening Room and opened for Matthew Perryman Jones at The Nashville City Winery.
In 2019, Grace moved back to Kalamazoo to pursue music full-time. Since then she has created quite the buzz. Grace won Cari Cole’s Best New Artist of 2021 and was named “Artist To Watch” by Michigan’s Local Spins media outlet in January of 2022. In March of 2022, she released her 3rd EP, Dance With The Shadows. From that EP, the Down To The River Official Music Video won Best Americana Video & The Audience Choice Award at the 2022 Michigan Music Video Awards. Behind the Rain was picked up by one of Spotify's official playlists, Home At Last. She was also named by Revue Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Bands Heating Up The Summer.”
The Clover Room is an intimate listening room and rental venue dedicated to creatives of all kinds. Located in suite #6 in the south Jerico building. Find out more.
JERICO
THE CLOVER ROOM
1501 FULFORD ST, SUITE 6 KALAMAZOO, MI 49001