Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio welcomes singer-songwriter John Moreland on Tuesday, September 18th at 7:30pm and tickets are on sale now!  The National Reserve will open the show. Tulsa, Oklahoma singer-songwriter John Moreland plays Stuart’s for the first time but visited before at the 2016 Nelsonville Music Festival. Pop Matters says “Moreland’s last couple records evoked other masters of downtrodden, working class folk like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, and Dave Alvin.” Tickets are on sale now at (740) 753-1924 or on our website.

The replay of John Moreland’s network television debut is…glorious and affirming and a sucker punch. He is announced by Stephen Colbert, lights dissolve, and the camera slowly focuses on the person midway across the unadorned stage, revealing him beneath muted blue lights. He is a big man. Seated, alone, cradling his acoustic guitar. He looks like nobody who is famous. Then he begins to sing, to caress the song “Break My Heart Sweetly,” and all that remains is to whisper, “Oh, my god.” In Colbert’s studio everybody stood, like they were in church. 

He sings. And writes. Writes with simple eloquence about love and faith and isolation; the human condition; what every song and poem and novel is about, at the core: Life. “Break My Heart Sweetly” came from his second solo album, released in 2013 and titled In the Throes. High on Tulsa Heat, released through Thirty Tigers, landed him on Colbert’s stage (that’s the LP Colbert held up). Song placements on “Sons of Anarchy,” an emerging artist nomination from the Americana Music Association.Big Bad Luv is the record John Moreland made after, after everything in his life changed. For the better. Released in 2017 on 4AD, Big Bad Luv is unmistakably a rock ‘n’ roll record. If, that is, one understands the term to include Ray Wylie Hubbard, John Hiatt, and Lucero. Or The Band, maybe. Insistent songs, coming from a voice as elegant as unfinished barn wood, songs which insist upon their words being heard. 

The National Reserve will open the show. For nearly half a decade, The National Reserve has spent its Friday nights lighting it up at a Brooklyn bar, winning over barflies with epic sets and a remarkable breadth of songcraft and showmanship. Now, with their stunning new Ramseur Records debut album, Motel La Grange, the band has crafted a rich and raucous collection that instantly places them among Americana’s finest – its force, directness, and performance not unlike some lost recording unearthed from the golden age of 70s rock ‘n’ roll. Founded and fronted by singer-guitarist Sean Walsh, The National Reserve mine an archetypal musical seam, marrying gutbucket R&B, Laurel Canyon lyricism, New Orleans funk workouts, late night soul, and boozy rock ‘n’ roll to create their own timeless brand of American music.

John Moreland will play Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio on Tuesday, September 18th at 7:30pm, doors open at 6:00pm. The National Reserve will open the show. Tickets are available right now, Floor seats are $22 in advance or $27 at the door, Balcony is $19 in advance or $24 at the door, and Box Seats are $27 in advance or $32 at the door. For more information call (740) 753-1924 or visit our website at www.stuartsoperahouse.org.
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