Schedule

Sunday, August 13, 2023 at 7:20 pm (Main Stage)

If you think you know St. Paul & The Broken Bones, think again. The latest path this soulfully urgent band has embarked on is the stuff of dreams. And that’s quite literal. The band — Paul Janeway (vocals), Jesse Phillips (bass), Browan Lollar (guitar), Kevin Leon (drums), Al Gamble (keyboards), Allen Branstetter (trumpet), Chad Fisher (trombone), and Amari Ansari (saxophone) — take themselves and the listener on an aural excursion that pulls like taffy from their soul-rock roots to other-worldly realms. Janeway says the idea came from a fever dream. This is a band intent not so much on reinvention, but like the earliest European inhabitants of the Alabama Gulf coast, on exploration.

Verging into psychedelia with Pink Floyd-ian soundscapes at times, their 2022 release, The Alien Coast, still retains the grooves that is the Alabama-based band’s stock in trade. And of course, Janeway’s vocals soar and swoop over the undulating black-top highway The Broken Bones lay down. With his distinctive falsetto he delivers all the pain, madness, and heartfelt yearning that this new, exciting record explores. The record’s sense of wonder reflects the origins of its title. So odd and arresting did those earliest settlers find their new environment, they referred to it as “the alien coast.” It’s an intriguing, enthralling listen (get thee to the merch tent), that retains all of the St. Paul’s deep soul-R&B-rock inclinations while stretching the boundaries of everything they were before.

Their live shows are the stuff of legend. This is what we offer you — the legendary St. Paul & The Broken Bones. Dream on.