Bill and the Belles

1785 Main Street,Peninsula OH 44264

06 February, 2022

Description

Bill and the Belles- Touring in support of their latest album, Happy Again, Bill and the Belles make their first stop at the G.A.R. Hall February 6th- Bill and the Belles- Touring in support of their latest album, Happy Again, Bill and the Belles make their first stop at the Voices in the Valley concert series at the G.A.R. Hall- The band began as a project to explore the sounds between rural and urban music, between vaudeville and down home roots, but they’ve arrived somewhere wholly their own. They revel in the in-between: deeply engaged with the stringband tradition and eager to stretch those influences to contemporary settings. Happy Again isn’t exactly happy. But the delightfully deadpan new album from roots mainstays Bill and the Belles is full of life, humor, and tongue-in-cheek explorations of love and loss. Happy Again marks a new chapter for the group by featuring eleven all-original songs penned by founding member Kris Truelsen. There’s no dancing around it: this album is about his divorce. But the group has a knack for saying sad things with a bit of an ironic smirk, pairing painful topics with a sense of release and relief. Anyone who’s been to one of their shows can attest that you leave feeling lighter and refreshed. The band often jokes that their setlists appear mournful and angry, but if you don’t listen to the words, you wouldn’t know it! The band presents these themes simply and playfully, inviting listeners to reframe their own burdens and look to the future. “This was one of the first times I felt like I was writing country songs like my heros that were actually from my own perspective,” says Truelsen. “I quickly realized it made sense for us to break the rules.” The group subverts expectations for a stringband, taking a page from some of the finest early country and rock songwriters that drifted happily between genres. Truelsen describes the band’s mission: “One of my ultimate goals is to write songs that are hard to classify in a certain time period. To transcend the now.” Excited to welcome this band for the first time to the G.A.R. Hall General Admission- $20.00 Doors open at 7:30/ Music at 8pm Please bring your Covid vax cards or negative PCR covid test (within 72 hours) with your ID for entry. You can read the entire G.A.R. covid policy at www.peninsulahistory.org. Thank You! The Peninsula Foundation was formed in 1997 by the late Robert L. Hunker and serves area residents, visitors, and school children by promoting historic preservation, maintaining archives, preserving artifacts, and providing tours of our historic buildings. Our mission is to preserve the heritage, maintain the character and promote the vitality of Peninsula, Ohio and the Cuyahoga Valley by engaging the community through arts and educational programming and historic preservation.