Two of today’s hottest new finds of the Red dirt/Americana persuasion, Adam Hood and Sean McConnell, will lend their musical talents to help a local literacy-focused cause that’s “pedaling along.”
Recording artists Hood and McConnell will donate their respective musical performances to this year’s 3rd annual Ride For Reading concert, which will get under way beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at 3rd and Lindsley, 818 3rd. Ave. South. (Last year's event was a sell-out, fyi.)
Ride For Reading is a Nashville-based nonprofit organization was founded by avid cyclists with the goal of providing books to children of low-income families. Tickets to this year's benefit concert, which will be sponsored by New Belgium Brewing, are $10 in advance and $15 at the door, with all proceeds benefitting Ride For Reading.
"We are honored to have the support of Sean and Adam," said the nonprofit group's founder, cyclist and 4th-grade teacher Matthew Porter, who founded Ride For Reading. "They are both amazingly talented and we appreciate their willingness to use their gifts to help further our mission."
A peek under the Hood of Adam
Alabama native Hood--who can list Miranda Lambert among his biggest fans--is currently celebrating his latest single, "Hell of A Fight," which made its CMT debut on Feb. 17. The track is contained on Hood’s The Shape of Things album, which is a collection of tunes the singer-songwriter penned and cut during the past two years during breaks in his touring schedule.
Released in October 2011, the 11-song offering is the follow up to his self-titled EP that was released in May 2011 to coincide with his tour. And beyond his new single and CD, Hood's currently basking in the glow of his five nods from the Lone Star Music Awards, where he's in the running for Album of the Year, Best Singer-Songwriter/Folk-Rock Album, Song of the Year ("Flame & Gasoline), Best Male Vocal and Songwriter of the Year ("The Shape of Things").
A bit about songster Sean McConnell
Peformer McConnell, meanwhile, is the winner of last year’s Emerging Artist trophy from the Lone Star Music Awards and is working on putting a second 200,000 miles on his old van in the name of touring.
A native of Boston with seven indie albums to his credit thus far, McConnell, these days, spends much is his nontouring time in Texas, where he's content to be associated with the Red-dirt music scene and also pen tracks for others, not just himself. To that end, he's built a solid career inking cuts for the likes of Brad Paisley, Wade Bowen, Jimmy Wayne and Tim McGraw,among many others, as a writer for Warner/Chappell Publishing--a gig he secured just out of college.
The dozen-song Saints, Thieves, and Liars is McConnell's latest CD, and it's available for digital downloand now via iTunes. Released in April 2010, the performance-based record, he has said, is dripping with what McConnell does best: "Lyric-driven roots-rock with soul."
- Video view: To sample McConnell's "Lie Baby Lie" single from his latest CD, click here. To see Hood's brand-new "Hell of A Fight" music video, simply access the clip embedded on the left side of this post.
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