House Show: Bradford Loomis & Jesse Montoya

Enjoy live music up close & personal in a true living room listening environment with a community of music lovers. Advance tickets highly recommended, limited seating.

You are welcome to bring food & drink to share. Inside show, extra chairs are welcome.

Bring cash for merch & support these incredible artists.

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Meet the Artists:

Bradford Loomis (Nashville)

They say that when it rains, it pours, and in late 2009 the brewing storm let loose and stayed for years. Along with the Great Recession, which took his job and eventually his home in the Seattle area, there was an excruciating hurt and loss within his once close-knit community, as well as a mysterious illness affecting his wife which saw them in and out of the ER and doctor’s offices long before a diagnosis would come.Losing a job, a home, a community and supporting a sick spouse when jobs were as scarce could have broken anyone, yet this storm would not conquer Bradford Loomis. His strife was fodder for hard-won songs and his fear fuel to push him toward a full time career in music.

His family of five moved into a tiny mother-in-law apartment to save money and his wife, on the mend after finally learning she had celiac disease, started working full time again.

He began touring, building a supportive community of fans and recording the songs that became those buoys, leading to new destinations, new friends and a sense of purpose that overshadows the pain it took to get through, let go and sail on.

Bradford threw himself into writing and learning about the music business. Mentors appeared like angels sharing their knowledge and experiences in the music industry. He released his first full length album, Into the Great Unknown before teaming up with another singer/songwriter Beth Whitney to release a pair of award winning records under the name The Banner Days (self titled Banner Days and Hand Me a Hymnal). After his father’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s, he found further fuel for the fire. With the tales of his family’s struggles burning fresh in his chest, Bradford released his most vulnerable project Bravery and the Bell.

“We are uniquely wired for narrative. It’s how we pass on our history, impart our wisdom and build connections with each other,” he says, “we see ourselves in the stories of others. We can put ourselves in their shoes and have empathy.”

Drawing from the storytelling of Bruce Springsteen, Iron and Wine and Jason Isbell, and pairing it with the soulful delivery of Chris Stapleton, Marc Broussard and Shawn James, Bradford has created a unique style he calls Rhythm & Roots. Grit and melody marry roots and soul.

“There is such a thing as good grief.” he muses, “I had walked away from music for ten years when we started a family. The grief we felt, the desperation of those hard times…without it, I doubt that I would have come back to it in any meaningful way or that we would have ever taken the leap to going all in with it.”

Playing 355 shows in two years, while also releasing a Christmas EP (Wintering Heart) and a live album (Live at the Red Clay Foundry), has taken him far and wide in his travels and given him some insights.

“I feel strongly the duality of the artist. On one hand, I am compelled to speak about what I see and have experienced. But, I also feel the pull to speak about how things could be.” he says. “In my experience there is so much more that we agree about than what divides us. I think people sometimes just need help seeing hope.”

In his new album Where the Light Ends, Bradford balances that duality with a masterful grace. Lyrically, he speaks of the raw reality of the human condition with passion, sharing tales that are shaped by grief and longing colored by wistfulness and regret, but are lifted by enduring hope, humility and love.

“In my travels, I’ve met a lot of people going through hard times,” he reflects, “I want them to know they’re not alone. We’re in this thing together.”

Bio courtesy of https://bradfordloomis.com/

Bradford Loomis | Spotify

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Jesse Montoya (Jax)

Jesse Montoya is an acoustic finger style guitarist and singer songwriter from Jacksonville, FL. Montoya has been performing for over a decade. She plays many venues and events in and around Jacksonville, including The Riverside Arts Market, rain dogs, Downtown Art Walk, 1904 Music Hall, The Cummer Museum, Southern Grounds, Shanty Town Pub and more. Her music has been described as “Bluesy and earthy”. Montoya’s first album, “Jesse Montoya, Guitar & Voice” debuted in the Fall of 2014.

Named “Florida’s Solo Artist of the Year- 2015” by Bridging the Music Productions.

Received Top Ten Nomination in the “Music” category for One Spark 2014, The Worlds Crowd Funding Festival.

“A voice as graceful as Joni Mitchell’s… bluesy and earthy, Montoya’s is transcendent” – Arbus January 2016