Adam Ezra Group • Aug 24 • 7:30 PM • Free

Adam Ezra felt alone. It was March of 2020, and as the COVID-19 pandemic began tightening its deadly grip across the United States, the roots rock stalwart found himself forced off the road for the first time in years, stuck at home with a calendar full of cancelled tour dates and no one to perform for. Concerned by the chaos unfolding around him but certain he wasn’t the only one in search of some kind of solace, Ezra decided to pick up his guitar, turn on his phone, and do what he’d always done in times of worry or doubt: play a show.  “I just started livestreaming from my house,” Ezra recalls. “It was a way to connect with people, to feel a little less lost, a little less scared. I played and talked for about an hour, and then at the end of the stream, I told everybody, ‘I’ll come back tomorrow if you come back tomorrow.’” 

Ezra kept his promise and then some, returning every single night after that for what he and his fans would eventually come to call The Gathering Series. Interactive and improvisatory, the shows took shape on the fly, drawing on daily life and frequently featuring newly written material and never performed songs from Ezra’s extensive back catalog. Driven by a belief that small grassroots communities have the power to impact the world, Ezra - who has gone live daily since March 13th 2020 - has reached a cumulative audience of well over 15 million viewers worldwide, a staggering feat for any artist that stands as a testament, not only to his artistic endurance, but also his ability to provide an accepting and supportive space for newcomers joining his tight-knit community of fans during a time when it’s needed more than ever. 

“From extravagance to simple elegance we went, as Kerri Powers took the stage with nothing but a chair, an acoustic guitar and a tapping tambourine strapped to the toe of her boot. Reading about her I assumed she’d be a folk strummer, but she began to lay down some of the finest country blues fingerstyle guitar we’ve had on our stage. It was shades of Rory Block, Chris Smither and, all the way back, Blind Blake and Gary Davis. She’s got the dance and snap and melodic intent that makes the Piedmont style one of my lifetime favorite styles, and we too rarely see women focused on these skill.” ~ Craig Havighurst, Music City Roots