Magnolia Express / Benton Roark

From the venue:

Event Description

Atlanta based, Magnolia Express, plays high energy americana/roots/newgrass music-a musical “stew” of rock,country, bluegrass, latin, and honky tonk music-all driven by acoustic instruments. Known for their energetic live shows and wide ranging catalog, the band most recently released its second album, Manatee’s Store, last May.

Benton Roark’s music has been described “backwoods-choir elegance” (The Georgia Straight), “dirty-southern-gothic-rock-country-folk” (Discorder Magazine), and “an experience of deep and darkling beauty” (The Austin Chronicle). Based in Toronto but hailing originally from Atlanta, he’s been making music for nigh on two decades across North America as a songwriter and bandleader with various groups, including Rollaway (“tone poems in the style of My Morning Jacket,” Maverick Magazine), the Benton Roark Band (“magisterial” The Vancouver Sun), and Arkora, whose Songs from the Rainshadow’s Edge earned him a 2016 WCMA nomination for Composition of the Year. In many ways, this work served as a follow-up to The Return of the Lonesome Coyote Patchwork Pulpit, and Sundry Other Tales from the Rainbow’s End, a sprawling concept album Inviting comparisons to Neko Case, the Band, and Fleet Foxes. His latest record - Rollaway’s Modern Epic (2019) - drew comparisons to the Allman Brothers, Sea Level, and Stax/Volt releases and was called “superb both its instrumental explorations and soaring harmonies” (The Vancouver Sun). Roark returns to Atlanta for an evening of old-time originals, dark country, and arcane Americana with fellow musicians Peden Young, Dean Leeper, and Scott Glazer, and local favorites Magnolia Express.