UCPAC to Welcome Americana Artist Rod Picott, 3/12

Americana artist Rod Picott will perform on March 12th at 8 p.m. in The Loft at Union County Performing Arts Center as part of our ongoing Split Level Concert series.

It's been 15 years since Rod Picott laid down his work belt, picked up an acoustic guitar and put a permanent end to his gig as a sheet rock hanger. He'd been writing music in private for years, but it was 2001's Tiger Tom Dixon's Blues - a debut album that bridged the gap between folk and Americana - that officially introduced him as a singer/songwriter, kick starting one of the more acclaimed careers in modern-day roots music. Since then, he's focused on a different kind of construction: building a catalog of songs that spin stories of hard work, heartache and the human condition.

On Fortune, his latest LP, he turns his focus inward, using himself - not the people around him - as the album's main character. It's his seventh solo release, written and recorded after years of heavy touring. Looking to make a record that could serve as a raw, authentic document of his live show, Picott recorded Fortune quickly, cutting six songs during his first day in the studio and finishing the entire album within a week and a half.

"I wanted to make a record where we captured performances, as opposed to imitating performances," says Picott, who grew up in rural New England before relocating to Nashville. "Technology makes it so easy to do an imitation of what your best performance would sound like, but that's not a real performance. That's just what you would want yourself to sound like. I didn't want to do that. For better or worse, Fortune is what I actually sound like."

Decades ago, during his sheet rock days, Picott promised himself that he wouldn't release an album until he figured out who he was as a writer. Having a good voice wasn't enough; he needed an opinion, a perspective, an ability to turn the world around him into music. With Fortune, he shines a light on himself, strips bare what he found rattling around in his heart and invites the listener to follow a deeper and more intimate journey.

Upcoming Split Level Concerts include Sarah Borges at The Loft at UCPAC on April 16th and Jeanne Jolly at Hamilton Stage on May 7th. For a full listing of shows, visit the Split Level Concerts website at www.splitlevelconcerts.com and the Union County Performing Arts Center website at www.ucpac.org.

Tickets for the concert are only $20 and can be purchased by calling the UCPAC box office at 732-499-8226 or visiting www.ucpac.org. The Loft at the Union County Performing Arts Center is located at 1601 Irving Street in the heart of Rahway's Arts District and is easily accessible to major roads and public transportation.

To post a comment, you must register and login.