11/7/24
21+, Positive I.D. Required. 7:00pm Doors / 8:00pm Show
Seated and G.A. Standing. $27-$20
Just as the marbled salamanders emerge from under damp logs and leaves, the mushrooms—smooth, pearlescent ones and spongy morels—turn on like night lights glowing in the dark, and the long-horned beetles and regal moths begin buzzing. The fiddlehead ferns and trout lilies curl inward, a copperhead slowly swerves, and a fox steps into the moonlight looking for prey. It is here, in that restless middle of the night, under cover of darkness, where Caleb Caudle’s sixth studio LP Sweet Critters is nestled.
Through sometimes shadowy arrangements that creep and lurk, Caudle continues to mine both the brightest and murkiest corners of his imagination, finding that purest of points where tenderness and grit collide, inspired by musical heroes like Buddy Miller and Guy Clark, and mentors like Elizabeth Cook and John Paul White. It was White who Caudle tapped to produce Sweet Critters, along with Ben Tanner, at the duo’s Florence, Alabama studio Sun Drop Sound. "I was very excited to work with Caleb on this record. I've been a fan for years and count him as a friend,” White says of working with Caudle. “He's a stellar songwriter, so I knew he'd bring the goods. And he did.” The album features Allison Russell, Aoife O'Donovan, John Paul White, and Caudle's own touring band.