Damien Jurado plays Grand Oak Opry as part of “50 State Tour”

Grand Oak Opry is thrilled to announce a rare opportunity and one-time show: acclaimed urban folksinger/songwriter Damien Jurado will play at the Grand Oak Opry on Saturday October 21st at 4:00 p.m. as a part of his national “50 State Tour”. This is the only concert in the Twin Cities as a part of this tour.

* Doors at 3:00, show at 4:00.

* No advance tickets. Suggested donation of $20/adult, but we ask that people simply pay what you can. (No one will be turned away.)

* Bring a chair/blanket and anything you want to eat or drink. We provide water and a bathroom.

* Check the About page for information on logistics.

From Damien about this 50 State Tour: “It started as a dream as I drove past so many neighborhoods and towns on my way the “major market”. I have watched our choice to connect to the experience in front of us dwindle away, only to be replaced with connection to a screen. We are told what is success, sold what is the “it” thing, and fed what people think we should know. It’s not that any of those are bad, but on their own, they are nothing. We are nothing without the connection to one another. We are blessed to live in a beautiful world FULL of incredible people. If that isn’t worth getting together and celebrating, I don’t know what is. Join me in celebrating our country and the things that not only make us the same but also the beauty of our differences.”

The connection between Damien and Grand Oak Opry? Damien was the inspiration for Grand Oak Opry. It was after attending one of Damien’s shows in the Twin Cities in 2013, that we thought of the original idea for Grand Oak Opry. We wanted to create a community venue where people of all ages could hear performers like Damien.

More on Damien: Damien Jurado quietly built up one of the strongest catalogs on the indie scene, earning high critical praise yet somehow never quite getting his proper due. Nick Drake had a definite impact on much of his work, but Jurado modeled his career on more idiosyncratic, unpredictable figures like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and Randy Newman—songwriters who followed their own muse wherever it took them, whether fans and critics enjoyed it or not. His independence was born at least in part from the influence of punk, and one of the results was a concern for emotional authenticity that led him to delve into other people’s lives instead of his own. Many of Jurado’s best songs spun concise, literate tales of quiet, everyday despair, which often earned him comparisons to short story writer Raymond Carver. But his storytelling bent—not to mention his ambivalence toward confessional material—arose from a stronger grounding in traditional folk than spiritual compatriots like Elliott Smith or Cat Power. And with detours into pop, roots rock, full-fledged electric indie rock, psychedelia, and even found-sound experiments, Jurado ensured that his body of work was impossible to accurately pin down.