Brad Cole & Abbie Gardner to Perform at UCPAC, 3/4

Roots rockers Brad Cole and Abbie Gardner share a double-bill of Americana music on March 4 at 8 p.m. in The Fazioli Room at Union County Performing Arts Center's Hamilton Stage.

The songs of Brad Cole address the ups and downs of the human condition with both wit and raw insight. His passionate and distinctive delivery of roots-based folk music, woven with the grit and groove of old school bossa and rhythm & blues moves the listener's soul in a direction that is unexpected, yet perfectly familiar. The last 18 months have been very fruitful for Cole - playing over a hundred shows and sharing the stage with a range of immensely talented artists such as Chris Stapleton, Shovels and Rope, Ingrid Michaelson, Dave Davies, Ari Hest, Dan Navarro, Ellis Paul and Will Kimbrough.

Cole has just finished recording his fourth full-length record, entitled Lay It Down which is due to be released in April 2016. Lay it Down was recorded in East Nashville, TN with producer Joe McMahan and a veteran cast of musicians resulting in a project that is perhaps Cole's most soulfully eclectic and cohesive work to date. Currently based in New York City, Cole tours extensively with his band and as a solo acoustic performer.

Abbie Gardner, the fiery dobro player with an infectious smile, has been touring with Americana darlings Red Molly for the past 11 years. After gracing stages from Denver to Denmark, from Australia to Austin, the band decided to take an indefinite hiatus in 2015, so Gardner is striking out on her own!

Her background is as varied as the songs she writes. Gardner has listened to the sweet sound of high lonesome harmonies since her first bluegrass festival at the age of three. Her father, Herb Gardner, is a swing jazz and stride pianist and dixieland trombonist. Gardner's first full-length recording, My Craziest Dream (2004) is an album of jazz standards featuring her father on piano. Her CDs include Honey on My Grave (2006), Bad Nights/Better Days (2008, with Anthony da Costa), and Hope (2011), which features three different kinds of slide guitar (dobro, lap steel and National bottleneck). Gardner also has been recognized as an award-winning songwriter. She wrote and released a song per week for a year as part of the 2013 Real Women Real Songs project and is excited to tour as a solo act in 2016.

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 Fazioli Room at Hamilton Stage is located at 360 Hamilton Street in the heart of Rahway's Arts District and is easily accessible to major roads and public transportation.

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