The Hotel Café Tour hits the UK this weekend.
Curated by Tom McRae, the tour also features American singer-songwriters Catherine Feeny, Brian Wright, Cary Brothers, Jim Bianco and Greg Laswell.
There have already been two hugely successful tours in the US, with it making it’s European debut this month.
The dates are:
April
Sun 20, Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Mon 21, Leeds Cockpit
Tue 22, Manchester Club Academy
Thu 24, Edinburh Ark
Fri 25, Glasgow Oran Mor
Sat 26, Birmingham Barfly
Mon 28, Bristol Thekla
Tue 29, Brighton Concorde2
Wed 30, London Kings College
"The Hotel Café Tour is about musicians taking control and filling the vacuum left by the near-fatal collapse of the record industry", says McRae. "Unless you've got a major label backing you, the idea of touring - especially abroad - is a virtual impossibility. With the death of recorded music sales, major labels have stopped supporting all but the most chart-bound music, and independent labels can't afford to pay tour support. That's where a network of artists around the world can pool their resources to help each other. It's not a new idea, but whereas we used to see ourselves in competition we now have to see ourselves as allies.”
R13 has already spoken to two members of the tour,
Brian Wright and
Catherine Feeny. Look out for further coverage later in the tour.