- This event has passed.
Bradford Loomis Live
August 28, 2023 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
$25.00
Monday Aug 28 Doors 6:00 Show 7:30
Tickets $ 25 + gst @ Bozzini’s or call 604 792 0744 to reserve by phone.
Bradford made his Canadian debut at Bozzini’s in November of 2015 and instantly became a favourite of everyone in the audience. He returned for a sold out show in 2017 and then he moved to Nashville but now he finally returns after 6 1/2 years
Had he lived one hundred and fifty years ago, Bradford Loomis may have been riding rail cars out west or sailing down the Mississippi on a paddle boat. Or maybe he would have claimed his stake in the flat lands of the Midwest. Perhaps he would have plied his hand on a ranch in Texas.
Born in the Northwest in more modern times, Bradford has lived to tell a different, but no less exciting, tale. Through years of choir, band and orchestra he discovered a powerful kinship to the songs and stories of those bygone eras as they helped show him a meaningful way to tell his story.
Bradford Loomis marries grit and melody to dig to the roots of American folklore and speak of the raw reality of the human condition with passion. His stories span several lifetimes of relatable emotions; bitterness & loss, deep longing & regret, enduring hope & love, elation & joy.
Upon learning recently that his father was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s disease, Bradford starting laying the ground work for this new project. Bravery and the Bell, (releasing March 24th 2017) is about legacy, both the lineage we are born into and that which we pass on. Whether burdened or buoyed by our generational inheritance, this album confronts the drudgery of simply surviving and sounds a call to stand up to the things that stand in the way of us truly passionately pursuing that which we were made to be.
Bradford’s influences include Chris Stapleton, the Swell Season, Johnny Cash T-Bone Burnett.
They say that when it rains, it pours, and in late 2009 the brewing storm let loose and stayed for years. Along with the Great Recession, which took his job and eventually his home in the Seattle area, there was an excruciating hurt and loss within his once close-knit community, as well as a mysterious illness affecting his wife which saw them in and out of the ER and doctor’s offices long before a diagnosis would come.Losing a job, a home, a community and supporting a sick spouse when jobs were as scarce could have broken anyone, yet this storm would not conquer Bradford Loomis. His strife was fodder for hard-won songs and his fear fuel to push him toward a full time career in music.
“There is such a thing as good grief.” he muses, “I had walked away from music for ten years when we started a family. The grief we felt, the desperation of those hard times…without it, I doubt that I would have come back to it in any meaningful way or that we would have ever taken the leap to going all in with it.”
His family of five moved into a tiny mother-in-law apartment to save money and his wife, on the mend after finally learning she had celiac disease, started working full time again.
He began touring, building a supportive community of fans and recording the songs that became those buoys, leading to new destinations, new friends and a sense of purpose that overshadows the pain it took to get through, let go and sail on.
Bradford threw himself into writing and learning about the music business. Mentors appeared like angels sharing their knowledge and experiences in the music industry. He released his first full length album, Into the Great Unknown before teaming up with another singer/songwriter Beth Whitney to release a pair of award winning records under the name The Banner Days (self titled Banner Days and Hand Me a Hymnal). After his father’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s, he found further fuel for the fire. With the tales of his family’s struggles burning fresh in his chest, Bradford released his most vulnerable project Bravery and the Bell.
“We are uniquely wired for narrative. It’s how we pass on our history, impart our wisdom and build connections with each other,” he says, “we see ourselves in the stories of others. We can put ourselves in their shoes and have empathy.”
“We are uniquely wired for narrative. It’s how we pass on our history, impart our wisdom and build connections with each other”
Drawing from the storytelling of Bruce Springsteen, Iron and Wine and Jason Isbell, and pairing it with the soulful delivery of Chris Stapleton, Marc Broussard and Shawn James, Bradford has created a unique style he calls Rhythm & Roots. Grit and melody marry roots and soul.
“There is such a thing as good grief.” he muses, “I had walked away from music for ten years when we started a family. The grief we felt, the desperation of those hard times…without it, I doubt that I would have come back to it in any meaningful way or that we would have ever taken the leap to going all in with it.”
Playing 355 shows in two years, while also releasing a Christmas EP (Wintering Heart) and a live album (Live at the Red Clay Foundry), has taken him far and wide in his travels and given him some insights.
“I feel strongly the duality of the artist. On one hand, I am compelled to speak about what I see and have experienced. But, I also feel the pull to speak about how things could be.” he says. “In my experience there is so much more that we agree about than what divides us. I think people sometimes just need help seeing hope.”
In his new album Where the Light Ends, Bradford balances that duality with a masterful grace. Lyrically, he speaks of the raw reality of the human condition with passion, sharing tales that are shaped by grief and longing colored by wistfulness and regret, but are lifted by enduring hope, humility and love.
“In my travels, I’ve met a lot of people going through hard times,” he reflects, “I want them to know they’re not alone. We’re in this thing together.”