POSTPONED. New Date To Be Determined. Tickets will be honored or refunded when new date is announced.
$18 advance. $25 door. Craig's songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, BB King, Ray Charles, Tony Rice, Alison Krauss, David Wilcox, Martina McBride and wrote and performed two songs in the Academy Award-winning Robert Duval film, Tender Mercies.
BYOB optional. $5 additional BYOB fee per alcohol drinker at the door. Must be 21+ to bring alcohol. Drinkware and ice provided. New Avenue Cafe will be open for snack and refreshment purchases.
Doors open at 7:00 pm for Advance Sales. 7:15 pm for Door Sales. 7:30 show. Limited table seating. Free Parking in Oakmont Municipal lot behind Kelly Center off Darby Road.
Website: http://www.craigbickhardt.com/
CRAIG BICKHARDT: Craig's songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, BB King, Ray Charles, Tony Rice, Alison Krauss, David Wilcox, Martina McBride, Charlie Louvin, Janis Ian, Jonathan Edwards, Kathy Mattea, Pam Tillis, Jimmy MacCarthy and about 100 others, but his live performances are the key. His many film and TV credits include writing and performing two songs in the Academy Award-winning Robert Duval film, Tender Mercies.
When Craig Bickhardt steps onto a concert stage, he comes equipped with his trusty acoustic guitar. A side musician or two will frequently join him. He’s also accompanied by something invisible, yet ever-present: the stories of a lifetime, vividly translated into words and melody.
From the boisterous club scene of Philadelphia to the country-rock milieu of Los Angeles to the picking parlors of Nashville, Craig has immersed himself in the sights and sounds of American music. His music reflects a life lived as a rock band lead singer, a solo troubadour, a dedicated songwriter, a husband and father. Dreams, heartaches and hard-earned lessons have fed his creativity. There is no other way he could’ve written the eloquent, often bittersweet songs that have become his trademark.
“I start a lot of songs because I feel conflicted,” he explains. “I may begin from a point of darkness, but I usually end up writing towards the light because, for me, hope is the thing worth singing about. The characters in the stories I sing aren’t heroic; they’re very ordinary. But they’re reaching for something beyond themselves, and I find nobility in that.”
Craig is a singer/songwriter of the old school – you can hear echoes of such ‘60s folk revival artists as Tom Rush, Gordon Lightfoot and Eric Andersen in his work. Added to this is the melodic sophistication of a Jimmy Webb or a Paul Simon, as well as a spare but telling lyric approach. “I admire songwriters like Woody Guthrie and poets like Robert Frost because they created functional art,” he says. “Too much music today is just for the singer, not for Everyman. I think of my work as a ‘Please Touch’ museum – I want my songs to be sung until they’re worn out.”