Musician Corey Campbell (of the Charleston based band Babe Club) is bringing a listening room style concert series to Huriyali’s back patio and garden. The series kicks off at the downtown restaurant on May 3 with John Brewster and Nick Poulin. Later this month, Jenna Desmond and Taylor Lee Czer will perform on May 17, and on May 31, Admiral Radio and Gritty Flyright take the stage.
Campbell said he created the concert series to showcase local singer-songwriters in an intimate venue, explaining that he and his musical peers have been missing such local spaces to perform downtown, like The Eclectic Cafe and Vinyl, for example, which closed in 2018.
“I’ve been feeling for a while there hasn’t really been much space to showcase songwriters here in town … [The] Royal American or Lo-Fi, those aren’t really places for songwriters to me. And so when I brought the idea to [Huriyali owner] Tom, he wanted to throw a line out to the community — This concert series is like a trial run for something that could continue recurring.”
Huriyali owners Tom McFall and Ruchi Mistry are excited, Campbell said, to host the series and offer a new experience to the community. The co-owners decided to also offer special drinks and light bites for concert goers.
“Definitely come hungry! We’re going to have natural wines to pair with the food,” Campbell said. “So it’ll be a really curated night, not only for the music but also for the food and sensory experience.”
For the first three concerts, Campbell selected artists for the lineup who are really involved in the music community here — like Czer, who founded the local arts publication 9-5 Mag, and Desmond, his bandmate from Babe Club.
He also said showcasing artists who can benefit from the more intimate venue experience is a founding vision of the project: Like John Brewster, performing on May 3, who makes music that Campbell called “chill, beautiful, lyrical music,” or Admiral Radio, who makes singer-songwriter folk-country.
“I’ve seen [Admiral Radio] at Royal and they always kill it,” Campbell said. “They sound amazing. But I feel like unless they have a full band, it’s hard to really keep the loud bars’ attention. The way that they sing, the way they perform is so engaging, it just demands a more attentive listening space. And so I figured this would be a good opportunity for them to connect in a way that they deserve to be heard.”
Campbell said he’s excited to kick off the series with great artists this month and he’s got high hopes for what this event series can blossom into.
“It’ll be cool to see what this event could look like, what the response will be. We’re kicking it off really strong with these artists.”
The tickets are limited to keep the shows up close and personal, so get them while you can on eventbrite. Learn more at @coco_campbell_ and @huriyali on Instagram.
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