Muscle Shoals band Belle Adair will once again visit Green Bar Thursday as part of its tour to promote its debut album “The Brave and the Blue.”
The band formed more than three years ago as a recording project and has since undergone many lineup changes. However, lead singer and guitarist Matt Green says the current lineup is steady and has been performing together for more than a year.
For Green, Belle Adair served as a cathartic creative outlet during a time when he experienced a series of unfortunate events. After his Birmingham apartment caught fire two years ago and he became seriously ill, Green decided it was time to move back home to Muscle Shoals. This is where he formed Belle Adair and set to work creating “The Brave and the Blue.”
“A lot of the songs reflect my move from my Birmingham home,” Green said. “There is a certain kind of narrative art to the record that reflects that time in my life.”
With its variety of instruments and musical techniques employed, Belle Adair creates a rich sound designed to transcend genres by including sound from pop, folk and indie rock. Green Bar’s event coordinator and talent buyer David Allen said he continues to book Belle Adair simply because he loves its music and sound.
“[Belle Adair provides] very dynamic, lush music, performed by people who play as well as they walk,” Allen said. “They talk about youth and the South in a way I can relate to.”
Belle Adair’s stop at Green Bar is the band’s second performance in a two-and-a-half-week tour that will take the band from the deep south of Alabama all the way to New York and back. For part of the tour, including the band’s stop at Green Bar in Tuscaloosa, as well as stops in Auburn, Ala., and Chattanooga, Tenn., Belle Adair will share the stage with Athens-based band Futurebirds.
Belle Adair’s debut album has received a number of positive reviews from major publications, including The Oxford American, Spin, NPR Music and Paste. The band was also invited to record a Daytrotter session. Despite the recent success, lead-singer Green’s goals for the future of the band have remained humble.
“For me, rather than focusing on specific moments, I’m just looking to build the band, which I think right [now] we’re doing a fairly good job of,” said Green. “We’re kind of expanding our reach.”
Belle Adair will be taking the stage at Green Bar Thursday at 10 p.m.
