Gogue Center to present Alabama Artists Festival on April 29

The Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center at Auburn University will present the first-ever Alabama Artists Festival, a free, daylong outdoor concert featuring an eclectic mix of some of Alabama’s finest and most-celebrated musicians, at the Bill and Carol Ham Amphitheatre on Saturday, April 29.

The festival will feature performances by Grammy Award winners Blind Boys of Alabama and John Paul White, pop phenom Elley Duhé and contemporary jazz great Eric Essix.

The Alabama Artists Festival will mark the Blind Boys’ first Gogue Center appearance and will be the quintet’s first concert in Auburn. White, Duhé and Essix each performed at the Gogue Center before as headliners for the center’s GPAC LIVE: Alabama Artists Series, a showcase of artists from diverse musical genres and geographic areas of the state, in fall 2020.

Amphitheatre gates open at 2 p.m., with performances scheduled throughout the day. Auburn University’s student-operated radio station, WEGL (91.1 FM), will broadcast live from the festival between performers.

All amphitheatre seating for the festival is general admission, and patrons are welcome to bring blankets, soft seat cushions and folding chairs. For concessions, several local and regional food trucks will be on-site for the duration of the day.

Festival admission is free with registration. Patrons can register online or by contacting the Gogue Center box office by telephone at 334.844.TIXS (8497) or via email at gpactickets@auburn.edu. Patrons also may register in person at the Gogue Center, located at 910 South College Street in Auburn, Alabama, from 1-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

Additional information on the Alabama Artists Festival and other 2022-23 season programming is available online via the venue’s website.

ALABAMA ARTISTS FESTIVAL LINEUP

Eric Essix

Main stage performance scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Eric Essix played for years in quartet gospel groups and can trace his passion for contemporary jazz to his late teens, when he saw Jaco Pastorius and Weather Report perform. Since launching his own indie label, Essential Recordings, in 2002, Essix has scored numerous radio hits, starting with “Sweet Tea” from 2004’s “Somewhere in Alabama” and continuing with “Shuttlesworth Drive,” a musical tribute to the great civil rights pioneer, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. To date, Essix has released 28 albums, including his most recent, “STRiDE.” Essix was the headlining artist for the Gogue Center’s GPAC LIVE: Alabama Artists Series in December 2020.

Elley Duhé

Main stage performance scheduled for 4 p.m.

Born near Mobile, Alabama, Elley Duhé’s formative years were spent surrounded by working musicians in the New Orleans scene. By 14, she was writing her own songs, and after seizing every opportunity she could, Duhé came to the attention of RCA Records. In 2016, she dropped her debut single, “Millennium,” precipitating a long run of smash singles and her EP, “Dragon Mentality.” She has racked up millions of streams, played Coachella and Lollapalooza, recorded with the likes of Gryffin and Zedd and formed an unbreakable bond with her legions of fans. Duhé was the headlining artist for the Gogue Center’s GPAC LIVE: Alabama Artists Series in November 2020.

John Paul White

Main stage performance scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Now living in Florence, Alabama, not far from Muscle Shoals, John Paul White cultivated his career in Nashville for two decades, first as a songwriter for a major publisher, then as half of The Civil Wars — a groundbreaking duo that won four Grammy Awards before disbanding in 2014. White has since released two more solo albums, “Beulah” (2016) and “The Hurting Kind” (2019), and is the co-owner of Single Lock Records, a Florence-based record label he co-founded with Will Trapp and the Alabama Shakes’ Ben Tanner. White was the headlining artist for the Gogue Center’s GPAC LIVE: Alabama Artists Series in October 2020.

Blind Boys of Alabama

Main stage performance scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Blind Boys of Alabama are without a doubt a pillar of American music. A group of blind, African American singers, they helped to define 20th-century gospel traditions as well as create a new gospel sound for the 21st. Beginning their epic career in the midst of the Jim Crow era, the Blind Boys are the recipients of five Grammy Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, have performed at the White House for three different presidents and collaborated with an array of music legends, including Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples, Allen Toussaint and Peter Gabriel.

The Gogue Center’s Alabama Artists Festival is made possible with support from the Daniel Foundation of Alabama and the National Endowment for the Arts.