Bombadil will return to Salisbury for the third time in less than a year next week to perform the inaugural music show at Lee Street Theater and Performing Arts Center.
The folk-pop group played the Looking Glass Artists Center’s black box theater last December and a concert to benefit Rowan Helping Ministries on St. Patrick’s Day.
“We’re excited and we’re looking forward to getting back to Salisbury,” drummer James Phillips said. “Salisbury has always been good to us; it’s nice to feel like we’re supported by a smaller community.”
Phillips said the audience can expect variety from the show.
“We’ve been trying to really mix it up,” he said. “On any given night, we usually play about half the songs from Metrics.”
The band released “Metrics of Affection,” its fourth full-length album, in July. Since then, they have received acclaim from the New York Times, Rolling Stone and National Public Radio.
“I definitely think all the songs are more personal than they’ve been in the past,” Phillips said. “And I think the lyrics are a little older and wiser.”
As the group has grown up, they’ve started to shift toward pop sounds, Phillips said.
“We’ve kind of been moving away from folk and on to other sonic landscapes and influences,” he said. “I think it’s changed as we’ve grown as songwriters, arrangers, producers and musicians.”
Bombadil’s performance will kick off Lee Street’s winter concert series, which will feature a different artist every month through March.
The show will mark the last time the Durham-based band will play in the Piedmont region this year. They are set to open for the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the Orange Peel in Asheville Dec. 7 and 8.
“We’re excited about it,” said Justin Dionne, Lee Street’s managing artistic director. “It’s going to be a great show.
“We thought it was the perfect place to start because Salisbury already has a connection to Bombadil.”
James Abbott, part of the band’s management team at Ramseur Records, said Bombadil appeals to a wide audience from “high school age to older folks.”
“There’s not another band in the world like Bombadil,” he said. “They’re so unique.”
Abbott said his principles of music business class at Catawba College has gotten involved with the show by promoting it.
“They’ve been postering around town, reaching out to the local press and we’ve been talking about how to spread the word on social media,” he said. “We’ve really tried to leave no stone unturned.”
Abbott said the experience has taught the students real world lessons.
“They are learning the ropes, so they’ll have a good base knowledge,” he said.
A pop-rock band made up of full-time Catawba College students will take the stage before Bombadil.
“Life Size plays an exciting mix of folk, pop, rock, and blues with tight, three-part harmonies and imaginative lyrics,” said band member Allijah Motika.
Motika said the show is a great opportunity for Life Size because Bombadil is “a phenomenal band with quirky, high-energy style that we really admire.”
“We are really excited to create a night of music that mixes Life Size’s inventive style with Bombadil’s ‘pop without boundaries,’” he said.
Band members Silas Boyle, Jake Martin and Allijah Motika will perform without Tevin Carr and Greg Moore next week.
“Since we will be performing as a trio, the performance will be a little more laid back than it would be with the full band, but people can expect a nice mix of up tempo pop and laid back folk-rock,”Motika said.
Life Size is currently working on its “Mockingbird Alarmclock” EP.