State College band Midstate Select will celebrate the release of their debut album with a concert at The State Theatre on Friday.
“On the Road to Lonesome,” featuring nine original tracks of country, blues, rock and soul-inflected Americana, will be released the same day on all major streaming services, with vinyl and CDs available for purchase at the 7 p.m. show.
The group will be joined by fellow State College band Ma’am and New Jersey quarter Old Lady for the State Theatre performance. Pine Grove Hall, Elk Creek Cafe & Aleworks, Happy Valley Brewing Company and Shy Bear Brewing are sponsoring the show and each will be offering a selection of their products for sale.
Tickets for the show are available through The State Theatre website or at the door.
Midstate Select started out as a side project for vocalist Anna Pearl Belinda, guitarist Sean Heffernan and guitarist/vocalist Sam Milz. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, they developed their songwriting and sound while enlisting guitarist/vocalist Sam Christensen to form what has become the core group.
“On the Road to Lonesome” has been two years in the making and several veteran local musicians contributed to the album, including Andy Tolins and Stubby Stubbs of Triple A Blues Band.
“This record has really come together quite organically,” said Tolins, who contributed songwriting and multi-instrumental work. “We’ve all had different ideas, and I think the final product is really a reflection of everything that we’ve all been through in the last year and a half that we’ve been working on it… Plus, it’s been a lot of fun to use some of the old instruments I’ve got laying around the house.”
Ahead of the album’s release, the band premiered their lead single last month. “Going Out West,” starts out as a sparse, Belinda-sung piano ballad, transitions into bluegrass shuffle and blues guided by Heffernan’s picking and builds to a heavier, rock-tinged chorus backed by Milz’s vocals and electric guitar.
Visit MidstateSelect.com for the band’s upcoming dates and to sign up for their mailing list.
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