Aaron Lewis, the Vermont-born powerhouse first found success with Staind–the 2000s-era hard rockers who injected meditative muscle into an era better known for mindless aggression. But while that band is still very much alive, it was never enough to satisfy Lewis’ creative drive. Embracing his roots to earn a rare second round of success, a series of solo Country projects have led to two No. 1 Billboard Country Album debuts–TOWN LINE (2011) and SINNER (2016)–plus a PLATINUM collab with heroes George Jones and Charlie Daniels (“Country Boy”), and a GOLD-certified Billboard No. 1 with “Am I The Only One” in 2021. Lewis’ 2022 solo album followed suit, with FRAYED AT BOTH ENDS emerging as the best-selling Country album in America but he never wrote songs for the stats. No matter the sonic setting, Lewis writes and sings to get his truth out and his latest album THE HILL (2024) is no different.
Trav'ling Home:
American Spirituals, 1770-1870
The Boston Camerata’s pioneering programs of early American music have brought pleasure to thousands of music lovers, and have helped to clarify and define our country’s rich and diverse cultural identity. It traces migratory currents and flows of early American song, largely spiritual but also secular. Among the various communities participating in this rich American mosaic we encounter the Puritans of New England, the Shakers and their visionary monodies, Amish and Mennonites of Pennsylvania, and the newly-freed African-American religious communities. The musical sources of this program are drawn from European and New World oral traditions, hymns, psalms and chants in English, German dialects, early songbooks of Black churches, as well as gems from the still largely unpublished Shaker manuscript archive at Sabbathday Lake, ME.