The Blind Woods will be playing an unplugged show in the intimate Humphreys House at the Chattanooga Arboretum & Nature Center at 405 Garden Road on Friday at 8 p.m. Usually a sextet, the band will perform as a duo with frontman Andrea Belanger being joined by guitarist Ryan Duchene. This show is free and open to the public, with a hat passed, to raise funds for wilderness protection in Tennessee.
Review for the Blind Woods:
Hailing from Boston, the Blind Woods are a folk/rock powerhouse who got their debut at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival last year. Inspired by the raw acceptance in Tennessee, they have since performed at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village (NYC) and also appeared on NPR, Boston.
Now, the band is celebrating the upcoming release of their debut EP, Fight the Fall, and they’re taking their folky bag of psychedelic tricks on the road with a full frontal tour of the U.S., beginning in Massachusetts, and commencing on the sunny shores of Southern California.
Andrea and Ryan’s performance in Chattanooga will focus on raising awareness for Tennessee Wild’s efforts to protect nearly 20,000 acres of the Cherokee National Forest by passing the Tennessee Wilderness Act of 2011. This important public lands bill is currently awaiting a floor vote in the U.S. Senate and will designate the first new federal wildlands in Tennessee in over 26 years.
In addition to sharing their music, the Blind Woods are also volunteering their time here to organizations like Tennessee Wild, Wild South, Chattanooga Arboretum & Nature Center, and Habitat for Humanity (among others) as they embark on their cross-country tour.
Andrea and Ryan will be participating in a yet-to-be-determined service project on Saturday morning, here in Chattanooga. For more information, contact Jeff Hunter at 322-7866 or jeff@wildsouth.org.