Jim Lauderdale & the Game Changers + Chuck Mead & Stalwarts

Name: Jim Lauderdale & the Game Changers + Chuck Mead & Stalwarts
Start: 2025-10-17T20:00:00-05:00
Location: 3210 Old Hernando Rd. Memphis TN 38116

Schedule

Fri, 17 Oct, 2025 at 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

3210 Old Hernando Rd. Memphis TN 38116 | Memphis, TN

Friday October 17th, 2025
7PM DOORS / 8PM SHOW
$25 ADV / $30 DOS
ALL AGES
Jim Lauderdale & The Game Changers
At any given time, you’re likely to find Jim Lauderdale making music, whether he’s laying down a new track in the studio or working through a spontaneous melody at his home in Nashville. And if he’s not actively crafting new music, he’s certainly thinking about it. “It's a constant challenge to try to keep making better and better records, write better and better songs. I still always feel like I'm a developing artist,” he says. This may be a surprising sentiment from a man who’s won two Grammys, released 34 full-length albums, and taken home the Americana Music Association’s coveted Wagonmaster Award. But forthcoming album Game Changer is convincing evidence that the North Carolina native is only continuing to hone his craft.

Operating under his own label, Sky Crunch Records, for the first time since 2016, Lauderdale recorded Game Changer at the renowned Blackbird Studios in Nashville, co-producing the release with Jay Weaver and pulling from songs he’d written over the last several years. “There's a mixture on this record of uplifting songs and, at the same time, songs of heartbreak and despair—because that's part of life as well,” he says. “In the country song world especially, that's always been part of it. That’s real life.”

Lauderdale would know: He’s been a vital part of the country music ecosystem since 1991, when he released his debut album and began penning songs for an impressively long roster of country music greats. “When I was a teenager wanting to be a bluegrass banjo player, I never would have imagined that I would get to work with people like Ralph Stanley, Robert Hunter, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams and John Oates ,” he muses. “Getting to work with them inspires me greatly to this day, and I know it always will.” ,” he muses. “Getting to work with them inspires me greatly to this day, and I know it always will.”

From rollicking guitar riffs on “That Kind of Life (That Kind of Day)” to the slow, sweet harmonies of “I’ll Keep My Heart Open For You,” Game Changer shows off Lauderdale’s ingenuity as a singer, songwriter, and producer—while reestablishing him as one of Americana’s most steadfast champions. "Country music is constantly evolving, but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for steel guitar and a Telecaster," he says. "I have done my job on this record if people who love classic country feel like they can put it on, or have it in their collection, and it would fit right in."

Respecting the past doesn’t mean he’s not breaking new ground. “We’re All We’ve Got,” a co-write with Mary Gauthier and Jaimee Harris, offers a timely message about healing torn relationships at home and across the world. And “Friends Again,” a grinning number about rekindling a friendship, is fresh and forward-looking. At every turn, Lauderdale’s collaborative spirit and genuine love for the creative process reveal themselves in thoughtful, well-crafted songs sure to stand the test of time. "When everything works right, it's just magical to be able to hear them back," he says. "You feel, at least for those three-and-a-half minutes, like life makes sense.”

Chuck Mead & the Stalwarts
CHUCK MEAD is a Country singer with a rock n roll heart. He’s also a renownedsongwriter, producer, music director, musicologist and architect behind therebirth of Lower Broadway and the Global Neo Traditional Country musicmovement.This Kansas native, has been at the forefront of what has come to be known asAmericana Music for the better part of 25 years. Perhaps best known for cofounding the famed ‘90s Alternative Country quintet, BR5-49, whos 7 albumsgarnered a CMA Award for Best International Touring Act and three Grammynominations, helped build an indelible bridge between authentic American Rootsmusic and millions of fans worldwide.Since then he’s toured the globe, entertained thousands on the high seas,released 4 solo albums, made 137 appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, coproduced critically acclaimed tribute albums to Johnny Cash & Waylon Jennings,acted as Musical Director, Supervisor, and Producer of the Broadway hitmusical Million Dollar Quartet and the companion CMT television show SunRecords.With a deep connection to Memphis and a burning desire to keep buildingmusical bridges, Chuck packed up the band and took time out of his crazyschedule last summer to record his fourth solo album with Matt Ross-Spang(Margo Price/John Prine/Jason Isbell/Al Green) at legendary Sam PhillipsRecording Studios, the result of which, ‘Close To Home’, was released June 21,2019 on Plowboy Records.