Sundilla kicks off their fourth decade of bringing music from around the country and the world to Auburn with a concert from a first-time visitor, when bluegrass trio Thunder & Rain take the stage on Friday, January 19. Showtime at the AUUF (450 E. Thach Avenue in Auburn) is 7:30. Advance tickets are just $20 and can be found at Spicer’s Music, Ross House Coffee, Foodies, and online at www.sundillamusic.com; admission at the door will be $25. Sudents with an ID can pay just $15 at the door, and children 12 and under get in free. Free coffee, tea, water and food will be available, and the audience is invited to bring their own favorite food or beverage.
Describing Thunder & Rain as “bluegrass” is selling them a bit short. When she was growing up in California, Erin Peet Lukes didn’t know anything about bluegrass or country music. She wrote her first song at age 13, and began to perform her original songs in cities like Seattle and New York City, and eventually landed in Colorado. It was there that she formed the band, and for eight years they toured the U.S., Canada, Ireland and the UK, releasing three albums along the way.
Then 2020 happened, and the touring and recording ground to a halt. At the end of the year Lutes moved to Nashville, and soon met Laura Ray and Amelia Ransom. Soon they re-formed the band, with Ray on banjo, Ransom on fiddle, and Lutes leading the way with her clear, angelic voice. With expert bluegrass-style picking, skilled dynamics and rich three-part harmony, their show takes the listener on a journey through the band’s story-telling lyrics and singable, get-stuck-in-your-head choruses.
(If the name Amelia Ransom seems familiar, it’s because she HAS appeared at Sundilla before; it was in 2019, with her band The Ransom Notes.)
Thunder and Rain has shared the stage with Billy Strings, Krueger Brothers, Peter Rowan, AJ Lee and Blue Summit and Brothers Comatose. Their song “Run With You” was selected for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Songwriter Showcase 2023.