When it comes to acoustic folk music, it’s almost a requirement for the gently strummed guitars and angelically subdued vocals to be heard in an intimate setting.
At 8 tonight The State Theatre will host a performance by local musicians Jason McIntyre and Junior Tutwiler, best known as members of the now-defunct Americana band The Rustlanders , as well as special guests the Harold Taddy Trio .
Richard Biever, executive director of The State Theatre , said McIntyre and Tutwiler previously took part in two concerts held at the theater this year to benefit different non-profit organizations.
“Their material isn’t just standard radio play,” Biever said of the performers, praising their songwriting acumen. “You really get this up-close and personal experience in listening to the music.”
Since the breakup of The Rustlanders in August of last year, McIntyre has mostly been taking a break from recording new music and performing live, but nevertheless expressed his excitement at the prospect of getting back into the swing of things.
“We’re certainly going to play a song or two that people would know from The Rustlanders’ catalogue, but people can expect a lot of material that we’re getting ready to record,” McIntyre said, adding he and Tutwiler will record these songs under the J. Mac and Junior moniker.
McIntyre and Tutwiler recently performed under this name at the first annual Music on the Mountain festival in Boalsburg earlier this month.
McIntyre said the duo’s record will be released sometime in the coming year and that tonight’s performance will feature acoustic, “downscaled” versions of those songs.
Guitarist-vocalist Taddy, originally from California, has been playing music around town for about three years and first performed at The State Theatre in July for the “British Invasion: Then and Now…” concert benefiting the Bestwick Foundation.
He describes his band’s style as “artistic folk music” encompassing visceral compositions that often lead into free-form jams.
“It rises and falls very dramatically, so it gets really intense sometimes,” said Taddy, who several aspiring musicians around the State College area might recognize as a sales representative at Rainbow Music on North Atherton Street . “It’s not typical pop-song structure.”
“On behalf of Jason McIntyre and myself, I think we’ve really got some excellent songwriting going on,” he said. “It’s really cool to have the environment to play songs written by yourself out in public.”
All tickets for the concert, which is set to take place in the theater’s 60-seat attic space, cost $10.
