Darrin Bradbury at The Basement, August 2021
Last year, top-notch songsmith Darrin Bradbury took a step back from making music, a move he described as his “retirement.” It’d been a wild ride over the previous decade, during which he made his way by twists and turns from his hometown in New Jersey to Nashville.
For the first several months after his arrival, he worked on songs — many of which wound up on his 2016 album Elmwood Park: A Slightly Melodic Audiobook — while living in his car in a Walmart parking lot. Years later, he signed a deal with much-loved indie label ANTI-, through which he released 2019’s Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs and 2021’s Artvertisement.
When Bradbury put music on the back burner, he got deeply engaged with his unhoused neighbors in Madison. He’s put in a ton of work with the community to make change, which you can read more about in-depth in contributor Brittney McKenna’s April cover story. To better organize and support that work, Bradbury helped to launch a nonprofit called The Beat. The group connects directly with people experiencing homelessness to help them find the care they need — which might be treatment for substance abuse or care for mental health, among other needs — as well as stable housing.
In its first few months, The Beat has been able to help quite a few people. But the organization operates on a grassroots level, and relies on tax-deductible donations to continue its mission. To that end, Bradbury is getting back onstage Thursday, Sept. 7, to support The Beat, and he’s bringing a bunch of friends with him.
Langhorne Slim, Coralee and Parker Millsap will also play; Aftyn Behn, who won the Aug. 3 Democratic primary and will run to represent District 51 in the state House of Representatives, will also speak. The show is at City Road Chapel United Methodist Church, at 701 Gallatin Pike in Madison; doors are at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7. The suggested donation is $10. If you can’t make it in person, you can donate directly to The Beat; follow Bradbury on Instagram for updates on the organization in general and the show in particular.
