TWANGVILLE & NORTHEAST COUNTRY COALITION PRESENT:
SOPHIE GAULT makes alt-country music with the uncanny ability to toggle between the sweet and the gritty. But whichever direction she chooses, the result is always gripping, unapologetic, and deeply personal. She has had to conquer inner foes—facing the debilitating mystery of bipolar disorder—but has emerged on the other side empowered and with the songs to show for it, each delivered with her lilting yet attitude-heavy voice. The storytelling is honest and vivid, and her guitar playing evokes the blues stylings of Bonnie Raitt and Mississippi John Hurt. After moving to Nashville from Maryland in 2014, with a guitar case full of the same dreams that lead so many to Music City, she was derailed by mental health struggles and spent three separate occasions in institutions. The music industry is daunting enough, especially for women, but the addition of doctors, medication cocktails, and the embarrassment caused by manic episodes that her peers never understood make Sophie’s success so far all the more inspiring. Eventually, she took control of her head space, going on to sign a record deal with Strong PlaceMusic (formerly Petaluma Records) and secure management with the rising Torrez Music Group. Now she has a pair of masterful albums to her credit that showcase her hauntingly beautiful voice and expressive lyrics, including 2024’s superb Baltic Street Hotel.
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Spirited and hopeful, Brooklyn based songwriter ROBERT CODY MAXWELL’s songs channel the vigor and vision of early heartland rock. Unadorned lyricism and driving guitar arrangements make for a live show that occasionally borders on theatre, pivoting between intimate, folksy confessionals and ballsy rock and roll with clear nods to 1970's New Jersey. There’s a tenacity that runs through the songs, and Maxwell’s stark, brassy delivery reflects a resolve that feels hard-won. In addition to his own songs, Maxwell is collaborator and bandmate to Los Angeles-based Silas Nello and Nashville’s Bobby Kitchens, having contributed instrumental work to both Nello’s “Easy Listening for Uneasy People,” (2018) and Kitchen’s “The Best Things” (2020
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