Crys Matthews & Samantha Rise

Tickets $20 online and $25 at the door.

Note: online ticket sales end at 6 pm on the day of the show.

Door tickets will still be available.

XPN Welcomes the monthlong Celebration of Black Excellence at The Fallser Club, including Crys Matthews & Samantha Rise

Crys Matthews

A troubadour of truth, Nashville resident Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. An award-winning, prolific lyricist and composer, Matthews blends Country, Americana, Folk, Blues, and Bluegrass into a bold, complex performance steeped in traditional melodies punctuated by honest, original lyrics. She is made for these times.

Of Matthews, ASCAP VP & Creative Director Eric Philbrook says, “By wrapping honest emotions around her socially conscious messages and dynamically delivering them with a warm heart and a strong voice, she lifts our spirits just when we need it most in these troubled times.” Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation adds, her gift is a "reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides." In her own words, Matthews says her mission is: "to amplify the voices of the unheard, to shed light on the unseen, and to be a steadfast reminder that hope and love are the truest pathways to equity and justice." Her new album is an embodiment of and a testament to that mission.

When Matthews attended a panel at Folk Alliance International in February of 2024, she heard a Scottish Folk artist inquire as to how many record labels pursue what the artist referred to as "music from my tradition," four words that intrigued Matthews. "I loved the idea of that. It seems like the best way to talk about music: what is your tradition, who are your people, what is the fabric of you?"

A daughter of the South by way of Nashville now and North Carolina forever, and the self-proclaimed poster child of intersectionality, Matthews is boldly answering those questions on her new album aptly titled Reclamation.

Recorded in Nashville, TN at Sound Emporium Studios, Reclamation was produced by Levi Lowry (co-writer of Zac Brown Band's hit song Colder Weather). The project features her partner on and off stage Heather Mae, her friends and fellow singer-songwriters Kyshona, Melody Walker, and Chris Housman, and some of the best musicians in Music City like Megan Coleman, Megan Elizabeth McCormick, Ellen Angelico, Ryan Madora, Jen Gunderman, and Michael Majett.

"This album is both sonically and ideologically the fullest representation of who I am as an artist and as a human," she says. A preacher's kid, a Black woman, a Butch lesbian, and a proud Southerner who sings social justice music right alongside 'traditional' Country and Americana music, Matthews is reclaiming not just of the space Black artists have been denied in Country and Americana music, not just of the space LGBTQ people have been denied in communities of faith, not just of the autonomy women have been denied over their own bodies, she is reclaiming the South that raised her.

https://www.crysmatthews.com/

https://www.instagram.com/crysmatthews/

Samantha Rise

Music is your birthright. 

Your voice belongs as it is, you belong as you are.

We can’t be afraid and sing at the same time.

These are the tenets and principles that guide Samantha Rise, a non-binary songcatcher and performer based in Philadelphia. As a self-described ‘pollinator’ performer, their songs collect and evoke their myriad influences across labels of genres and media.

Samantha’s passion for music and community building is the heart of their work; a student of jazz, improvisation, social justice movements, and the music that drives them, Samantha encourages a unique vulnerability with their audiences, reminding us all that music is our birthright, and a technology of healing, transformative justice, and self-determination.

An award-winning songcatcher, Rise's music is sensual and staggering in its accounts of what it means to allow ourselves to be known, giving voice to heartbreak, hope, and all the spaces between, wherever words fail. Through their music, Samantha Rise invites us to listen for our own music, and to sing in the world we know is possible.

Rise's debut release, Brighter Days, landed in four installments over the solstice and equinox in 2019. Their music is available on  Apple Music, Spotify, BandCamp and Soundcloud. 

https://www.instagram.com/samantharise/

https://samantharise.com/

10% off  Taqueria Cresta with your Fallser Club ticket!!

By Car or By Train

The East Falls Train Station is a short walk from the Fallser Club. Parking in East Falls is no problem! There is ample free on-street parking near the East Falls train station driveway at 3610 Midvale Ave and a paid municipal lot three blocks away at 4100 Ridge Ave.  Midvale Ave and Ridge Ave are both well-lit!