Cut Worms at the Raccoon Motel -- June 7.
Cut Worms: Tuesday, June 7, 8 p.m.
David Ramirez: Wednesday, June 8, 7 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
A pair of critically acclaimed singer/songwriters make a pair of successive visits to Davenport's Raccoon Motel on June 7 and 8, with Tuesday evening boasting the talents of New York's garage-rock and cowboy-pop sensation Cut Worms, and Wednesday night showcasing the gifts of the popular Texas-based Americana and pop-rock musician David Ramirez.
A Cleveland-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, Max Clarke made his debut as the indie-rock outfit Cut Worms with "At Home" in 2015, followed it with 2016's "Don't Want to Say Good-Bye," and released his EP Alien Sunset in 2017. The following year, he recorded his debut full-length album Hollow Ground on Jagjaguwar, which led Pitchfork to call Clarke "one of those musicians who worship relics of bygone eras" and his debut a recording that "balances vintage recording methods with expressive songwriting on the '60s-style pop ballads." Consequently opening for such artists as Jenny Lewis, Kevin Morby, The Lemon Twigs, and Michael Rault, Cut Worms delivered a pair of releases in 2020 with the EP Castle in the Clouds and the album Nobody Lives Here Anymore, his laudatory reviews continuing to pour in. No Depression deemed Nobody Lives Here Anymore "80 minutes of escapism from the mind-numbing chaos of everyday life in present-day America," while Louder Than War raved, "Rarely does an album feel so eerily current, while remaining incredibly fun at the same time."
Raised in Houston and currently residing in Austin, David Ramirez was influenced by contemporary folk and rock singer/songwriters of the '60s and '70s while a college student in the '90s, and began his career by self-releasing a number of recordings: the albums American Soil and Apologies in 2009 and 2012, and the EPs Strangetown and The Rooster in 2011 and 2013. He played and toured extensively for years and released his album Fables on the Thirty Tigers label in 2015, a work praised by Folk Alley as "a jewel in the 2015 Americana crown and a must-listen for anyone who has ever waged a personal war with the capital-'t' Truth." Since then, the busy singer/songwriter has delivered a trio of additional albums in 2017's We're Not Going Anywhere, 2020's My Love Is a Hurricane, and 2021s Backslider, earning continually stronger acclaim with each new release. According to AllMusic.com, Ramirez "performs with an understated passion that animates his stories of the ups and downs of life and love, and his music is sorrowfully evocative, steeped in country and roots rock tropes while possessing the atmospheric tone of indie rock."
Cut Worms' Davenport engagement takes place at 8 p.m. on June 7, with admission $15, and David Ramirez's concert starts at 7 p.m. on June 8, with admission $20. For more information on, and tickets to, both events, visit TheRaccoonMotel.com.
