Saturday, March 18, 7 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
Performing what PopMatters deemed "genre-bending indie music that blends elements of pop, rock, and folk in equal measure, with an uplifting, funky effervescence to boot," the Michigan talents of Joe Hertler & the Rainbow Seekers headline a March 18 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the group's most recent album Paper Castle lauded by Billboard magazine as showcasing a "loose-limbed but tightly played vibe that's been the Rainbow Seekers stock in trade."
With the ensemble led by its titular songwriter and producer, who primarily composes his works on acoustic guitar, Joe Hertler recorded his first album, 2009's The Hard Times LP, from his dorm room as a sophomore at Central Michigan University. His second solo release, the independent EP Sleeping Giant, debuted in 2010, and Hertler consequently formed his band The Rainbow Seekers after meeting guitarist Ryan Hoger in college and performing alongside bassist Kevin Pritchard, keyboardist Shawn Adams, saxophonist Aaron Stinson, and drummer Rick Hale on New Year's Eve 2010 during Ypsilanti, Michigan's Mittenfest. In November of 2011, the band released On Being via Bigger Brush Media, and went on to perform at the CMJ Music Marathon in Brooklyn, New York; the Common Ground Music Festival in Lansing, Michigan; the Electric Forest Festival in Rothbury, Michigan; and the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
In April of 2013, Joe Hertler & the Rainbow Seekers released a limited-edition five-song CD/DVD titled The Russell Sessions, whose content was shot at the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit, Michigan, and also added saxophonist Aaron Stinson to the ensemble, with keyboardist Micah Bracken replacing Shawn Adams. The band's sophomore album Terra Incognita debuted in February of 2015 and recorded in the basement of a dentist's office in Lansing, Michigan, and following its release, the musicians went on their first U.S. tour that included stops in Denver, Colorado, Los Angeles, California, Scottsdale, Texas, and Arizona. The band also added violist Joshua Holcomb to their lineup before the arrival of third studio album Pluto, which was funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign. The recording marked a departure in production style for the band that resulted in a more ambient, progressive direction, and Pluto was well-received by critics, with Revue magazine calling it "stellar" and Sound & Silence giving it a perfect 100-percent score and eventually naming it one of 2017's best.
Joe Hertler & the Rainbow Seekers headline their Davenport engagement on March 18, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $15, and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.