Chart-topping rocker Chris Daughtry brings his acoustic trio to Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on May 3
From a press release:
It was announced today that Daughtry, led by former “American Idol” finalist turned multi-platinum rock star Chris Daughtry, will play a stripped down set as an acoustic trio when the band returns to Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on Sunday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets, which are $47.50 for regular reserved seating and $53.50 for premium reserved seating, go on sale this Saturday, Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster outlets, the Penn’s Peak box office (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe), and Roadies Restaurant and Bar (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe). Penn’s Peak box office and Roadies Restaurant ticket sales are walk-up only; no phone orders.
“It takes a lot of time to accept who you are,” Chris Daughtry said. “You shave off the persona that you thought people expected, stop worrying about what anyone is going to think. You start to be comfortable with who you are onstage and off, and that all blends together. I think I finally know who I am as a person.”
As the frontman for the band bearing his name, Daughtry has become one of the most visible and consistent rock and roll torchbearers of the 21st century. Since rising to prominence on the fifth season of “American Idol,” he has released five albums and one greatest hits collection, all of which reached the Billboard Top 10 and have combined sales over nine million copies in the U.S.
Daughtry’s self-titled debut was the bestselling album of 2007, which contained four Top 20 hit singles, including the Grammy-nominated smash “It’s Not Over.” “Leave This Town” also reached No. 1 in 2009, while 2011’s “Break the Spell” was certified gold. 2013’s “Baptized” featured the platinum-selling “Waiting for Superman,” which the singer points to as a turning point in his songwriting.
“It was a nice hybrid of where we had been and where we’re going, and it opened my eyes a bit,” Daughtry noted. “Everything was so serious and doom and gloom and ‘You broke my heart,’ but we never saw ourselves as those people outside the music – onstage, we were always joking around. That helped me wrap my head around the fact that we can be lighthearted and still be us. And that really changed the way I approach the songs in general.”
Daughtry and his band have been performing together for over a decade. “Like anything with a 10-year relationship, you know more about each other than you do most of your family,” Daughtry admitted. “It’s a love/hate thing – you get sick of being around them, but after two weeks at home, you’re ready to get back out on the road and do it again. The fan base really keeps us alive. That’s the key ingredient to keeping a band together – that’s the gasoline and, without it, you can’t run.”
One thing that has kept the fire burning for Daughtry has been the need to constantly challenge himself creatively. He has collaborated with artists from Timbaland to Vince Gill to Carlos Santana and took on the role of Judas Iscariot in the 2016 live television performance of “The Passion.” He even fulfilled a lifelong dream by drawing the cover of a Batman comic, which was rated one of the Top 25 covers of the year by https://batman-news.com/.
This kind of ambition has also extended to the work of Daughtry the band. “We always try to push ourselves outside of the familiar parameters,” the singer said. “If it’s anything like we’ve done before, then it’s not good enough for the record.
“If you look at the groups doing it for 20+ years,” he continues, “they were always changing their style, testing the water, going off the rails from what people expected – Zeppelin, Elton, Prince, they never did the same record twice. So there’s always that effort to push yourself as an artist, but I never want to abandon that sense of melody and sense of something that people can grab onto, whether it conjures up memories or helps them through a tough time. That’s what I love about music, when it makes me feel something.”
Their latest album, “Cage to Rattle,” sees Daughtry once again firing on all cylinders. Produced by Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Norah Jones, Niall Horan, James Bay) in Nashville and released on July 27, 2018 via 19 Recordings/RCA Records, the album echoes the relentless energy and uncontainable spirit of the group’s most definitive anthems while advancing boldly into new territory. Whether it’s the bluesy stomp and snap of “Backbone” or the sweeping piano of the single “Deep End,” the album evinces evolution across the board for the musicians.
“The thought of working with Chris really intrigued me. Undoubtedly, he’s truly a great singer, and we took the opportunity to go on a creative journey with his band to find something new for them,” King stated.
“‘Cage to Rattle’ has been the most fun yet most challenging album we’ve ever made,” Daughtry added. “We feel like we bottled the spirit and energy from our early days and refined it over the last decade together on the road and making records. We didn’t take the easy way out. Instead, Jacquire really pushed us in the studio, and we worked really hard to make the album we’ve always wanted to make. It’s everything a Daughtry record should be.”
