Ravinia 2023 Issue 6

BROOKE CLARK (TRAIN); GREYLAND (PARMALEE) PAVILION 7:00 PM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2023 PARMALEE † –Intermission– TRAIN † Ravinia debut HEAVY lifting to us. Leave the Wintrust chair & table RENTAL RESERVE LAWN chairs and tables when you order tickets by clicking “ADD-ON.” Wintrust Chair & Table Rental, managed by the Ravinia Women’s Board, supports Ravinia and its Reach Teach Play music education and engagement programs. For more information, visit Ravinia.org /ChairRental TRAIN Train formed in San Francisco in 1994 and quickly moved from coffeehouse shows to na- tional tours, tenaciously building toward their eponymous debut record in 1998. A year later, “Meet Virginia” climbed the charts, reaching number two on the Billboard Top 40 and 15 on the Hot 100, putting the album on track for platinum sales. Compounding Train’s suc- cess, their sophomore album Drops of Jupiter (2001) went multi-platinum and peaked at number six, featuring the Grammy-winning title track “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me),” which itself was certified gold while sitting atop the Top 40 and remaining on the chart for over 40 weeks. My Private Nation followed in 2003, also going platinum and reaching number six, and found its greatest success with the single “Calling All Angels,” which similarly became gold certified and a number-one Top 40 hit. Subsequent singles “When I Look to the Sky” and “Get to Me” also became Top 40 hits, reaching numbers nine and six, respective- ly. For Me, It’s You was released in 2006 and reached number 10 with “Cab” coming in as a number-nine Top 40 single. Following a three-year hiatus, Train surged to the top of the pop charts with “Hey, Soul Sister” off the album Save Me, San Francisco . The single won a Grammy and two Billboard Music Awards and also marked the group’s first worldwide top-10 hit since “Drops of Jupiter.” A pair of top-five albums followed: California 37 ap- peared in 2012, featuring another worldwide top-10 single in “Drive By,” as well as the hits “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” and “Bruises,” and the country-inflected single “Angel in Blue Jeans” advanced 2014’s Bulletproof Picas- so . Following the holiday disc Christmas in Tahoe (2015), Train paid homage to Led Zep- pelin’s second album in 2016, re-creating the landmark collection in its entirety in concert and on record, with all album proceeds go- ing to charity. The band’s 10th studio album (and sixth top-10), A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat , preceded by the multiplatinum single “Play That Song,” was released in early 2017. Since their 2018 greatest hits collection, Train has released the singles “Mai Tais” (2019) with Skylar Grey, “Rescue Dog” (2020), and “Mit- tens” (2021); the album AM Gold (2022); and most recently the single “I Know” with Tenille Townes and Bryce Vine. Train first appeared at Ravinia in 2010 and tonight returns for its sixth season at the festival. PARMALEE Parmalee makes country music for the con- temporary ear, combining classic ingredi- ents with larger-than-life pop hooks, South- ern storytelling, and the amplified attitude of rock and roll. The band of brothers Matt Thomas (vocals, guitar) and Scott Thomas (drums) along with cousin Barry Knox (bass) and lifelong friend Josh McSwain (guitar) began gigging with father Thomas’s band in their native North Carolina in the early 2000s; when the elder music elected to retire from playing, the quartet rechristened the band Parmalee. In short order, they began recording a few tracks to follow them around on the road, first as the 2002 EP Daylight then the longer set Inside in 2004. Another EP, Complicated , arrived in 2008 before Parmalee landed a recording deal with Stoney Creek, leading to their debut single, “Musta Had a Good Time,” being released in 2012. The buzz around the band grew quickly thanks to the top-40 charting track, and early the following year their next single, “Carolina,” reached the top of country radio airplay and tallied plati- num record sales. Two years on from that re- lease, Parmalee became just the fourth band since 2001 to chart three consecutive top-10 singles from their debut country album, with “Close Your Eyes” at number four in 2014 and “Already Callin’ You Mine” at number 10 in 2015 from the winter 2013-released Feels Like Carolina , which itself clocked in at num- ber 10 on Billboard ’s country chart. Parmalee kept things rolling with a brand-new single, “Roots,” in 2016 to tease their sophomore col- lection, 27861 (named for their hometown’s ZIP code), which was released in 2017 along with a second single, “Sunday Morning”; both tracks rode in country radio’s top 40. The group returned to the top of the charts in 2019 with the platinum-selling “Just the Way” featuring Blanco Brown, and after the album For You was released in 2021, the follow-up single “Take My Name” repeated both feats, spending multiple weeks at number one on the radio. Their latest new single, “Girl in Mine,” was released last summer. Parmalee is making its Ravinia debut. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 10, 2023 26