Adam Ezra started where almost everyone in this music starts: one songwriter, a guitar, and a bar where most of the room was not quite listening. That was more than two decades ago. By now, SPIN Magazine has a phrase for what he built from there — “an independent underground folk band blowing up without selling out.” The blowing-up happened without the usual machinery: no major-label deal, no format radio, just relentless touring and the kind of loyalty that builds a fanbase the band itself calls a traveling village. That village arrives at Middle Ages Beer Hall in Syracuse on Saturday, Sept. 12.
About the Show
The Adam Ezra Group works in a blend the band has described as “folk/Americana soul, rock ‘n’ roll energy, and the kind of emotional openness that turns concert rooms into communities.” The lineup is Adam Ezra on vocals and guitar, Corinna Smith on fiddle, Poche Ponce on bass, and Alex Martin on drums. Live, those pieces tend to cohere in a way that is harder to explain than to experience. The band has toured with The Wallflowers, won New England Music Award’s Americana Act of the Year in 2023, and collaborated with John Oates on the single “Hold Each Other Now.” During the pandemic, rather than go quiet, they ran The Gathering Series: 500 consecutive nights of live-streaming, a project that cemented a relationship with an audience more invested than most. Their nonprofit arm, RallySound, has raised $151,000 for homeless veterans. They are currently in what they call the “Revelate era” of recorded work, and their sets are unrehearsed by design, shaped by what is happening in the room on any given night.
Support comes from Our Common Roots, a five-piece folk-rock outfit formed in 2015 whose sound draws comparisons to Dave Matthews Band and The Avett Brothers. The singles “Solid Ground” and “Bad Friend,” both 2024 releases, pull from what the band describes as a mix of Southern Gospel, country/folk, and pop-punk. They’ve played the NY State Fair, Turning Stone Casino, and Brewery Ommegang, and have their own history at Middle Ages Brewing.
Venue & Logistics
Middle Ages Beer Hall is at 120 Wilkinson Street in central New York. Doors open at 7 p.m.; the show runs from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. All ages are welcome; minors must be accompanied by a guardian. The event is presented by Visions FCU.
Tickets
General admission is $30.00 plus fees. Visions credit union members pay $25.00 plus fees. Tickets arrive as eTickets closer to the event date; will call is also available at no charge. Buy tickets.