The 9th Ward at Babeville runs 150 people, tucked below street level inside a converted church on Delaware Avenue. It is one of Buffalo’s most intimate rooms — the kind of place where the band is close enough that you hear the room move. Holy Roller, a Richmond, Virginia five-piece, plays there on Tuesday, August 4th, and if you have been paying attention to what has been happening on the east coast live circuit lately, you already know this is going to be a good night.
Holy Roller came together after Big Mama Shakes played its final show in spring 2018. Three of the original members stayed, and the new lineup — Brady Heck on vocals and guitar, Bryce Doyle on keys, and Rebekah adding harmony vocals — landed somewhere between outlaw country and full-throttle Southern rock. The band name is a nod to Heck’s religious upbringing, and the music carries that weight: riff-heavy and deeply intimate, the kind of songs built for the long drive home after the show ends. Their 2024 sophomore album Good Religion is 12 tracks of that — Americana-rooted, harmony-driven, and better loud.
The momentum behind this band is real. Holy Roller has sold out back-to-back nights at The Camel in Richmond and been running hard across the east coast, selling out nearly every date over the past year. They have played Boston Calling and Bristol Rhythm & Roots, shared stages with Shane Smith & the Saints, and earned this from multi-Grammy-winning Nashville songwriter Jim Lauderdale: “Holy Roller? More like holy sh**!”
A 150-person room on a Tuesday is exactly the kind of show that either goes quietly or becomes the one you talk about for a while. The 9th Ward at Babeville has a way of making that happen. Western New York gets this show on August 4th — doors at 8:00 PM, tickets through Tixr.