Vincent Neil Emerson describes Blue Stars as “a love letter to memory and the shaping of a man,” and you can feel exactly what he means in the first few songs: fishing trips with family, gumbo tastings in New Orleans, the motel-room reflections that find you somewhere between exits on a long touring run. Emerson brings that album to western New York on Saturday, October 17, as the Blue Stars Tour stops at Asbury Hall at Babeville in Buffalo with Hayden Redwine opening.
About the Show
Blue Stars is Emerson’s fourth studio album, released April 17, 2026 via LaHonda Records. He made it with producer Patrick Lyons at Gnome Studios in Nashville, recording with his touring ensemble, the Red Horse Band, plus guest musicians on fiddle, pedal steel, and horns. The album was conceived as a synthesis — “the hard country sound of his early work, the stripped down intimacy of his self-titled record, and the bold rock n’ roll of The Golden Crystal Kingdom” — and it earns that description across 13 original songs. There is the fiddle-driven class critique of “Rich Man,” the melancholic acoustic ballad “Angeline,” and “Chippin’ at the Stone,” which addresses Emerson’s sobriety with mandolin and characteristic directness: “I drank enough to know that it’s really hard to write a song when you’re fucked up.”
Emerson was born in East Texas into a Choctaw-Apache family. His mother’s people came from Louisiana, and he lost his father when he was nine years old. Those origins shape his work without overwhelming it — his stated approach is simply to write about his environment, “because that feels real to me.” Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell count among the artists who have treated him seriously enough to serve as mentors. No Depression named him their April 2026 Spotlight Artist for Blue Stars.
Opening the night is Hayden Redwine, a West Texas native whose trajectory runs parallel to Emerson’s in some telling ways. Raised on a family ranch, he spent years competing in rodeos before music became the full-time work — a path he pursued in earnest after losing his own father in 2021. His influences trace back through Joe Ely, Townes Van Zandt, and Guy Clark; his debut album is titled Spade. He has toured with Reckless Kelly.
Venue & Logistics
Asbury Hall at Babeville is a historic music hall at 341 Delaware Ave in Buffalo. The show is Saturday, October 17.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Buy tickets