Where the Light Ends
This is what Americana should sound like today, and too often does not. These are expertly crafted songs that owe a huge debt to the historic roots of American music but refuse to be bound by any stuffy idea of tradition.”
Where the Light Ends… dresses up Loomis’ take on the human condition in a variety of styles, from the rollick of the opening ‘Rambling Man,’ the shuffling ‘Righteous Kind’ and the nostalgic ‘Good Old Days’ to the polished soul of ‘Take a Swing,’ the twangy touches of ‘Evangeline’ and ‘Chasing Stable,’ the spare, prayerful drone of ‘Wayward Son’ and the emotive angst of ‘Treading Water.'”
Bradford’s vocals on this track show off some hard drinking and hard living in all the right ways. His ability to rise and fall with the action of the song shows the heart of a real singer songwriter.”
Highlights
- Released a single, an EP, and a full-length album as one half of the duo The Banner Days as well as a single, four EPs, a live album, and a full-length solo album.
- My Beloved, written with Beth Whitney (of The Banner Days) reached 2 million plus streams on Spotify
- Opened for Jamestown Revival and Tyler Hilton on their separate tours in 2013
- The Banner Days self-titled album climbed to number 26 on iTunes New and Notable chart
- Played the Lincoln Performing Arts Center in Manhattan as a finalist in the New Song Songwriting Contest
- Songs placed in multiple UFC pay-per-views, film and TV episodes such as, Lawler vs. Brown, Filthy Riches, Bowlife, the films After the End (released 2013) and The Heretic (released 2018)
- Years of touring all across the United States and parts of Canada including Seattle Folklife Fest, Timbrrr Fest, Mile of Music, Lincoln Performing Arts Center and more
- Shared the stage with Allen Stone, Courtney Marie Andrews, Noah Gundersen, Joseph, Marc Broussard and more
Loomis brings a whole band here, adding graceful build to his blessedly unvarnished, wild, delivery.”
‘Treading Water’ with its soaring vocal line ‘I’m not drowning, my love, I’m treading water’ convey the truest emotional side of humanity supported by the best in attenuated stringed instrumentation. Where the Light Ends is going to be the album to put on when you’re looking for some cathartic relief.”
Loomis merges accessible melodies and textures with well crafted lyrics and a tight fidelity to traditional forms. It makes for an impressive listen.”
About
In times of trouble, it is often the things closest to you that become the buoys needed to get you through.
They say that when it rains, it pours, and in late 2009, the brewing storm let loose and stayed for years. Along with the Great Recession, which took his job and eventually his home in the Seattle area, there was an excruciating hurt and loss within his once close-knit community, as well as a mysterious illness affecting his wife which saw them in and out of the ER and doctor’s offices long before a diagnosis would come.
Losing a job, a home, a community, and supporting a sick spouse when jobs were scarce could have broken anyone, yet this storm would not conquer Bradford Loomis. His strife was fodder for hard-won songs, and his fear was fuel to push him toward a full-time career in music.
“There is such a thing as good grief,” he muses. “I had walked away from music for 10 years when we started a family. The grief we felt, the desperation of those hard times… without them, I doubt that I would have come back to music in any meaningful way or that we would have ever taken the leap to going all-in with it.”
His family of five moved into a tiny mother-in-law apartment to save money, and his wife, on the mend after finally learning she had celiac disease, started working full-time again. He began touring, building a supportive community of fans and recording the songs that became those buoys, leading to new destinations, new friends, and a sense of purpose that overshadows the pain it took to get through, let go, and sail on.
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Bradford threw himself into writing and learning about the music business. Mentors appeared like angels, sharing their knowledge and experiences in the music industry. He released his first full-length album, Into the Great Unknown, before teaming up with another singer/songwriter, Beth Whitney, to release a pair of award-winning records under the name The Banner Days (Banner Days and Hand Me a Hymnal). After his father’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s, he found further fuel for the fire. With the tales of his family’s struggles burning fresh in his chest, Bradford released his most vulnerable project, Bravery and the Bell.
“I learned first-hand the power of telling your story,” he says from his new home in Nashville, “and it helped me process everything we were going through. That rising tide of hard times? Picking up my guitar and writing again gave me the means to swim through it. We are uniquely wired for narrative. It’s how we pass on our history, impart our wisdom, and build connections with each other. We see ourselves in the stories of others. We can put ourselves in their shoes and have empathy.”
Drawing from the storytelling of Bruce Springsteen, Iron and Wine, and Jason Isbell, and pairing it with the soulful delivery of Chris Stapleton, Marc Broussard, and Shawn James, Bradford has created a unique style he calls “Rhythm & Roots.” Grit and melody marry roots and soul.
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Playing 355 shows in two years, while also releasing a Christmas EP (Wintering Heart) and a live album (Live at the Red Clay Foundry), has taken him far and wide in his travels and given him some insights. “I feel strongly the duality of the artist,” he says. “On one hand, I am compelled to speak about what I see and have experienced. But, I also feel the pull to speak about how things could be. In my experience, there is so much more that we agree about than what divides us. I think people sometimes just need help seeing hope.”
In his new album Where the Light Ends, Bradford balances that duality with a masterful grace. Lyrically, he speaks of the raw reality of the human condition with passion, sharing tales that are shaped by grief and longing and colored by wistfulness and regret, but that are lifted by enduring hope, humility, and love.
“In my travels, I’ve met a lot of people going through hard times,” he reflects. “I want them to know they’re not alone. We’re in this thing together.”
Though his new project is titled Where the Light Ends, it speaks eloquently of a brighter future.
For more information, please contact:
Foster Valen, Lineage Artistry, booking@lineageartistry.com
‘Righteous Kind’ track premiere – “With his quickly strummed acoustic guitar and whispered intro vocals, Loomis builds immediate tension before exploding into a full on ramble of dark southern rock. Balancing Americana and soulful harmonies, the track lays on greasy slide guitar and a thunderous beat to back Loomis’ gritty, charged up vocals. It’s easy to hear his passion and strength as a songwriter and a singer throughout the track… [he has] a gift for writing infectious lyrics.
‘Good Old Days’ is like a wide-open stretch of road in sonic form, where there’s nothing ahead but opportunity. With his velvety growl that is one moment tender, the next commanding, Loomis inspires us to put the top down and embark on that dream-paved highway of freedom with abandon.”
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