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Join us in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts for a performance by former Memphian and singer/songwriter Nick Pagliari with local duo Me & Leah.

Tickets: $10
Doors at 8:30 pm | Performance at 9 pm

Years before kicking off his career as a folk-rock singer/songwriter, Nick Pagliari grew up in Memphis, TN, raised on the soulful sounds of the south. Stax classics and Muscle Shoals hits filled the family jukebox, along with songs by Billy Joel, the Beach Boys, and Motown groups. Nick later moved to Nashville, where he released a pair of acclaimed albums before heading west to Austin. Even so, that childhood soundtrack — a blend of roots, rhythm, and raw melody — always felt like home.

Midway, Pagliari’s third record — and first in over a decade — finds him revisiting the sounds that helped shape his love for music. Fueled by sharp songwriting, blasts of brass, swirling organ, and rootsy arrangements, it’s an Americana album that focuses on Memphis soul rather than Nashville twang.

Influenced by icons like Tom Petty, Van Morrison, and the Band, his songs have always packed a direct punch, rooted in the fuss-free appeal of his voice and folksy songwriting. Those same ingredients ground Midway, but so does Pagliari’s broadened perspective. Those milestones rear their heads throughout Midway, influencing songs like “The Heart is a Muscle” — a salute to his wife, filled with horn arrangements by producer/multi-instrumentalist Jon Estes (Abigail Washburn, Langhorne Slim), grooves from drummer Jamie Dick (Rhiannon Giddens, Milk Carton Kids), and Robbie Robertson-worthy guitar riffs by Jeremy Fetzer (Steelism) — and the heartland rocker “Damn These Words,” written from the perspective of his autistic son.

This is an album whose warm, vintage-inspired sound nods to the past while pushing toward something new. The road goes on forever, and Pagliari — midway through or not — is charting his own course.