Okkervil River to headline at Upland fundraising event

Kicking off Labor Day weekend, Okkervil River will be performing at 6 p.m. Friday at Upland Brewing Company.

The White Lightning Boys and Barbecue James will be the opening act. All ages are welcome.

The show brings together Bloomington organizations Jagjaguwar, Upland and the Sycamore Land Trust. It will be outside in the parking lot of Upland.

“We do this concert annually and it is a fundraiser for Sycamore Land Trust, an organization that helps protect the natural landscape of southern Indiana,” said Charles Stanley, strategic projects manager at Upland. “Hundred percent of the proceeds from the event go to them every year.”

Stanley said this is the fifth year Upland has coordinated the concert series. Big Damn Band headlined the event last year.

This will be the first year that Upland has worked with the record label Jagjaguwar, who have been releasing records with Okkervil River for a decade.

“We’ve tried to come together on bands before,” Stanley said. “Due to scheduling conflicts this will be the first year we’ve been able to work together. We’re happy to work with the local label.”

Jagjaguwar was created in the late 1990s by Darius Van Arman. He moved to Bloomington from Charlottesville, Va., and got in touch with the record label Secretly
Canadian.

In 1999, Van Arman partnered with Chris Swanson, part owner of Secretly
Canadian. The two labels combined forces and continue to work together today, though they choose their bands separately and have different rosters.

“Jagjaguwar and Secretly Canadian are pretty interchangeable,” Jagjaguwar publicist Abe Morris said. “I work for both labels simultaneously.”

Morris said Upland has been familiar with the label for a while and they have finally been able to book a show.

“The timing and everything worked out for this weekend,” Morris said. “Okkervil seemed like a good fit for the event. Okkervil has played here in Bloomington once before at theBuskirk-Chumley Theater, but it was a few years ago I believe.”

Okkervil is one of the biggest artists on Jagjaguwar records, Morris said. They have been featured in Billboard, Rolling Stone, Spin and Pitchfork magazines.

Pitchfork called Okkervil’s lead singer Will Sheff “one of indie rock’s most ambitious thinkers” and Spin called “I Am Very Far,” the group’s latest album, “simultaneously raw and symphonic…recalling Dylan in deep basement mode.”

The band has appeared multiple times on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the Late Show with David Letterman and Austin City Limits and has performed at various shows, concerts and festivals such as SXSW, Bonnaroo, Coachella and Lollapalooza. They have toured with contemporary artists Wilco, The Decemberists, The New Pornographers and Band of Horses.

“I think it’s gonna be a great show and I think it’s going to draw a younger crowd than we’ve seen before,” Stanley said. “It has a lot of local appeal with supporting acts White Lightning Boys and Barbecue James and the fact that Okkervil is on a local label.”