Doors: 7pm

Opener: TBA 8pm

The Great Divide: 9:30pm

If you were remotely invested in the roots music scenes in Oklahoma and Texas in the early 2000s, you knew who The Great Divide was and likely had seen them play a me or two – whether it was their own show or as part of a festival lineup. The band was playing 200 shows a year and released five albums together; they eventually signed a record deal with Atlantic Records in Nashville and garnered some chart success. Garth Brooks even recorded one of their songs. When frontman Mike McClure left for a solo career in 2003, marking the end of the band as its original lineup—McClure, bassist Kelley Green and brothers Scote and JJ Lester on rhythm guitar and drums—the break seemed definite. McClure moved on, releasing nine albums on his own, and for anyone who knew of their turbulent end, it was assumed the band would never reunite, let alone restore faith in one another. Fast forward a decade, and The Great Divide found themselves playing shows together again, a starting point in moving past the chaotic time surrounding the band’s breakup. Fast forward another decade, and they’ve added a new member, keyboardist Bryce Conway, and are releasing their first new studio album in 20 years. Providence, set for release in fall 2022, looks at how far the band has come, as a group and individually, in the time since their last albums—and spends even more time looking ahead. It is, of course, imperative when discussing the momentous occasion that is this new album’s release to understand the road it’s taken to get here and the mark The Great Divide made on a scene. In all fairness, saying they made a mark is putting it lightly–if you were to talk to virtually anyone making music in the Red Dirt scene in the early 2000s, The Great Divide was on their list of influences. They weren’t just one of the first bands to forge their way down this path; in many ways, they were some of its originators. Within the 10 tracks on Providence, The Great Divide leans on pillars the band was built on 20 years ago: a reverence for masterful, relatable songwriting and a lack of interest in following the rules—though this time, the rules they’re circumventing seem to center more around the idea that anything and anyone outlaw-adjacent can’t also be happy, seek balance and want more from their lives and legacies. “There is a coming full circle aspect for us as a band; as performers and people,” McClure says about Providence. “Everyone is bringing their best to the table for the first time in years, and when that happens, The Great Divide is a force,” he says. “This album brings with it a certain hope.”

GENERAL ADMISSION: $35 (+ $6.50 service fee)