Time: 7 p.m.

Tickets:$30-$50

http://emersondrive.com

For well over a decade, Emerson Drive has been a staple in the country music community, known for being a band to crank out the hits, deliver electrifying stage shows and wow audiences all across North America. During their evolving career, the Canadian band has scored numerous hits such as “I Should Be Sleeping,” “Fall Into Me,” “Last One Standing” and their emotional, chart-topping ballad, “Moments.”
Emerson Drive has racked up countless award nominations in both the U.S. country market at the ACM’s and CMA’s, as well as in Canada where they have picked up multiple trophies for Group or Duo of the Year from the CCMA (Canadian Country Music Association). But it was their 2007 hit, “Moments,” that pushed Emerson Drive over the top in country music. The powerful song validated the talent and passion of the band’s drive to succeed in the business they know and love.
“Looking back 10 years ago and seeing where our career first started with ‘I Should Be Sleeping’ and knowing that there was a movement going around us as a new act on the scene … I just remember how exciting and crazy it was, all at the same time,” recalls Emerson Drive’s lead vocalist and founding member, Brad Mates. “We were out there on the road over 240 days of the year for the first six years. I just remember those times being kind of eyes wide open, taking everything in. It was such a great first few years, and now fast forward 10 or 11 years, we’re still playing music and making music. Longevity has always been a goal for me in this band, so to think we’ve now been doing it for 17 years – straight out of high school – is the ultimate. We’re doing something right.”
The band did in fact do something right repeatedly over the years, resulting in the release of several successful studio albums including their Nashville debut, Emerson Drive, back in 2002, What If? in 2004, their 2006 release Countrified and 2009’s Believe.
“After the Believe album was done, it was kind of a weird time,” notes the band’s guitarist Danick Dupelle. “We didn’t have a single in the States, but that’s when Brad had a kid and [our fiddle player] David had his kids. We started slowing down and coming off the road a little bit, and it really opened up a lot of doors for some of us starting to write again. We never had the time before to write songs. We were always so busy. I started to concentrate on writing, and in one year, I think that I wrote 40-something songs. It felt good to finally have the chance to do it.”
After taking a two year break from recording new music, Emerson Drive – comprised of Mates (lead vocals), Dupelle (guitar, background vocals), David Pichette (fiddle), Mike Melancon (drums) and Dale Wallace (keyboard, background vocals) – felt the time was right to head back into the studio to make a new record, but this time under their own supervision without involving a record label. They had the songs, the experience and the drive to make the music in their hearts that their fans were waiting patiently to hear.