Cult rock legend Roky Erickson surprised many this year with his astonishing Okkervil River collaboration ‘True Love Cast Out All Evil’. His first album in fourteen years, it not only marked a thrilling return to form for the troubled songwriter, it made a compelling case to be ranked as the most rewarding and complex album of his entire career. A native of Austin, Texas, Roky’s life, and its attendant traumas, have been well documented: drug use, mental illness, incarceration and electro-shock therapy may have overshadowed his decades-long career, but they were never confronted with the clarity and poignancy he achieved with ‘True Love Cast Out All Evil’. In spite of the tragedy and hardship, it was love, hope and redemption that formed the overwhelming themes of the album, delivered with a heartbreaking vocal that has never lost the power to affect or exhilarate.
On the back of the extraordinary critical praise heaped on his latest release, Roky Erickson returns to Europe for a series of very special shows which look set to highlight the exceptional talents of one our most treasured songwriters. Here are the dates. It’s an all too rare opportunity to witness Roky Erickson live, so with a real sense of pride and excitement, we announce these dates and a chance to celebrate a truly gifted artist who, thankfully for us, has prevailed against the ravages of fate and nature, delivering his strongest material in the process.