Friday, December 01, 2023 @ 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm | McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium
Join SECCA for a night of music and food as Anjimile headlines Crossroads @ SECCA #027, bringing a special performance to SECCA's auditorium on Friday, December 1, with a special dinner menu available from Native Root. Greensboro-based songwriter Taylor AP Williams will open the show.
Tickets are on-sale now!
Dinner and doors at the McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium at SECCA will open at 6pm, and music will begin at 7pm. Advance general admission tickets are $20, and VIP tickets are $30. VIP tickets include reserved seating and a limited edition poster by Skillet Gilmore, in keeping with Crossroads tradition. Members receive a ticket discount. Food is available a la carte.
Anjimile will arrive at SECCA on the heels of performances at Canada's POP Montreal festival and Pitchfork Music Festival Paris. The indie folk artist's much-anticipated new album, The King, is set to arrive September 8, as the followup to the acclaimed Giver Taker (2020), deemed one of the best 50 albums of the year by Rolling Stone. Nearly every sound heard on The King comes from two instruments: an acoustic guitar and Anjimile's own voice. Other than a few beautiful contributions from Justine Bowe, Brad Allen Williams, Sam Gendel, and James Krivchenia (Big Thief), the album is the result of a year in LA working intimately with Grammy and Juno winner Shawn Everett.
Doors at the McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium at SECCA will open at 6pm, and music will begin at 7pm. Advance general admission tickets are $20, and VIP tickets are $30. VIP tickets include reserved seating and a limited edition poster by Skillet Gilmore, in keeping with Crossroads tradition.
Crossroads is supported by Foothills Brewing and 88.5 WFDD.
Anjimile [ANN-jim-UH-lee] has been hustling for over a decade in the indie music scene, first hitting the stage in Boston while he attended Northeastern University as a music industry student. Anjimile recorded several EPs and albums on their own, and their star rose when their 2018 NPR Tiny Desk Concert contest entry was deemed the best out of Boston. In 2019 he recorded Giver Taker, a collection of songs written while getting sober in Florida. Giver Taker was critically adored – Rolling Stone Magazine deemed it one of the best 50 albums of 2020. Since Giver Taker's release, Anjimile tested new material on the road while opening for artists like Jose Gonzalez, Tune-Yards, and Hurray for the Riff Raff. A collection of covers, Reunion (2021), featured renditions by Jay Som, Sasami, and Lomelda. His newest, The King, is the result of decades of hustling, centuries of survival, and one artist's honesty and bravery.
In his second album, Anjimile continues exploring what it means to be a Black trans person in America. Featuring the singles 'The King', 'Father' and 'Animal', the brutally honest reflection of 2020's deadly summer is less reminiscent of the pink cloud of early sobriety and more rooted in the reality of seeing brutality with clear eyes. Drawing from influences ranging from religion, Phillip Glass, and lived experiences, the album is a grand step forward for Anjimile.
ABOUT ANJIMILE
Anjimile Chithambo, known artistically as Anjimile, has joined the 4AD family and released his debut for the label, a one-off single entitled 'Stranger'. The track, which was recorded with producer/pianist Thomas Bartlett and songwriter/producer Gabe Goodman, is the first new original music from Anjimile since his 2020 debut album, Giver Taker. Giver Taker was released to critical acclaim, and by the end of 2020 was included on a number of year-end round-up lists from Hanif Abdurraqib, NPR, Rolling Stone, SPIN, KEXP, and many more. In addition to a number of streamed performances throughout the pandemic – including a KEXP session, a performance at Sylvan Esso's Betty's studio, a round table with the likes of Perfume Genius, and more – Anjimile also performed sets at Hopscotch Music Festival and Treefort Music Festival in 2021.
Raised in Dallas, Texas to Malawi-born parents and now transplanted to North Carolina, Anjimile knows that study and appreciation are as important as practice when it comes to music. When it comes to composition, Anjimile draws upon everything they've learned, from the African pop beloved by their parents to his time in youth choir, and later influences from '80s music and even contemporaries/now label-mates Big Thief. Lyrically, he delves deeply and thoughtfully into the human condition; from his own perspective, Giver Taker addressed the conflict between their faith and life as a trans person, as well as the hopeful victory of overcoming addiction. The following year, Anjimile released their Reunion EP, which included orchestral re-imaginings of select Giver Taker tracks by composer Daniel Hart (Polyphonic Spree, St. Vincent) as well as vocals from Jay Som, Sasami, and Lomelda. In September 2021 he also released his cover of Beverly Glenn-Copeland's 'Ever New', which was the accompanying B-side to a TV On the Radio cover helmed by Bartees Strange.
Listen to Anjimile on Spotify.
About Crossroads @ SECCA
Launched in 2011, the Crossroads @ SECCA concert series aims to provide attendees with an extraordinary evening of music, art, food and drink featuring world-class musicians in an intimate concert environment. To date, the series has hosted Dan Tyminski, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Leon Russell, Jim White, The South Memphis String Band, David Grisman & Del McCoury, Charles Walker & the Dynamites, Bill Frisell, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Justin Townes Earle, Phil Cook, David Holt Band, Amythyst Kiah, Lonnie Holley, Ben Sollee, Caleb Caudle, Loamlands, Dean & Britta, William Tyler, Patterson Hood, Hiss Golden Messenger, Odyssey 5, Love Language, Estrangers, Chris Stamey, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and Night Moves.
"SECCA's Crossroads concert series has secured a firm foothold as one of the Piedmont's most innovative – and maybe even the Triad's premiere – concert series." – Ryan Snyder, Yes! Weekly