Tommy Stinson, a co-founder of the legendary alternative rock band The Replacements and a former bassist for Guns N’ Roses, is bringing his latest project’s unconventional tour to Penns Valley.
Stinson’s Cowboys in the Campfire trio will perform on Sept. 12 at 145 Recording in Millheim. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show at the 145 Penn Street studio are $25, with a $100 option for a pre-show hangout and after-concert event.
State College alt country rockers Ma’aM will open the show. Ma’aM recorded their upcoming debut album at the 145, which is owned by Dave Bielanko of the Philly-born rock band Marah.
Cowboys in the Campfire isn’t quite like Stinson’s work in the 1980s with the ‘Mats, his mid-90s bands Bash & Pop and Perfect or his time with the turn-of-the-century incarnation of GN’R. Instead, his next evolution as a songwriter and musician finds Stinson performing original Americana/country/pop with fellow guitarist Chip Roberts and bassist Chops LaConte.
Celebrating the release of their debut album “Wronger,” the trio has gone off the beaten path for the tour, which includes a barbecue joint, a taco bar, a barbershop, a guitar store and unique performing venues like the 145 and Pittsburgh’s Government Center, along with the more conventional Bowery Electric in New York.
“It’s exactly on my terms. And I can do as much or as little as I want,” Stinson told Forbes recently about touring. “With conventional records, it’s like, artist starts making record. ‘OK. We’re gonna put this out in a year. Then we’re gonna do these dates and this festival next year.’ I can’t really think like that. So I make a record and when the record’s done, I go, ‘OK. Let’s go play in a couple months. Let’s start rehearsing and go play some shows.’ So I’m on a whole different time trajectory, which this allows me to do. And lucky for me, I can pull that out of my hat and book small, intimate gigs, go out and have fun with it.”
