The Huntertones’ original, genre-defying music is coming to the Lied Center for Performing Arts this Thursday, bringing people from all walks of life together. The band carefully curates each show to make their performances unique and interactive to each audience.
“We are a limitless, brass-led celebration of music between us and our audience,” Dan White, the band saxophonist, said.
The band is coming to Lincoln along with Akie Berniss. The performance will include a combination of their original songs, as well as new songs from their upcoming album “Engine Company” and even covers from artists such as Stevie Wonder, The Meters and John Lennon.
The band blends an array of different genres like jazz, funk, hip-hop and R&B to name a few, producing a collection of high-energy, horn-driven, feel-good music.
“We’re not purists,” White said. “We all listen to different music and we all have evolving life experiences, genres definitely limit what the possibilities are, and so for us, we’re always seeking to do more and expand further so then our music reflects that.”
According to Matthew Boring, the deputy director of the Lied Center, the Lied Center prioritizes all art forms, and hosting one of the top touring jazz fusion groups proves that.
“We’re not just a Broadway venue. We’re not just a classical music venue. We want to bring the top artists in jazz and world music and dance of course,” Boring said.
As a former trumpet performance student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Boring said he’s been familiar with the band for a long time.
“They've played on albums with Ed Sheeran and Stevie Wonder and John Matisse as individuals, and so, when you have a band that's made up of individual players that are at that level, it's always a really exciting concert,” Boring said.
The members of the band met while studying music at Ohio State University. They began writing and performing their music to friends at an apartment on Hunter Avenue, which became the inspiration for the name of the group. Since their start in Ohio, the group has performed in over 25 countries.
White compared the collaborative efforts within the band to a sports team. While each member contributes with their individual instruments, they also all assist in writing and editing their music.
“It’s a really unique kind of thing, but that’s sort of part of our identity as a band since we started just figuring it out along the way and being ambitious,” White said.
White’s love for music stems from his ability to put his words into songs when he doesn’t know how to express himself.
“To be able to express music with my best friends and sharing that music, telling that story is empowering.” White even goes as far as to say it’s “what gets me up in the morning.”
White said he loves welcoming new audiences by sharing his work with the crowd. The Huntertones’ shows stand out from other music groups, according to White.
“There are elements of us being able to improvise, challenging the audience to be a part of the show and participate so that you know the audience is invited into this party that we’re having on stage,” White said.