Jeremy Facknitz’s new album is titled "Smilin’ At The Future", a caption from his high school graduation photo in the hometown newspaper.

If the songs smile at the future, it’s not idealism but a need to transcend the struggle of the present and the wounds of the past.

This is the sixth record by the two-time Kerrville Grassy Hill New Folk Songwriting Competition finalist and Posi Award Winner, and it’s his strongest songwriting and most imaginative music yet.

Facknitz describes his music as “indie rock with a made-for-the-theatre twist.

I’m a singer-songwriter, but I’m not 3 chords and the truth - I’m 8 to 15 chords and cryptic cynicism. Less like John Prine and Townes Van Zandt - more like Elvis Costello and Lin Manuel Miranda.”

Surprisingly, these lively descriptors make sense.

Like Costello and Miranda, Facknitz is a gifted storyteller open to finding new forms and new sounds.

Writing about his album From These Sweet Ashes, Collin Estes writes that Facknitz’s “emphasis on song-craft is immediately apparent, and the album an artistic triumph.”

Loring Wirbel writes “The next instantiation of Nick Lowe and other power-pop barons already exists, and From Those Sweet Ashes is his defining work to date.” Wirbel goes on to compare Facknitz’s music to Andrew Bird and John Darnielle.

While many fans consider him a recent discovery, Jeremy has entertained audiences with his lovingly crafted music and high-energy performances for over a quarter century.

Since the 2002 break-up of his Detroit-based band "The Ottomans" (they earned a 2001 Detroit Music Award for Best New Alternative Band, beating out "The White Stripes"), Jeremy has performed primarily as a solo act, marrying folk-rock and jazz stylings to showcase his intimate stories of life, love, and self-discovery.

But from 2003 to 2017, those stories seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Facknitz carved out a living performing at bars, coffeeshops, and corporate events while teaching lessons on the side. "I was happy to be making a living performing music, but my original music wasn't being heard - and as the years passed I found myself more and more frustrated playing to little more than the din of drunken conversation."

Things came to a head on July 17th, 2017 when Jeremy was diagnosed with viral meningitis. "I came face to face with my mortality, and I realized it was time for a change. I quit performing at bars and spent the next year making the leap to house concerts, touring, and performing solely for listening audiences."

The leap has paid off. While occasionally performing with his 6 piece band in Colorado, Jeremy continues to tour solo - performing at house concerts and listening rooms in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Deryk Cunningham is a Montana-born and raised Colorado musician with a lot to say.

Heartfelt original tunes, classic covers, smooth guitar-work, emotive vocals, and a laid-back stage presence make for an entertaining and unique musical experience.

Jeremy will be appearing on Fox 21's "Friday Feelz" program at 10am MT the morning of the show, to perform and talk about the upcoming appearance.

Advance tickets are available now at https://app.opendate.io/.../jeremy-facknitz-with-deryk...

https://jeremyfacknitz.com/

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