Noah Guthrie has performed in a lot of different places. The Greer, South Carolina singer/songwriter, who played Roderick Meeks on the hit Fox TV show Glee, has toured the world, crisscrossing Europe and the U.S. many times in the process and even playing in the Middle Eastern nation of Oman.
But when he walks onstage for his intimate, solo acoustic show at Genevieve’s theater lounge in the Peace Center on Thursday, April 29, it might be one of the most meaningful performances of his career.
“This is really my first real show since the pandemic started,” Guthrie says. “It’s a big deal for artists when they don’t get to do something like this for a while. That’s a whole part of my life that went away for a year, and it feels kind of like missing a friend. So once I get back up there, I think it’ll honestly be cathartic and maybe even therapeutic, so I’m just going to try to really soak it in and enjoy it.”
“About halfway through I was getting really antsy,” he says with a laugh. “So I wrote a whole album’s worth of new music that’s waiting to be released.”
Typically, Guthrie would be taking the stage with his band, Good Trouble, but since this show is small-scale and socially distanced, it’ll just be him and his acoustic guitar, something he doesn’t get to do too often.
“I’m used to getting onstage with the band,” he says, “and that’s kind of where my heart’s at most days. But with these smaller acoustic shows, I do get to go back to where these songs all started, which is usually on the acoustic guitar. I’m sure I’m going to make some mistakes, but it all kind of comes back to you pretty quickly.”
Photo by Kyle DeloachDuring his unplanned hiatus from being on the road, Guthrie put out a couple of singles, the soulful ballad “High Enough” and the more folk-oriented “That’s All,” but he mostly enjoyed a bit of time off after years of playing 200-plus dates a year.
“This is really my first real show since the pandemic started,” Guthrie says. “It’s a big deal for artists when they don’t get to do something like this for a while.”
“It was really the first time that I got to stay home and really BE home,” he says. “When you get to actually have time to think and love on your loved ones, it is quite a golden opportunity. I got to soak in my surroundings a little bit longer and reconnect with my home. If I’m looking for a positive takeaway, it’s that I really did get to reconnect with the Upstate area.”
To be fair, though, Guthrie says that the pull of making music did eventually get to him.
“About halfway through I was getting really antsy,” he says with a laugh. “So I wrote a whole album’s worth of new music that’s waiting to be released, and recently I did a Kickstarter for that album and raised about $30,000 to put the album out. The album’s going to be called ‘Blue Wall,’ and we’re hoping to have it out this summer.”
Guthrie says that even though touring can be a grind, he feels like he’ll cherish being on the road more now that he’s able to play shows again. In fact, his summer is filling up with shows, with dates in Tennessee, Connecticut, Wisconsin and more already scheduled.
“I’m so anxious to get back out there,” he says. “I’ll probably be nervous an hour or two before the first show starts, but then once I get onstage and once I get through the first two or three songs, I will most likely settle in. It’s a whole part of my life that I didn’t get to do. I’m sure a lot of things will feel normal eventually, but right now I just feel like I’m grateful and thankful for anything that I can get.”
WANT TO GO?
What: Noah Guthrie
Where: Genevieve’s @ the Peace Center (masks required, table sales only)
When: Thursday, April 29, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $200 for a table of 4.
Info: https://www.peacecenter.org/
