Light Up the Lawn: The Freedom Affair
8:30 p.m. Friday, August 23, 2024 | Nerman Museum lawn
Free; no reservations required.
Join the Midwest Trust Center and Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art for the 2024 Light Up the Lawn Concert Series featuring some of the best live music Kansas City has to offer. Bring your blankets, lawn chairs, and picnic baskets (no alcohol) for these free, fun events! Come early to the Nerman Museum to make seed mandalas and see the exhibition Actions for the Earth from 6-7 p.m., and grab a bite to eat from one of our local food trucks!
The Freedom Affair is a female-fronted soul powerhouse inspired by the traditions of the genre’s past with an enduring message that looks toward the future. Three dynamic, awe-inspiring singers – Seyko Groves, Paula Saunders, and Shon Ruffin – share lead and background vocals, blending refined harmonies while backed by an airtight band that meets every musical moment with taste, precision, and a deep pocket.
Riding the success of their debut album, “Freedom is Love,” the band has reemerged with an impressive arsenal of new music conceived in the wake of the Covid pandemic. A series of four stand-alone singles recorded straight to tape in their Kansas City studio will roll out over 2024 to prelude their sophomore album releasing in early 2025. Each single encapsulating a different sound and theme, the series highlights the band’s range and proficient songwriting prowess: a perfect course between their first and second full-length offerings that reintroduces fans to the majesty that this collective of artists produces.
The magic The Freedom Affair captures in the studio is exponentially magnified live, in person. Crowds rave about the fireworks this group brings to the stage. The band is poised to continue bringing their brand of inspired soul to new crowds across the world.
Bringing the joy of traditional Mexican music all across the Midwest.
A torchbearer of the American songwriting tradition.