Cordovas finally take "Destiny Hotel" to Europe

The latest full-length from Cordovas, "Destiny Hotel" is a work of wild poetry and wide-eyed abandon, set to a glorious collision of folk and country and groove-heavy rock-and-roll. In a major creative milestone for the Tennessee-based band—vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Joe Firstman, keyboardist Sevans Henderson, guitarist/vocalist Lucca Soria and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Toby Weaver—the album harnesses the freewheeling energy of their live show more fully than ever, all while lifting their songwriting to a whole new level of sophistication. The result is a batch of songs that ruminate and rhapsodize with equal intensity, inviting endless celebration on the way to transcendence.

On ‘Destiny Hotel‘ Cordovas blend country and southern rock with a lightness of touch that takes them deep into the roots of Americana. Above all soar their magnificent harmonies as Cordovas create a sense of total abandon from the day to day drudgeries of life. Joe Firstman may have formed the four-piece band but this third studio album is very much a product of the band’s communal lifestyle. They all live together on a farm near Nashville. Before recording ‘Destiny Hotel’ they spent over three months living in an artists’ collective in Mexico. Such unity harks back to The Band’s Big Pink. To that classic Americana Cordovas add some Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead.

“We wanted to strike the term ‘want’ from our music—to get rid of all the ‘Baby, baby, baby, I want this, I want that,’ and create something more useful,” says Firstman. “We needed to make sure these were songs we’d be proud to sing forever.”

But while Destiny Hotel unfolds in untold revelations on fear and ego and self-liberation, Cordovas offer up that insight without ever slipping into didacticism. In fact, much of the album radiates utter elation, each moment echoing Cordovas’ band-of-brothers kinship and extraordinary closeness: when they’re not touring the world, Cordovas spend much of their time practicing in the barn at their communal farm home just outside Nashville. “I can’t imagine that many bands rehearse more than we do,” says Firstman, whose wife and young child also live on the farm. “We’re all here together in this wonderful space, and we’re pretty good about never taking it for granted.”

After almost two years waiting the Cordovas finally will come to Europe next spring:

22/03: Leiden, NL - Q-Bus
23/03: Utrecht, NL - TivoliVredenburg
24/03: Sint Niklaas, BE - Casino
25/03: Weert, NL - Bosuil
26/03: Groningen, NL - Oosterpoort
27/03: Oldenzaal, NL - Cobblestone
29/03: Uppsala, SWE - Katalin
30/03: Rimbo, SWE - Opalen
31/03: Sundsvall, SWE - Q-Bar
01/04: Trondheim, NO - Bar Moskus
02/04: Trondheim, NO - Bar Moskus
03/04: Sandane, NO - Sølvane Gard
05/04: Bergen, NO - Bergen Sessions
06/04: Oslo, NO - John Dee
07/04: Kristianstad, SWE - Biljardkompaniet
08/04: Falkenberg, SWE - Tryckhallen
09/04: Göteborg, SWE - Pustervik
10/04: Motala, SWE - Hagebyhöga Handelsträdgård
11/04: Stockholm, SWE - Nalen Klubb
12/04: Kungsbacka, SWE - Kungsbacka Teater
13/04: Malmö, SWE - Folk å Rock
14/04: Odense, DK - Dexter
15/04: Esbjerg, DK - Tobakken
19/04: Angers, FR - Joker's Pub
21/04: Bilbao, ESP - Kafe Antzokia
22/04: Madrid, ESP - El Sol
23/04: Alivés, ESP - Factoria Cultural
24/04: Santander, ESP - Little Bobby
26/04: Cadiz, ESP - TBA
27/04: Valencia, ESP - Loco Club
28/04: Zaragoza, ESP - Rock & Blues Café
29/04: Barcelona, ESP - Sala Bódeva