Driving All Night: How to Raise a Kid and Survive as a Broke-ass Musican
DRIVING ALL NIGHT: How to Raise a Kid and Survive as a Broke-ass Musician
A one-man show about parenting, written and performed by Ed Hamell
FronteraFest BYOV 2025 performances: January 24, January 31, February 1 and February 2 at Captain Quackenbush’s South (5326 Menchaca Road)
Every parent knows the struggles and triumphs that come with raising their kid. How do you do it when your day job requires you to travel endlessly across the country, stopping nightly to sing protest songs and tell dirty jokes for strangers in crowded dive bars?
Enigmatic folk-punk proletariat and legendary touring musician Ed Hamell – aka Hamell on Trial – has driven over a million miles, pinballing across the map over the course of a career spanning seventeen critically-acclaimed albums. Hundreds of thousands of those miles on the road have been shared with his son – Detroit Hamell – who started spending weekends and summers on tour when he was six years old.
In addition to examining Hamell and Hamell's road exploits, Driving All Night explores the tumultuous real life day-to-day world of a working musician who lives as an artistic renegade on the fringes of the traditional music industry as an underground DIY artist. Driving All Night also features video design and projection by Director / Producer Mike Henry.
Driving All Night’s World Premiere performances took place in September 2024 at Hyde Park Theatre with a weekend of packed houses and enthusiastic audiences. One of our favorite post-show Facebook comments read: “I laughed, I got verklempt, I felt nostalgic, I felt hopeful. I had lots of feels. Loved it.”
A veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe Award where he won the coveted Herald Angel Award, any Hamell on Trial show is a multidisciplinary experience drawing from the worlds of music, theatre, stand-up comedy and storytelling. His performances invoke thoughts of the great satirists and social commentators of the past, from Lenny Bruce to Richard Pryor to Bill Hicks. Armed with a battered 1937 Gibson acoustic guitar, a politically astute mind that can't stop moving, and a mouth that can be profane one minute and profound the next, Hamell shoots straight with his audience, whether unraveling topical issues or sharing confessional tales from his own past.
Four performances of Driving All Night play at Captain Quackenbush’s on January 24, January 31, February 1 and February 2 as part of FronteraFest 2025’s BYOV (Bring Your Own Venue) programming. Tickets are $20. Purchase tickets online at hydeparktheatre.org or call 512-479-PLAY (7529) for reservations. The show goes up at 8 pm and the house will open one hour before showtime – with the exception of the closing show on February 2, which will be a 5 pm matinee performance.
Captain Quackenbush’s (south) is located at 5326 Menchaca Road. There’s plenty of free parking onsite and the venue features a full bar. A gallery of Hamell’s original paintings will be on display in the venue and available for purchase and signing by the artist after the show.
Press inquiries and more information contact: Mike Henry | 512.626.5210 | [email protected]
More info about Hamell on Trial: www.hamellontrial.org
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/2833828-0
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2833828-2
