Concerts and Shows at The Magic Bag

Billy Raffoul with Peter Raffoul & The Indiana Drones

Tuesday, October 10 - Doors 7pm - $18 adv. - All Ages

The communion between an artist and a room full of people endures is one of the most sacred forms of connection. As emotion and energy transfer back-and-forth, this interchange of feelings might be the closest thing we have to true magic in our physical world. Billy Raffoul writes music with this moment in mind. Guitar in hand and microphone on, his voice echoes with a graceful grit that comes right from the gut as he tells stories straight from the heart.

After generating hundreds of millions of streams and earning acclaim from American Songwriter, Paste, and more, the award-winning Ontario singer, songwriter, and producer continues to captivate on his debut EP for Nettwerk.

During 2017, Billy made his debut with the single "Driver." Following the 1975 EP and The Running Wild EP, he released his debut full-length, A Few More Hours at YYZ in 2020. The single "Acoustic" generated over 60.7 million Spotify streams as "Easy Tiger" surpassed 19.4 million Spotify streams. The same year, he maintained this momentum with International Hotel and shared bills with Kings of Leon, Kaleo, X Ambassadors and more. Reaching another level, 2021 saw him garner the SOCAN Songwriting Prize for the single "Western Skies."

Despite the Pandemic lockdown, he focused on writing and recording as much as possible. He collaborated with longtime creative cohorts Justin Zuccato and Mike Crossey remotely and occasionally in-person, piecing the EP together over these sessions.

Peter Raffoul:

For Nashville-based singer/songwriter Peter Raffoul, songs often emerge late into the night, at an hour when inhibitions fall away and the most essential truths are laid bare. With a lyrical sensibility that merges intimate confession and boldly detailed storytelling, the Canada-born artist opens up about anxiety and isolation and the more complicated aspects of human connection, elegantly matching his moody intensity with a mercurial form of alt-rock/folk. Made with producers Owen Lewis (Old Sea Brigade, Maddie Medley) and Henry Brill (Phantogram, Jack Garratt), Raffoul's debut body of work reveals his undeniable gift for transforming pain into beauty—an element endlessly magnified by the pure warmth and power of his voice.

With the release of his first batch of material, Raffoul hopes that others might find solace in his unfiltered yet finely crafted outpouring. "Most of these songs are about admitting that things are far from perfect, but to me there's hopefulness in that," he says. "I think it's possible to find comfort in being uncomfortable, as long as you know you're not the only one who doesn't have it all figured it out. I want to let people that it's okay to be happy and sad at the same time—and that instead of trying to ignore those uncomfortable feelings, we should try to make the most of them."