Grateful for Good. Artists on the Rise: to Luck
“I was able to see who really supported whether it was from 6 years ago or they had just discovered me from the “Artist on the Rise”. I am forever grateful for anyone discovering me it whatever way, none of this is guaranteed and its a privilege to do.” — Angel White, 2024 Artist on the Rise finalist.
Luck Reunion, by nature, is a stumble-upon type of affair. We stumbled upon the concept based on our love of stumbling upon artists we happened to fall madly in love with: In bars, coffee shops, or at shows like the ones we put on today. The Southwest Artist on the Rise: To Luck program has brought so much more talent into the fold and, ultimately, the Luck Family.
For the past several years we’ve put out the call for up-and-coming acts who rally their fans and the music community as a whole to vote them into the official Luck Family. It’s long been one of our favorite times of year.
It started…with the voting, where artist fans become hugely instrumental in the Artist on the Rise journey, “hugely so,” according to 2024 finalist Victoria Bigelow. “It felt really special to share some more insight into my life [with my fans]. I don’t talk about it often because I keep my family life private, but I cherished getting the opportunity to share my story and my little life.” 2023 finalist Angel White shares, “I was able to see who really supported, whether it was from 6 years ago or they had just discovered me from the ‘Artist on the Rise’. I am forever grateful for anyone discovering me it whatever way, none of this is guaranteed and its a privilege to do.”
Then…the call. One of our preferred moments was, as a team, making the phone call to finalists to let them know they were on the road to Luck. Bigelow’s reaction?: “Disbelief! I had applied on a whim not thinking that I would get it. I was just so so excited.”
It continued…with the hometown filming, where the finalists taking us to their hometowns where our family film crew followed each of them to their local haunts, homes, and the spot that inspired them. “Being able to see the artistic process (of not just one medium of art) communicate such simple & complex emotions in a natural and organic way was super rad,” shares Kate Liddy, head of set photography.
And culminated…in a real Reunion moment when each artist took a stage in Willie’s backyard in March. And forever became a Luck Family member. As Bigelow puts it, “It was so beautiful. Everyone I met during the process was so kind and encouraging.” While White said, “It’s was a dream if you will, to play Luck is special beyond words because its more than just a festival and you become apart of a family.” 2024’s Artist on the Rise Lou Hazel put it pretty nicely: “Finally getting on the stage, I felt a lot of love from the audience and it honestly just felt really good to be there.” We feel the same way.
We had the time of our lives with this program, and are truly, deeply grateful for the creatives who joined us on this insightful journey. Thank damn y’all are still in the family.
