by Andi Bricklin
Long before his four-chair turn on Season 7 of The Voice, Luke Wade was writing and recording with his band No Civilians back home in Texas. “I was working on The River from about October 2013 until maybe March 2014.” The album was released, but promotion got put aside when the opportunity for The Voice arose. Wade sleighed audiences with his amazing versions of “Let’s Get It On” and a hometown Philly favorite “Rich Girl.” When his journey on the show ended his career took off.
On the road constantly, Wade has performed with Andy Grammer, Train, Daughtry, David Cook, Ingrid Michelson, and the legendary Patti LaBelle. “I was invited to perform during the “Dream Marches On” concert in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March; I feel like I got to be a part of history.” Wade received a standing ovation when he finished performing.
He is also a bit of a do-gooder having been commissioned by the TCU Frogs for the Cure benefiting the Susan G Komen Foundation to record the duet “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” with Mia Z from Season 8 of The Voice. “TCU [Texas Christian University] is the college that invented the “pink-out”, and with both of his grandmothers being breast cancer survivors, Wade has a personal connection to the cause. The single will be released on September 1, and the music video will debut in October to support Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Photos courtesy of Luke Wade Management
The man has a full tour schedule coming up starting tomorrow night in Philadelphia with fellow Voice alum and local artist, Matt McAndrew (who also has a ton of stuff going on). “I’m looking forward to performing with Matt at the World Café Live, and I’m hoping to hit Triple A Radio hard this tour.” The tour will take Luke Wade and No Civilians from Philly to Texas, Oklahoma, VA, up to NY, Minnesotta, Oregon, DC, then back to Texas for a brief rest before the band goes from Dublin, TX to Dublin Ireland for a Texas themed pub-crawl. “Every year 99.9 FM, The Ranch sends 20 artist to Ireland; we’ll do seven venues in seven days.”
There will be no rest for Wade as he continues to write and record at Texas Treefort Studios. “It’s a magical place, it really is. The CEO is a former aerospace engineer who rebuilds super vintage sound equipment. It’s like a functioning audio museum.” We’re hoping to hear some new tunes some time this fall.
Wade knows that his time is now and he’s seizing every opportunity that comes his way. Don’t miss him tomorrow night at the World Café Live! He’ll also return to Bethlehem, PA on 8/27 for a performance at the Steel Stacks.
