Whitey Morgan and the 78's bring the new record to The BrickWorks on Feb. 6

The Flint, Michigan country band booked a Saturday night downtown, two months after its first full-length album in about eight years comes out.

Some country is made for headphones. Whitey Morgan's is made for a loud room on a Saturday night, and Chico has one booked: Whitey Morgan and the 78's play The BrickWorks on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2027.

The show starts at 8 p.m. at the club at 191 E. 2nd St. downtown. Tickets went on general sale last Friday, Oct. 23, through Ticketmaster and its TicketWeb partner, and The BrickWorks' Ticketmaster venue page carries the listing. February is a long way off, but a Saturday headliner at a downtown club is the kind of show that's gone by the time you get to it.

The timing is the hook. Whitey Morgan and the 78's announced *Hell on the Highway* in September. Saving Country Music called it the band's first full-length album in about eight years. It has 11 songs, Justin Francis produced it, and it's due Dec. 4, after a run of 2024 and 2025 singles that included "Let Me Roll." The title track came out in late September. By the time the band gets to Chico, the new songs will have had two months to settle in, which is about right for a crowd to know the words.

By the time the band gets to Chico, the new songs will have had two months to settle in.

If the name is new to you, the band comes out of Flint, Michigan. It signed with the Chicago label Bloodshot Records in 2010 and built its following the slow way, on the road. Recent venue pages around the country describe a hard-touring act. The sound is honky-tonk with the volume up, steel guitar and a rock band's low end, and the band plays its share of covers alongside its own material.

That's the case for The BrickWorks. A band like this works best with the crowd right at the stage and the bar close by. A Saturday in early February is a good night to be at the front.

The practical part: buy through the venue's own Ticketmaster or TicketWeb listing rather than a resale site, check the room's age policy before you bring anyone under 21, and plan for the 8 p.m. start.

Bring boots you don't mind scuffing. It's a long drive from Flint, and the band doesn't play it soft.

Sources: Ticketmaster — The BrickWorks, Chico, CA (venue page) (ticketmaster.com); TicketWeb — Whitey Morgan and the 78's at The BrickWorks (ticketweb.com); Saving Country Music — Whitey Morgan Announces First New Album in 8 Years, 'Hell on the Highway' (savingcountrymusic.com); Wikipedia — Whitey Morgan and the 78's (en.wikipedia.org); Tipitina's — Whitey Morgan and the 78's event page (tipitinas.com)