The Center for the Arts

Genre: Indie, Rock Golden Shoulders is a long-running music/friendship project from Nevada City, California, built around the songwriting of Adam Kline and this idea: it's less a fixed band than an ever-changing musical community. Since forming in 2001, Golden Shoulders has operated with a rotating cast of musicians, with different combinations of friends and collaborators joining for recordings and live performances. The result is a band whose lineup is intentionally fluid, while the songwriting and band identity remain consistent, if baffling. Over more than two decades, Golden Shoulders has released four full-length albums: Let My Burden Be (2002), Friendship Is Deep (2004), Get Reasonable (2009), and Could This Be the End (2019), along with five EPs, assorted singles and other one-offs. The music draws from indie rock, folk, and British Invasion influences, with arrangements that can change considerably depending on who is involved. In spring of 2024, they were a five piece bar band, with three of those pieces being electric guitars turned all the way up, and the other two pieces being bass guitar and drums, played at similarly ear-splitting volumes. In the fall of 2025, they were an acoustic quartet with piano, violin, flute, and acoustic guitar. The variety is the point. The band has also maintained an active touring life. Since the early days, Golden Shoulders has toured the United States ten times, often performing "campfire style" in deliberately stripped-down, acoustic settings without microphones or amplifiers. Other incarnations have been full electric bands, particularly when playing in or around their celebrated hometown. The lineup for their November 28th performance at the Center for the Arts will see bandleader and mascot Adam Kline (vocals, guitar) joined by Brett Shady (vocals, percussion), Ehren Haas (lead guitar), Jonathan Hansard (trumpet, banjo, percussion, vocals), Ariella Daly (piano, vocals), Micayla Sortland (bass guitar, vocals), and Jon Sortland (drums, vocals). They respectfully require your attendance.