All the Stars Will Align when Augustana Performs at Fonda Theatre

Greg Schwartz

Singer/songwriter and Southern California native Daniel Layus brings his band, Augustana, to Los Angeles on Dec. 9 at the Fonda Theatre. Layus currently resides in Nashville, where some of the work was done for the band’s fourth album “Life Imitating Life.”

Layus started the band in 2002 while at Greenville College in Illinois, before returning to California. Augustana’s first album “Midwest Skies and Sleepless Mondays” was released independently in 2003, followed by “All the Stars and Boulevards” in 2005 which yielded the hit single “Boston”. The song rose to #34 on the Billboard Top 100 and was featured on television shows “Scrubs,” “Smallville” and “One Tree Hill.” The band’s success continued with 2008’s “Can’t Love Can’t Hurt” and 2011’s eponymous album, but that release became the end of an era.

Augustana parted ways with Epic Records after their fourth album was released and Layus wound up parting ways with his bandmates as well, while still declaring his intention to continue performing as Augustana. The new album for Washington Square Music represents a rebirth for Layus, which he hints at in the album’s first song and single “Ash and Ember” where he sings, “Like a phoenix I was born from ash and ember…” The song is also featured in a video directed by Ryan Hamblin (Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Cletus T. Judd).

“It felt like the right way to introduce this album and re-enter the atmosphere as an artist,” Layus says at his new label’s website. “I put a lot on my plate over the years. I made a ton of bad decisions and many good decisions, I hurt a lot of people I cared for and loved, including myself. The song is about how it can be easy to beat up yourself.  You’ve got to be able to acknowledge that who you are now isn’t defined by who you were but that it is a part of your makeup. It’s a mix of reflecting on the past as well as reflecting on the present, questioning one’s self.”

Augustana will perform at the Fonda Theatre on Dec. 9. Tickets are available here.