L.A. songwriter Charlie Hickey will open Phoebe Bridgers’ Tampa show

For a long time, Charlie Hickey was a constant presence on the Instagram stories posted by Phoebe Bridgers and her drummer Marshall Vore who frequently had the young Los Angeles songwriter in Vore’s studio.

Lately, however, the 21-year-old has enjoyed the kind of critical praise Bridgers—now technically his boss since he’s signed to her Saddest Factory record label—was the center of during her own rise. Outfits like NPR, Fader, Nylon, MTV and Flood have all heaped approval on Hickey’s work, with Consequence saying that one single, “No Good At Lying,” is the work of someone “wise beyond Hickey’s years.”

And now Tampa will get to see what all the fuss is about when Hickey opens Bridgers’ extremely sold-out May 23 show at the Cuban Club in Ybor City.

The show happens three days before Hickey—whose voice is one of the most unique among the latest batch new new indie-folk songsmiths—releases his debut full-length, Nervous At Night, and as he supports the 11-track effort’s latest single, “Dandelions.”

“This is one of the most special songs to me on this album. It’s about a time in my life and in the world that felt very stagnant but at the same time full of rapid change,” Hickey—who was added to Bridgers show just last week—wrote in a press release. “I think that feeling characterizes this time in our world. The world is changing so much but we are becoming increasingly isolated and going further into ourselves as a response. This song is about wanting to break out of that cycle and feel something new.”

This article appears in May 12-18, 2022.