Judah & The Lion

The Pageant presents Judah & The Lion on Tuesday, September 22!

At the beating heart of Nashville band Judah & The Lion is a story of a deeply loyal chosen brotherhood, dating back to 2011 when Judah Akers and Brian MacdDonald became band mates in college. Judah & The Lion’s newest and sixth album,I Am A Prism, came after a period of soul searching, and in the midst of a welcome joyous new life milestone: Brian becoming a father again. The last three albums had documented some personally heavy topics – mental health and depression (2019’sPep Talks), heartbreak and divorce (2022’s Revival), and charting the stages of grief (2024’s The Process). On the other side of this trilogy of hard times and heartbreak, Judah & The Lion was at a creative crossroads. They took sometime off, parted ways with their management, and asked themselves some tough but necessary questions.

After so many years writing and recording music thatspoke to Judah’s personal battles, family hardships, grief and loss, Judah’s older brother Eli finally revealed that he had struggled to listen to any Judah & The Lion’s albums because the lyrics just made him too sad. After this illuminating conversation, Judah sat alone at his piano and wrote “I Am A Prism”. This revelatory and honest moment between brothers had crystalized what this album wanted to become, who it was for, and how to get there.