This Friday, The Head and The Heart will return to the stage in Richmond for the first time in awhile by headlining the new Allianz Riverfront Amphitheater with their biggest local show to date.
While the band originally formed in Seattle, two of its founding members, drummer Tyler Williams and lead singer Jonathan Russell, now call Richmond home. And with their new album Aperture, they’re bringing something more than a tour stop to the riverfront. They’re bringing a sense of renewal.
The band’s sixth full-length album, Aperture is self-produced, independently released, and arguably their most personal yet. And it’s a reclamation.
“We took the reins back,” Williams tells me, fresh off soundcheck. “We switched management, left our label, and got back to how we started by making music without outside pressure.”
Russell adds, “It was like we remembered why we started doing this in the first place.”
That sense of rediscovery runs deep in Aperture, an album shaped entirely by the band without a producer in the room. The result is a collection of songs that feels loose, lived-in, and, most importantly, true to them.
“We’ve never seen this many fans singing along to new songs this quickly,” Russell says. “It’s wild, and honestly, kind of beautiful.”
Read our past coverage of the band:
Feeling the Weight: An Interview With Jonathan Russell of The Head and The Heart HERE
Richmond’s Place Between The Head and The Heart HERE
The Process, the Songs: The Interview With The Head and The Heart HERE
The Richmond Roots of The Head And The Heart: An Interview with Tyler Williams HERE
A Return to Feeling
With Aperture, The Head and The Heart set out to reconnect with something they felt slipping away in recent years: their original voice. This record marks a clear departure from the more polished, producer-driven approach of their last few albums.
“We took the reins back,” drummer Tyler Williams says. “We switched management, left our label… it was like going back to how we did it when we first started. No pressure, no outside expectations, just us.”
Lead singer Jonathan Russell puts it more bluntly: “Honestly, if we kept going in the same way, I don’t know if we’d still be a band. It got boring playing what someone else wanted us to play. So we had to reset.”
That reset meant writing as a full band again with everyone in the room from the start, shaping the songs from the ground up. “There’s a spontaneity on stage that mirrors the spontaneity of making this record,” Williams says. “It’s back to being all six of us in the room, and you can feel that in the live show.”
Russell points out how this approach cut out the second-guessing. “It was like, let’s stop trying to guess what will work or what someone else wants. Let’s just say what we need to say and record it how we want to record it.”
The result is a record that’s leaner, louder in spirit, and more confident in its vulnerability. They intentionally stripped away excessive overdubs and production polish to get closer to what Russell calls “the source”, that original creative spark.
“I think people can tell when the artist is closest to the source,” Russell says. “And I think people can also tell when other hands are involved. That’s what made this one different, we trusted ourselves again.”
He compares it to a moment he had listening to the Funkadelic track “Maggot Brain,” which opens with a single spoken line before spiraling into a five-minute guitar solo. “It’s a bold move, but it pulls you in because it’s raw and unapologetic,” he says. “When we made Aperture, it felt like we were getting back to that kind of feeling.”
Even the album’s name arrived late, after one song, built around a piano line from Kenny Hensley, snuck up and tied the whole thing together. Matt Gervais took the rough cut home, wrote lyrics, and polished it into something the band didn’t even know they needed until it hit.
“At first we didn’t know if it would make the record,” Williams recalls. “But then it all came together in that last studio session. We listened back and realized this is it.”
The title Aperture stuck, though not everyone was sure people would understand the reference. “Some people on the team thought folks wouldn’t know what ‘aperture’ means,” Williams laughs, “but I’m married to a photographer, it made perfect sense to me.”
The metaphor clicked for the band, too. “It’s about expanding the lens,” Williams explains. “Letting in the light, all of it. The flaws, the doubts, the joy, the weirdness. All the things that make us who we are as individuals, we let that be the record.”
Russell echoes that feeling: “It’s like we finally said, let’s stop trying to sound like a version of ourselves and just be ourselves. This album is us, focused and wide open at the same time.”
Real Life, Real Stakes
For The Head and The Heart, Aperture isn’t just a return to form, it’s a reflection of who they are now. And for Jonathan Russell, that includes becoming a father. His daughter, Margo, was born just five months ago, and the shift in perspective has already started to shape the way he thinks about music, touring, and life.
“During the writing process, my wife was pregnant, but we didn’t have Margo yet,” Russell says. “So a lot of what I was writing still had some of that ‘old John’ energy like the version of me that was still colliding with adulthood in real time.”
Now, on the road with his wife and daughter, things feel different. “It trims the fat,” he says. “You become more efficient, more intentional. That’s how this album feels. It helped me rediscover my purpose. And now, being on tour with my family, honestly, it just feels more complete.”
Drummer Tyler Williams, who’s been a father for several years, knows that shift well. When I asked if he had any advice for Jon, his answer was simple: don’t procrastinate.
“Shit piles up fast,” Williams says with a laugh. “Bottles, dishes, laundry like if you don’t do it right away, it becomes a mountain. So I just started tackling things as soon as I see them. And that kind of became my approach to everything for life, music, the band. Just don’t wait.”
That urgency, that sharpened sense of time, made its way into the creative process behind Aperture. Williams says he actually felt less anxious during the making of this album than on any of the band’s past few records.
“On the albums we made with outside producers, I’d lie awake at night thinking, ‘Is this even the right direction?’” he says. “This time, I didn’t feel that. I felt like we were finally trusting ourselves again.”
Russell adds that fatherhood has also helped clear away some of the mental clutter. “I’ve always been someone searching for direction,” he says. “And sometimes that led me to places that weren’t great in the long run. But now, with my daughter here, the path feels clearer. It’s harder in some ways, sure, but it’s also simpler. I finally know what my purpose is.”
The balance of fatherhood and touring isn’t easy, but both artists seem to have found a rhythm that works. “Last night might’ve been my best show ever,” Russell says, “and then at midnight I was back on the bus, tucked in bed with my wife and daughter. I used to finish a show, text my wife knowing she was asleep 1,000 miles away, and just kind of sit with that feeling. Now it feels whole.”
Richmond’s Riverfront Moment
Friday’s show at the Allianz Riverfront Amphitheater marks more than just another stop on tour, it’s a homecoming. It’ll be the band’s largest ticketed performance in Richmond to date, and for Tyler Williams and Jonathan Russell, both of whom now live here again, it carries a weight that’s hard to describe but easy to feel.
“We’ve loved Richmond for a long time,” Williams says. “To be part of this venue’s opening season, to play right here at home, it’s special.”
It’s more than sentiment. Both Tyler and Jon grew up in the area. Richmond shaped them. And now, after years of living on the road and working out of Seattle, LA, and Nashville, both have come full circle, putting down roots back in the city that raised them.
“There’s something grounding about being here,” Russell says. “I used to dream about getting out, and we did, but coming back has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Richmond gives me the space to breathe. It gives my family community.”
For Williams, it’s also about perspective. “Being here again, you remember why this city has always punched above its weight culturally. The food, the art, the music, the people, it’s all here.”
“The location, the vibe, the river, one of my favorite Richmond shows ever was on Brown’s Island,” Russell says. “There’s something about playing close to the water here. It feels open, connected. This new venue feels like a continuation of that spirit, but on a whole new level.”
They’ve both heard the buzz from past shows and seen the excitement building as the venue fills out its first full summer. But this Friday night will be something personal.
“I think we’re hitting this moment at the right time in our career,” Russell adds. “To play this kind of show, in our city, with this record? That means something to us.”
Williams agrees. “This one’s for Richmond. We’re proud to be part of what’s growing here.”
Music as Shelter
In uncertain times, music can be a compass. And while The Head and The Heart have never been a band to chase headlines, there’s no denying the emotional weight that’s hanging in the air these days and how much their live shows have become a space to process it.
“These shows feel like a place to come together, to be joyful,” Tyler Williams says. “The world feels unsteady, but music still brings people back to themselves. It’s not about escape, it’s about grounding.”
And that grounding isn’t just happening for the audience.
“Even when you’re in the band, the show is sort of doing that for you too,” Russell says. “And if it doesn’t hit during the show, it usually hits after. Maddie and I will go down front, say hi, take photos, and people are just saying that this helped.”
That feedback, night after night, isn’t just appreciated.
“I feel like I’ve stopped trying to find hope in headlines,” Russell continues. “But whenever I’m in these big groups of people, and I see so many folks yearning for the same thing… I don’t know, it gives me hope. It feels like the good intentions of human beings are forever going to be sought out and fought for—over greed, over power.”
He pauses. “There’s always going to be those grabs for control. But when I see people come together like this, when they’re singing the same words, feeling the same thing, it reminds me that I can weather the storm. It gives me faith in humanity.”
For Williams, one show stands out as a turning point. “We played Boise the day after the 2016 election,” he recalls. “That night felt like a funeral. All the context of our songs shifted. And I realized these shows are more than entertainment. They’re where people come to process what’s going on.”
A Band Recentered
Six albums in, The Head and The Heart aren’t just still standing, they’re grounded in a way that feels hard-earned. After more than a decade of touring, lineup changes, major-label expectations, and the pressures that come with success, they’ve found something steadier: clarity. Not just in their music, but in their lives.
When I asked if they were happy now like really happy, the answer came without hesitation.
“Never better,” Williams says. “Really. I mean that.”
For Russell, that question carried a little more weight. “I used to have a great show and end the night in a bunk, texting my wife knowing she was asleep, thousands of miles away,” he says. “And even when the show went great, something always felt off.”
Now, things are different. “My wife and daughter are out here with me,” he says. “Last night might’ve been the best show I’ve ever played—and then I was in bed with my family by midnight. It feels whole. That never used to be the case.”
It’s not just a feel-good anecdote. It’s a reflection of the internal recalibration that made Aperture possible.
Williams puts it plainly: “I think if we’d kept doing things the way we were doing them, chasing formulas or outside approval, we might not still be doing this. But now, it’s different. We’re back to doing this because it matters to us.”
“It took a lot of deconstructing,” Russell adds. “Musically, emotionally, all of it. But now, the shows feel better. The songs feel more alive. I feel more like myself, more like we’re us again.”
Main photo by Jasper Graham
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