I owe a great deal to Todd Herrington.

When I was just out of college, I had the good fortune of living in close proximity to a handful of friends who’d also gone to UR, and those were some amazing years. I recently told you about our Thursday nights at Curbside, but there was another weeknight ritual that was just as important and influential — seeing DJ Williams Projekt perform each Tuesday night at Cafe Diem.

This was my introduction to Richmond music. I couldn’t believe how good the band was week after week, and that I was seeing them at this tiny place just a short walk from my apartment. I remember thinking I should be in some big music venue, having paid handsomely for the privilege. In the decade-ish since, I’ve gotten to know a rich and exciting landscape of bands that have brought me to a similar point of amazement, and I’m so thankful that those Tuesday nights started opening my eyes to the cache of brilliance right here in my adopted hometown.

Herrington plays bass for DJ Williams Projekt, but last year he put out an outstanding solo record called Things. Solo might not be the right word for it, though — Things takes on a mixtape format, with a cast of collaborators that reads like an all-star team of Richmond musicians. (Daniel Clarke, Trey Pollard, NO BS! Brass Band’s Marcus Tenney, Bryan Hooten and Reggie Pace, fellow DJ Williams Projekt members Mark Ingraham and Dusty Simmons, the list goes on…) It was one of my favorite albums of 2013, and I’m deliriously excited to see it come to life at Friday Cheers tonight. It promises to be an awesome exhibition of this city’s creative power — did I mention RVA supergroup Avers and country revivalists Green Boys will be performing as well? Hot damn.

See y’all there.

Todd Herrington — “Punchtown” [Spotify/iTunes]