BLOOD BROTHERS – Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia
Gulf Coast Records’ Blues Music Award-Winners Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia bond as Blood Brothers on new CD coming early 2023. Blood Brothers was produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith and recorded at Dockside Studio in Maurice, Louisiana. Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia are true “Blood Brothers” in life and in the music they create both individually and collectively, joining forces in a collaborative effort of songwriting and performances to create a total listening experience greater than the sum of its parts. Added to that process are the talents of producers Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, who brought fresh ideas to the recording sessions, pushing Mike and Albert creatively and musically to present their best work to date. “Mike and Albert have a special chemistry together when they plug in and play that few have. They finish each other’s sentences musically,” award-winning guitarist Joe Bonamassa said about the sessions. “Great tunes, great people, great hang! What’s not to like? It was an honor to be involved in this project.” “Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia have done something special,” added co-producer Josh Smith. “They have both found their musical confidante. Most solo artists never even look – let alone find – theirs. They have brought together a real ‘band’ using members of each’s solo acts. The sum of all these parts added with a tremendous effort to both write and perform the strongest record of their respective careers has paid off in a special album. Blood Brothers indeed! Joe and I are proud that these brothers trusted our partnership to produce this special album!” Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia will be hitting the road again in support of the new Blood Brothers album. They will bring together their two powerhouse bands, featuring Matt Johnson: drums; Ephraim Lowell: drums; Doug Byrkit: bass; and Lewis Stephens: piano/organ. Both Mike and Albert will be onstage performing together for the entire show, so fans can enjoy the amazing chemistry and creativity that these two musicians share with each other – and the audience. In addition to their own rock, blues and roots individual tunes, the set will feature a number of songs from the Blood Brothers album. https://www.bloodbrothersband.com/
15-60-75 – The Numbers Band @ The Kent Stage!
15 60 75 The Numbers has been praised by almost every national music publication and several international publications since the beginning of their 50+ years of live performances and recordings. Many fans are under the impression that the band remains obscure by choice. In fact, they have never been offered a contract from any recording company in the industry, ever.The music “cannot be categorized”, “cannot be defined”, “too original”. The music industry is not about music. It is about selling products the public can relate to. After all, it is a business. Even “alternative” music has become a label. The founder of the band, Robert Kidney, explains, “The music industry, the media, and the tellsusourvision (TV) are defining for the American public what is good music by only playing and supporting what is profitable. We are taught to disregard everything that is not familiar. We give the people our best. Our effort goes into being creative, unique and original. We define our own sound. There are no rules because we don’t play the game. We are not in it for the game, we’re in it for the music.”So, the band continues to create and evolve outside of the “Rock & Roll” establishment. The majority of the recordings were financed by friends who loved the music enough to put up their own money. Hundreds of photographs taken of the band in different stages of its existence tell a story of intense performances, long nights, and the passing of time. Band members have come and gone, and returned again. Robert sees music as much more than an emotional release or a performance. It is a job for which he demands respect and payment for services.Robert Kidney picked up a guitar and began teaching himself to play when he 16. He bought a 45 record called Guitar Boogie Shuffle and his cousin, Larren Hesson, taught him the licks. He also taught him to play one of his favorite songs, Riders On The Storm. At 17, Robert played solo in coffee houses and also opened for several acts at La Cave in Cleveland such as Linda Ronstadt and Janis Ian. He never found the time to learn to read music. After a short stint in the service, he moved back to northeast Ohio in the spring of 1969. A friend, Gary Hawk, had formed a band called Pig Iron in Wadsworth, Ohio. Robert opened for them at the Akron Art Museum and several band members asked him to come to a rehearsal sometime. When Robert did show up, Gary had left the group, and the remaining members wanted him to be their front man. Robert changed the name of the band to 15 60 75.The title of the band has always aroused curiosity from fans. The fans called them The Numbers because it was easier than trying to get the figures right. Numbers had not been used in a name before, and the political climate in 1970 was quite Orwell-ian. Robert choose a sequence of numbers mentioned in a book written by Paul Oliver called The Blues Fell This Morning. In the chapter “The Jinx Is On Me”, Oliver describes the Numbers Racket popular in Harlem in the 1950s and how dreams were analyzed as number sequences and used for placing bets. The band’s music theory specialist, Terry Hynde, also discovered that 15 divided 15 is 1, 60 divided by 15 is 4, and 75 divided by 15 is 5. In a musician’s world, “1, 4, 5,” is referred to as the “universal progression”.The band resides in northeast Ohio. They have several recordings under their belt and more music than they can afford to release. Robert has recorded and toured with Anton Fier and his Golden Palominos. Robert and his brother, Jack, have toured Holland twice. The brothers also traveled to London, England in 1998 to perform in the Disastodrome! production by David Thomas. The entire band went to London to perform at the Royal Festival Hall in 2000. For more information on the production, and The Kidney Brothers, go to The Brothers And The Blues Abstract.
Leo Kottke
Leo KottkeAcoustic guitarist Leo Kottke was born in Athens, Georgia, but left town after a year and a half. Raised in 12 different states, he absorbed a variety of musical influences as a child, flirting with both violin and trombone, before abandoning Stravinsky for the guitar at age 11.After adding a love for the country-blues of Mississippi John Hurt to the music of John Phillip Sousa and Preston Epps, Kottke joined the Navy underage, to be underwater, and eventually lost some hearing shooting at lightbulbs in the Atlantic while serving on the USS Halfbeak, a diesel submarine.Kottke had previously entered college at the U of Missouri, dropping out after a year to hitchhike across the country to South Carolina, then to New London and into the Navy, with his twelve string. “The trip was not something I enjoyed,” he has said, “I was broke and met too many interesting people.”Discharged in 1964, he settled in the Twin Cities area and became a fixture at Minneapolis’ Scholar Coffeehouse, which had been home to Bob Dylan and John Koerner. He issued his 1968 recording debut LP Twelve String Blues, recorded on a Viking quarter-inch tape recorder, for the Scholar’s tiny Oblivion label. (The label released one other LP by The Langston Hughes Memorial Eclectic Jazz Band.)After sending tapes to guitarist John Fahey, Kottke was signed to Fahey’s Takoma label, releasing what has come to be called the Armadillo record. Fahey and his manager Denny Bruce soon secured a production deal for Kottke with Capitol Records.Kottke’s 1971 major-label debut, “Mudlark”, positioned him somewhat uneasily in the singer/songwriter vein, despite his own wishes to remain an instrumental performer. Still, despite arguments with label heads as well as with Bruce, Kottke flourished during his tenure on Capitol, as records like “Greenhouse” (1972) and the live albums “My Feet Are Smiling” (1973) and “Ice Water” (1974) found him branching out with guest musicians and honing his guitar technique.With “Chewing Pine” in 1975, Kottke reached the U.S. Top 30 for the second time; he also gained an international following thanks to his continuing tours in Europe and Australia.His collaboration with Phish bassist Mike Gordon, “Clone”, caught audiences’ attention in 2002. Kottke and Gordon followed with a recording in the Bahamas called “Sixty Six Steps”, produced by Leo’s old friend and Prince producer David Z.Kottke has been awarded two Grammy nominations; a Doctorate in Music Performance by the Peck School of Music at the U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; and a Certificate of Significant Achievement in Not Playing the Trombone from the U of Texas at Brownsville with Texas Southmost College.
Bruce Cockburn with Dar Williams
Bruce Cockburn One of Canada’s finest artists, Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by politics, spirituality, and musical diversity. His remarkable journey has seen him embrace folk, jazz, rock, and worldbeat styles while travelling to such far-flung places as Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique, and Nepal, and writing memorable songs about his ever-expanding world of wonders. “My job,” he explains, “is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper and the pulling of notes out of metal.” For his many achievements, the Ottawa-born artist has been honored with 12 Juno Awards, an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, and has been made an Officer of the Order of Canada. But he never rests on his laurels. “I’d rather think about what I’m going to do next,” says Cockburn. “My models for graceful aging are guys like John Lee Hooker and Mississippi John Hurt, who never stop working till they drop, as I fully expect to be doing, and just getting better as musicians and as human beings.” Dar Williams Dar Williams’ lyrics contain bouquets of optimism, delivered on melodies alternating between beguiling lightness and understated gravity. Williams strongly believes that all of us possess our own power and ability to achieve, and she rejects the exceptionalism that encourages us to “admire that yonder star,” while making us feel small and insignificant; unworthy of shining on our own but hoping to catch enough distant light to inspire some tiny accomplishment. Williams has always been very interested in how to control our future and this album has to do with the fact that at some point, you just can’t. Dar Williams was always in the right place at the right time for the success she’s had over a 25+-year career. She rose out of the vibrant Boston scene, inspired by the eclectic influences of alt-rockers, folk artists, like Patty Griffith, Melissa Ferrick, the Throwing Muses, Vance Gilbert, and Jonatha Brooke. .
CLANNAD – In A Lifetime – The Farewell Tour
Clannad (derived from the word clan meaning ‘family’ in Gaelic) was formed in 1970 by siblings Moya, Ciarán and Pól Brennan and their uncles Noel and Pádraig Duggan (who sadly passed away in 2016), and for a short time later became a six-piece with the addition of Enya Brennan who then went on to have her own successful solo career. The multi-award winning band have, without doubt, done more than any other group to take Irish music and the Irish language to a worldwide audience. Fusing elements of traditional Irish music and more contemporary folk, new age and rock they have created a beautifully unique and ethereal sound which combines haunting melodies and mesmerising vocals to transcend the sands of time whilst appealing to a worldwide audience of all ages. After a decade which saw them release five hugely influential and groundbreaking albums, in 1982 Clannad reached wider recognition when they recorded Theme From Harry’s Game for a powerful three-part TV drama depicting the troubles in Northern Ireland. The song became a commercial success upon its release as a single, peaking at number 2 in Ireland and number 5 in the UK, winning an Ivor Novello award and later being used in the movie Patriot Games. It remains the only UK hit single to be sung entirely in Irish. In addition to the incredible achievements of this one, timeless song, in 1984 Clannad won a BAFTA for ‘Best Original Television Music’ for their soundtrack ‘Legend’ (becoming the first Irish band to win it), which featured music and songs the band were commissioned to score for the Robin Of Sherwood TV series. In the two decades since the band has won a Grammy Award (‘Best New Age Album’ for 1999’s Landmarks), Billboard Music Award, and a BBC 2 Folk Award (for Lifetime Achievement).Clannad also recorded the soundtrack albums Atlantic Realm, made for a BBC documentary about the Atlantic Ocean, and The Angel and the Solider Boy, a half hour animation without voiceovers, with the music telling the story. In 1993 their song ‘I Will Find You’ (from the album ‘Banba’) was featured as the love theme to the movie Last Of The Mohicans (which saw the band receive their first Grammy nomination). These achievements make them one of the most successful and acclaimed soundtrack artists.
Darrell Scott
Darrell Scott Multi-Instrumentalist and Singer-Songwriter Darrell Scott mines and cultivates the everyday moment, taking the rote, menial, mundane, and allowing it to be surreal, ever poignant, and candidly honest, lilting, blooming, and resonating. The words he fosters allow us to make sense of the world, what is at stake here, and our place in it. And ultimately, Darrell knows the sole truth of life is that love is all that matters, that we don’t always get it right, but that’s the instinctive and requisite circuitous allure of things, why we forever chase it, and why it is held sacred. Darrell Scott comes from a musical family with a father who had him smitten with guitars by the age of 4, alongside a brother who played Jerry Reed style as well. From there, things only ramped up with literature and poetry endeavors while a student at Tufts University, along with playing his way through life. This would never change. After recently touring with Robert Plant and the Zac Brown Band (2 years with each), and producing albums for Malcolm Holcombe and Guy Clark and being named “songwriter of the year” for both ASCAP and NSAI, these days find him roaming his Tennessee wilderness acreage hiking along the small river, creating delicious meals with food raised on his property and playing music. He often leads songwriting workshops to help people tell their own truths with their stories, and is as busy as always writing, producing, performing, and just plain fully immersing himself in life.
ALTAN
Altan The spirit and sound of Altan comes from the deep and rich musical tradition of their native Co. Donegal. On one of his many visits to the Donegal Gaeltacht of Gaoth Dobhair, Belfast born flute player Frankie Kennedy met fiddler and singer Mairead Ní Mhaonaigh, sparking off a deep musical connection, marriage in 1981, and a journey that took them all over the world. Their vision was to bring the unique repertoire of Donegal music to the world and that mission is still as strong as ever.
Hard Day’s Night – SOLD OUT
Since 1996, Hard Day’s Night has been entertaining Fab Four fans across the country. Hailing from the Cleveland, the band is rated among the top national Beatles tribute groups performing today. Hard Day’s Night performs favorites from the entire Beatles catalog, complete with period instruments (including sitar) and several costume changes. The group appeared by invitation at Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club at part of International Beatle Week, and they have performed with Peter Noone & Herman’s Hermits, Billy J. Kramer, Badfinger’s Joey Molland, and former Beatle drummer Pete Best.”February is a big month for Beatle anniversaries – including their arrival in the U.S., the Ed Sullivan Show performance, and their first concert in America,” said Hard Day’s Night founder Frank Muratore, who plays Paul McCartney in the show. “Playing at The Kent Stage in February has become an annual tradition for us, and we look forward to seeing our fans at this great venue.”https://youtu.be/LEUEux0M3YkAs part of the Kent Beatlefest, tickets are free – BUT limited to 2 per order & one order per person. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.
HOUSE PARTY plus 10 from 6
House Party – The undisputed #1 J Geils tribute in the Nation!More fun than humans should be allowed. This high energy tribute to Rock and Rolls ultimate party band is made for prime time, and the audience feels as though they just performed a concert after being brought in to the show and are encouraged to participate and help make every show a party to never forget. House Party takes you on a journey from the early 70’s rockin’ blues influenced classics like “Give it to me” and “Lookin’ for a Love” through to their 80’s power hits – Love Stinks, Centerfold, and every crowd pleasing song in between.
Marcc Nutter and Friends
Marcc Nutter has been in the music scene for the past 35 years here in the USA and Europe. Touring with the likes of, Randy Travis, George Jones, Travis Tritt, The Highway men just to name a few. And let’s not leave out performing for the president, George Bush Sr.At the age of 9 Marcc performed at the Joytime music festival in Liverpool England which lead to a performance in London. From then on it was his goal to be a musician, singer, and songwriter.Starting out his career in his early 20’s he launched a non-stop journey through many Genres of music including, Folk, Rock, and Country. While on tour with his band and up to the present Marcc has written several albums to his credit. With numerous performances on national TV including Nashville Now, Charlie Daniels Talent Roundup, Mickey Gilleys National Arthritis Telethon which led to a three day performance at the world famous Gilleys night club in Texas.Returning to preform at Jamboree in the Hills to a crowd of 30,000 plus people for their 25th anniversary show. Then it was off to Paris France for a four year tour, upon returning to the United States Marcc continues to perform to sell out shows locally and through out Ohio. Bringing his love for music back to his hometown audience September 09th 2023 at the Kent Stage with his special friends and guests, Joe Hill, on lead guitar and vocals. Joe has performed with the likes of Tommy James and the Shondells. Rory Buchanan, Mesh, Jersey, and a host of others. Also joining the show is John Gall, on vocals, keyboards, guitar, and harmonica. John currently tours throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania entertaining sold out crowds. Rounding out the bottom end will be Chris Hawkins on bass guitar, and vocals. He has played with the likes of DenZon and Redhouse, Tailspin, Kings Highway. Keeping the beat and lending his talent will be Matt Parsons on drums and percussions. Matt has performed with the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Dove Award Winner Fletch Wiley and Jon Holman.Marcc and Friends Tickets are $25.00 pre sale and $30.00 day of showAll seats reserved. Doors open at 7:00 Show starts at 8:00