Tag Archives: Oxford American

Tonight’s Local Live at South on Main is duo A Rowdy Faith

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a_rowdy_faith_photo_by_katimallory-ar25.jpg.190x140_q60_cropTonight at 7:30 p.m. Join the Oxford American magazine for this week’s Local Live free concert at South on Main! Folk/Americana duo A Rowdy Faith is our featured act this week. Call ahead at (501) 244-9660 to guarantee your seat for this popular series!

Alisyn Reid and Cate Davison first sang together ten years ago on a beach in South Carolina. They went their separate ways, wrote their separate songs, but have brought their voices together again as A Rowdy Faith. They consider their music folk/Americana, but each have distinct influences—Reid’s music has elements of country and rock and roll, while Davison’s has evidence of jazz and blues.

Tonight at South on Main’s Local Live: Charlotte Taylor & Gypsy Rain

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local live 01 07 15Join the Oxford American magazine at South on Main at 7:30 p.m. tonight for the free Local Live music series, featuring Charlotte Taylor & Gypsy Rain! Call ahead and make a reservation to ensure your seat.

Little Rock singer-songwriter Charlotte Taylor has been performing since an early age. Born and raised in Heber Springs, AR., Taylor formed her first band, Project Blue in 1994 after getting hooked on the blues, and went on to record on the famed Memphis label, Hi Records. Her CD entitled “Taylor and Martinez” featuring guitarist George Martinez, was released in 2000, and received many great reviews and airplay on blues formatted radio across the U.S. and Europe, and was the first release on Hi in over 20 years. Produced by Roy Orbison band alum (drums on “Pretty Woman”) Oliver Warren, Stevie Ray Vaughan producer Danny Jones, and with performances by the Memphis Horns, the album features 10 original songs written by the duo of Taylor and Martinez, with the cover song “Cry Me A River” produced by Hi Records founder and Al Green producer, Willie Mitchell.

Taylor has been compared to blues legends Etta James and Bonnie Raitt, as well as being influenced by rockers, Janis Joplin, and Nancy Wilson of Heart, and even British Soul singer Annie Lennox. With many musical influences, including her mother whom Taylor says “was a great singer“, she has described her style as eclectic, but always with soul. “I want to make you feel something when I sing” she said. The songs I write are usually about something that happened, and can be very personal, others might be about something I heard someone say, or just a hook that wouldn’t get out of my head. A lot of the blues songs are about relationships, love, and lost loves, all the songs are about life. Local Live logo

Taylor and her band Gypsy Rain have won numerous blues competitions across the mid-south, and have played on Beale St. in Memphis at B.B. King’s, The Rum Boogie, The Hard Rock Café, King’s Palace and Blues Hall and competed in the International Blues Challenge. Charlotte Taylor and Gypsy Rain have performed at many blues festivals including Riverfest in Little Rock, The Riverwalk Blues Festival in Ft Lauderdale, Fl., The Spa City Blues Festival in Hot Springs, AR., Blues Eureka in Eureka Springs, AR., and the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, AR.

Gypsy Rain features multi-instrumentalist Matthew Stone on guitar and pedal steel. Originally from Chicago, Matt plays with great skill and passion and excels in many genres of music. Stuart Baer is a Little Rock born piano player and keyboardist with roots in rock and blues, Stuart has performed with some of the greats in blues including Michael Burks, Guitar Shorty, and many more. Searcy native, Berkley School of music graduate, and one of the original members of Project Blue Dr. Bruce Johnston plays bass. Johnston received his doctorate in musical composition from the University of Miami, and currently teaches jazz guitar and bass at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia. Dr. Bruce is a master in many styles and genres and instruments, but has focused mostly on blues and jazz on the bass. John Roach has been a member of Gypsy Rain for over 10 years and attended the University of Central Arkansas in Conway where he played in the big band. John has many influences from percussion especially the hard-hitting Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, and always plays with great passion and soul.

Dave Williams II plays saxophone and is a University of Central Arkansas grad and a phenomenal jazz, blues, and funk brass player. Dave regularly performs at the rep and with several groups around Little Rock and brings a wealth of musical knowledge and masterful chops to the group.

Taylor and Martinez is available at www.cdbaby.com, www.itunes.com/taylorandmartinez

www.facebook.com/chartay88

Chris Parker and Kelley Hurt headline tonight’s Local Live at South on Main

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chris_parker_web.jpg.190x140_q60_cropThis week’s installment of the free Local Live concert series features Chris Parker and Kelley Hurt! Presented by the Oxford American magazine with support from sponsor Landers FIAT of Benton, Local Live showcases the best of local and regional music talent. Call ahead to make your reservations at South on Main to ensure a table.

A native of Arkansas, Chris Parker’s first training came from a line of great Southern pianists, including Charles Thomas, James Williams, Gene Rush, Robert Talley, Art Porter Sr., Bob Steele, Lee Tomboulian, and Michael Bates. Though his training was primarily in jazz, his teachers always included the study of classical music. In 1991, Chris moved to Memphis to work on his undergraduate degree in jazz performance at the University of Memphis. There he continued his studies with teachers from both the school and from the surrounding region, including Eugene Rush, Daniel Fletcher, Sam Viviano, Herman Green, Fred Ford, Calvin Newborn, Bill Mobley, Alvin Fielder, Kidd Jordan, and Vernel Fournier. Chris also lived in New York City for several years where he studied under masters like Benny Powell, Chris Anderson, Walter Perkins, Barry Harris, Sonelius Smith, Harold Ousley, Warren Smith, and Bill Fielder. In 2008, he received a Masters degree in Jazz from the U of M. During this degree he also studied with Victor Asuncion (classical piano) and Jack Cooper (jazz comp./arr.).

Chris has worked all over the United States, particularly in NYC and the Southeastern region. He has also performed in Brazil, France, Portugal, Austria, and Germany. Artists that Chris has worked with include: Delfeayo Marsalis, Harold Ousley, Benny Powell, Art Jenkins, Kidd Jordan, Alvin Fielder, Bob Stewart, Frank Lowe, Warren Smith, Wendell Harrison, Frank Lacy, John Stubblefield, Kiane Zawadi, Herman Green, Calvin Newborn, J.R. Mitchell, George Braithe, Fred Ford, Bill Mobley, and Jimmy Vass. In more informal situations, Chris has worked with Rashid Ali, Frank Gant, Sonny Simmons, Frank Foster, and others.

Kelley Hurt’s musical accomplishments include winning the Phillips Award for Best New Artist from the Memphis chapter of the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. She was a lead vocalist for the band DDT—a jazz fusion and funk band featuring Luther and Cody Dickinson, Paul Taylor, Jim Spake, and Chris Parker.

In addition, Kelley has worked with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, recording the song “Could Woulda Shoulda” which was produced by Jim Dickinson at Phillips Recording Service. She has toured Italy with the Memphis Blues Revue and has also performed internationally with Bruce Willis and the Accelerators.

The rich musical legacy of Memphis has had a big influence on Kelley but she also listened to such national performers as Shirley Horne, Diane Reeves and Cassandra Wilson. Kelley writes her own lyrics, sings the melody, and then adds the chords. On Raindance she wrote “The Art of Love and War”, “I Can Come To You”, “Black Widow”, and “How Can I Let You Go”.

Tonight’s Local Live at South on Main – Kevin Kerby and colleagues!

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kerby_cropped.jpg.1000x250_q80_crop_upscaleJoin the Oxford American and Landers FIAT of Benton for this week’s free Local Live concert!

Little Rock songwriter Kevin Kerby takes the stage with a cadre of colleagues at 7:30 pm. Call ahead at 501-244-9660 to ensure a reservation at a table.

Kevin Kerby writes songs. Sometime around the fourth grade Kerby became obsessed with his dad’s record collection; a delicate balance of country, soul, and comedy. Make any connections you would like at this point.

As his friend’s formed bands, Kerby stayed on the sidelines – sort of pretending he was a drummer while secretly borrowing neglected guitars and teaching himself to play enough chords to write songs.

Soon after, Kerby started a two-man “Black Grass” band called Sad Monkey Railroad; a reference to a train that takes tourists around Paliduro Canyon State Park in Amarillo, TX. It was in Sad Monkey Railroad that Kerby really started writing. Traditional chord progressions were discovered and more than one “public domain” song was parted out and repurposed. Kerby went off to the same college his brother (and older sister) had attended in Arkansas. It was here that Kerby met a girl, joined a couple of bands, got signed to a major label, got dropped from a major label, and eventually started the regionally popular band, Mulehead.

Mulehead played weekends and made a lot of records before calling it quits in 2004. Kerby started making solo records shortly after. A couple of his songs found their way onto other folks records.

Though relatively popular, Kerby kept trying to become a better songwriter. Turning his old formula on it’s head (make songs as general as possible so that more people can relate), he now writes about specific events and people in his life, banking on the fact that everyone shares the same feelings and experiences just to different degrees. The observant artist will feel things more than the partying frat boy, but both will feel it. And perhaps share a high-five. Kevin Kerby writes songs.

Trey Johnson and Dave Almond are featured at South on Main for Local Live tonight

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trey_johnson_cropped.jpg.190x140_q60_cropJoin the Oxford American magazine and Landers FIAT of Benton for this week’s Local Live free concert at South on Main! Guitarists Trey Johnson and Dave Almond are the featured act this week, performing a duo of original and classic blues material. Call ahead at 501-244-9660 to guarantee your seat for this popular series!

Dave Almond (Hope, AR) and Trey Johnson (Prescott, AR) bring country blues and Southern Soul to South on Main! Stomp and Holler music at its finest.

Tonight at South on Main – Bonnie Montgomery headlines Local Live concert

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Bonnie MJoin the Oxford American magazine and Landers FIAT of Benton at South on Main this week for the free Local Live music series, featuring Bonnie Montgomery and Friends! Call ahead and make a reservation to ensure your seat.

Arkansas born and bred Bonnie Montgomery is a classically trained composer and oprea singer by day and country queen by night. Briging her raucous spin on traditional Southern music to the U.S. and Europe, Bonnie’s catalog hails from a place where outlaw country saddles up with Americana and folk. In July, she released her first full length album, Bonnie Montgomery, and is currently touring with her Arkansas/Austin-based band.

 

Local Live tonight features Handmade Moments

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Handmade-Moments-This week’s installment of the free Local Live concert series features the Fayetteville folk due Handmade Moments! Presented by the Oxford American magazine with help from sponsor Landers FIAT of Benton, Local Live showcases the best of local and regional music talent. Call ahead to make your reservations at South on Main to ensure a table.

Handmade moments is a folk/jazz duo from Fayetteville, Arkansas. Their music is reminiscent of 20’s dance hall hits and viper era jazz standards mixed with current themes… Plus some beatboxing. Although modern and fresh, Joel Ludford and Anna Horton‘s songwriting contains a subtle and humble vibe. Every show leaves fans lusting over Anna’s prolific voice, while Joel’s guitar grooves continue to ring in their bobbing heads. The duo will be heading west this fall and embarking on a European tour next summer. This is a band you want to catch while they’re in town. They wont be playing small venues for very long.

The music starts at 7:30 p.m.