Thursday, May 8, 2014

LINCOLN CENTER OUT OF DOORS/AMERICANAFEST NYC WELCOMES MUSIC MAKER RELIEF FOUNDATION BLUES REVUE ON AUGUST 10 AT DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

DOM FLEMONS, BEVERLY "GUITAR" WATKINS, AND IRONING BOARD SAM TO PERFORM BILL WITH CHARLES BRADLEY& HIS EXTRAORDINAIRES, ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES, BOBBY PATTERSON

Lincoln Center Out of Doors and the Americana Music Association will present a performance by the Music Maker Blues Revue August 10 at the Damrosch Park Bandshell celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, the organization which helps traditional southern musicians living in poverty. The event is part of AmericanaFest NYC and Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, and Bobby Patterson will perform on the same bill.

The Music Maker Blues Revue will feature Dom Flemons, Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, and Ironing Board Sam:

* Dom Flemons – founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and American Songster – will release his third solo album 'Prospect Hill' on July 22 on Music Maker Relief Foundation. 'Prospect Hill' finds Flemons digging deeply into ragtime, Piedmont blues, spirituals, southern folk music, string band music, jug band music, fife and drum music, and ballads idioms with showmanship and humor, reinterpreting the music to suite 21st century audiences.

* In 2012, Ironing Board Sam was named "Comeback Artist of the Year" by Living Blues Magazine, made a triumphant return to a packed tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 2013 Sam performed at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in Byron Bay, Australia, and will be traveling for gigs all over the USA. In 2012, eMusic said, "'Ninth Wonder' is a superb album for anyone interested in hearing a true maverick at work.... Here's the most entertaining eight tracks and nearly 22 minutes of blues-based music likely to be released this year, and it should leave you longing for more." He was crowned Most Outstanding Musician by Living Blues in 2013 and returned to the Jazz Fest stage in 2014.

* "My style is real Lightnin' Hopkins lowdown blues. I call it hard classic blues, stompin' blues, railroad smokin' blues," says Beverly "Guitar" Watkins. If you've never seen a blues lady who can play her guitar behind her head, belt out songs and roll over to sweet gospel, you've never been in the house when Beverly "Guitar" Watkins was on stage.

The performance will be in conjunction with a museum exhibition opening at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, a new book "We Are the Music Makers," a 2CD set of the same title, and a festival in North Carolina in October.

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