What: Rusty Wright Blues and Ronnie Baker Brooks at the Kingfish Restaurant & Tiki Room
Where: Kingfish Restaurant & Tiki Room
1019 North Water Street
Bay City, MI 48708
in between 3rd & 4th
(near the corner of 4th St & Water St N)
Phone: (989) 894-0772
When: 9 P.M.-2:00 A.M., Friday, March 14, 2008
No reservations required for the show, general seating.
Doors open for the show at 8:00 P. M.
Tickets: $20
Telephone: (989) 894-0772
http://baycityrestaurantguide.com/
Rusty Wright Blues Band
The RWB sound is guitar-based and contemporary, with a sax section and soaring B3 adding tasty layers of texture. Wright is an incendiary guitarist and from his first note the stage practically sizzles with high octane energy as he throws down a six-string gauntlet and challenges his band to ever greater heights as tasty guitar, sax, Hammond B3 and vocal riffs volley back and forth across the stage. BluesBunny.com, a Scottish blues webzine describes the RWB sound as “Kind of like Poppa Chubby without the urban aggression.”
Fronting the band with Wright is his wife, rhythm guitarist & vocalist Laurie LaCross-Wright, a compelling singer with a vivid and expressive vocal style that stretches with ease from a breathy, crooned endearment into a two-octave slide that becomes a throaty affirmation of her ability to wail. Musically, they soar. Their passion for music and performing is evident as they take turns playing off each other. Laurie laughs with delight when Rusty plays a particularly inventive riff.
Ronnie Baker Brooks
As the son of blues legend Lonnie Brooks, RBB grew up steeped in American music tradition. He came of age watching the fieriest guitar players and most soulful singers of a previous era express their deepest feelings through their music. He knows the transcendent release at the heart of soul, blues and rock. It's a fitting image for Brooks. Not only does he sing with soulful fire and play with a white-hot intensity; he's also carrying the torch from the previous generation of soul and blues greats and moving the music into the future. "Every time I play, I feel like I've got to do it with the authenticity and passion that I saw in guys like Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, B.B. King and my father. Brooks' twist involves enlivening blues-rock with deep soul and modern hip-hop vocals and funk rhythms. Working with Minneapolis producer Jellybean Johnson, Brooks takes roots sounds and transforms them into something that spans the ages. He draws on the choppy, hip-shaking rhythms of funk, the emotional truth of soul and the forcefulness of rock to bring a distinctive dimension to his groundbreaking sound. "When I grew up, all my friends listened to rap and funk, and I listened to the blues. It's a hip-hop world right now, but I want to bring a little blues to the party."
Brooks has earned his spot on the front lines. He spent a dozen years backing his father, watching how the master entertainer drew enthusiastic responses night after night. For years, the younger Brooks put his lessons on stage every night, opening his father's show to great response. With his father's blessing, he left the band to strike out on his own shortly after releasing his own debut album, Golddigger in 1998.
Like his father before him, Brooks became a Chicago blues mainstay, playing regularly in Chicago area clubs.
The Kingfish Restaurant & Tiki Room
Located on the Saginaw River, open daily with specials to suite anyone, outside dining when weather permits, docking facility, fresh Shelton shrimp. Depending on how the restaurant prepares seating for the evening's activities, restaurant holds approximately 150 people.
Across from Michigan's Antique shopping.
For more information, contact:
Rusty and Laurie Wright
Sadson Music LLC
G-4225 Miller Rd. Ste. 353
Flint, MI. 48507
Phone: 810-235-6394
Email: fans@rustywrightblues.com
