Chris O'Leary and Kevin Burt at the Redstone Room -- April 11.
Friday, April 11, 8 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
Performing in a special concert co-presented by Common Chord and the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, Chris O'Leary and his opener Kevin Burt bring a night of exhilarating blues to Davenport's Redstone Room on April 11, the former lauded as the lead singer and front man for Grammy winner Levon Helm’s band The Barnburners, and the latter a Midwestern talent praised by Blues Matters as "vocally exquisite and "musically phenomenal."
During the 6 years that Chris O'Leary and Levon Helm played together, they toured across the United States and Canada, lighting up stages everywhere they went. Over his course of his career, O'Leary has appeared on stage with luminaries including: Rolling Stones sideman Bobby Keys, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jimmy Vivino, Jeff Healy, Steely Dan, Albert Lee, Jamey Johnson, Warren Haynes, Michael Mcdonald, and the great James Cotton, The blues artist has also recorded with Bill Perry, Hubert Sumlin, and Richie Havens, among others. The Chris O’Leary Band’s debut CD Mr. Used to Be won the 2011 Best New Artist Debut CD Blues Blast Award and was nominated for best new artist debut at the 2011 American Blues Music Awards. Their Live at Blues Now and Seven Minutes Late releases also garnered the band Blues Blast Award nominations.
An Alligator recording artist, O'Leary's latest release The Hard Line debuted at number one on the Billboard blues charts and also reached number one on virtually every radio chart in the United States and abroad. Music critics were also effusive in their praise. Blues & Rhythm UK deemed The Hard Line “Impressive, musically exciting modern blues" whose "expressive harp playing echoes West Coast and Chicago harmonica at its best. In calling the work "a first-rate album," Blues Music Magazine, meanwhile, praised the recording's "Excellent, high-energy performances… [The Hard Line] finds the groove on every song and is piloted by O’Leary’s perfect-for-blues tenor and his powerful, James cotton-inspired, polished harp virtuosity."
Kevin Burt, a self-taught Midwestern musician who has also won many awards and played numerous festivals both solo and with his band, the Iowa Blues Challenge-winning Instigators. His laurels include being named Best Entertainer in Iowa City three times; Best Band in Iowa City three times; and one of the top 25 unsigned blues bands in the world by the International Blues Challenge Competition. Over the years, Burt's festival appearances have included performances at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival; Iowa City Jazz Festival; The Blues Foundation International Unsigned Band Challenge and Blues-stock in Memphis; and the 1996 Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folk life in Washington D.C. He and his band have also had the pleasure of playing at the Iowa Sesquicentennial Festival of Iowa Folk life in Des Moines; the Boundary Waters Blues Festival in Grand Rapids, Minnesota; and the Freedom Festival in Cedar Rapids.
Over his comparably short career, Burt has shared stages with a veritable who’s who in the music world, with the impressive roster of artists including: B.B. King, Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Luther Allison, Bernard Allison, Junior Wells, Robert Lockwood Jr., David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Lonnie Brooks, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Wayne Baker Brooks, Blues Traveler, Head East, Molly Hatchet, and Three Dog Night. As a registered artist and artist educator with the state of Iowa Arts Council, Burt wrote and published the classroom harmonica-method book Just Play It: An Introduction to Blues Harmonica. He has also enjoyed stage roles in several plays at the University of Iowa, appearing as “Old Timer” in Waking Niccodemus and “Whining Boy” in August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winner The Piano Lesson. As Blues Blast magazine stated of the artist's gifts, “In this day and age where celebrity status is often conveyed on people with little discernible skills or talent, it is refreshing when the spotlight finally lands on someone who has worked hard, paid their dues, and actually deserves recognition for their talent. Such is the case with Kevin Burt."
Chris O'Leary and Kevin Burt play their Davenport engagement on April 11, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is $15-18, and active Mississippi Valley Blues Society members are admitted for $10 at the door. For more information and tickets, call (563)326-1333 and visit CommonChordQC.org.
