Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts, KS

Monday March 15th, 8:00 p.m.
$95, $88, $75

Featured artists who will be performing music written and inspired by Jimi Hendrix include some of the best known and most respected artists in contemporary rock and blues including Joe Satriani, Jonny Lang, Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Brad Whitford (of Aerosmith), Sacred Steel featuring Robert Randolph, Susan Tedeschi, Doyle Bramhall II, Ernie Isley, Living Colour, Double Trouble’s Chris Layton, along with bassist Billy Cox. Cox, who first befriended Hendrix when the two were in the 101st Airborne division of the US Army. Cox played in both the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys and performed with Hendrix at such landmark festivals as Woodstock and the Isle of Wight. Cox commented, “It’s a thrill for me to play Jimi’s music for audiences now as it was in the 1960s. The Experience Hendrix tours have shown how timeless this music really is.” Joe Satriani remarked, “I finally get to pay tribute to my hero the right way, on stage with an amazing, once in a lifetime, line up of musicians!”

Buy Tickets:  (here).

ExperienceHendrixTour.com

Arlington Theatre | Santa Barbara, CA | March 4, 2010

Joe Satriani & Brad Whitford

More photos:  (here).

Boston Globe, MA
March 1, 2010

An all-star crew including bluesman James Montgomery, Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford and Joey Kramer, sometime Blues Brother Jim Belushi, Santana percussionist Michael Carabello, former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau, and ax man Johnny A jammed at the House of Blues last night [2/28/10] to benefit the International House of Blues Foundation and DeviBlue, which provides health care to aging musicians. It was also the kickoff of the new Powerhouse Breakout Artist Series, which will feature up-and-coming acts in the club’s Foundation Room.

Glens Falls Post-Star, NY
February 23, 2010

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor-director Peter Fonda is 70. Musician Johnny Winter is 66. Actress Patricia Richardson (”Home Improvement”) is 59. Guitarist Brad Whitford of Aerosmith is 58…..

The Wire
February 16, 2010

Harpist James Montgomery still loves to play. He talks with The Wire about jamming with legends, hanging with Kid Rock, and bringing Boston greats with him to Rochester…..

…..He’ll showcase yet another high-profile collaboration on Friday, Feb. 19, when Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer joins the James Montgomery Blues Band at the Rochester Opera House in Rochester. Opening the show will be Ernie and the Automatics, a band featuring two former members of Boston—guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Sib Hashian.

Montgomery and the Aerosmith crew go way back. He formed the James Montgomery Blues Band in 1970 while attending Boston University, and signed a multi-album deal with Capricorn Records shortly after graduating. Around the same time, Aerosmith signed with Columbia Records. The two groups, along with the J. Geils Band, helped establish a widely respected hard rock scene in Boston in the early ’70s.

For Montgomery, those years were filled with nightly house parties, hanging out with rising area stars like Steven Tyler, Bonnie Raitt and Livingston Taylor.

“There was a group of us that hung out in Cambridge together,” he says. “There was a real sense of community and camaraderie, and all of those people have remained friendly to this day…..”

…..Now a resident of Newport, R.I., Montgomery is keeping busy in a variety of contexts. He is the director of the DeviBlue Foundation, which provides health care to blues musicians. He and Kramer have united to form the Kramer/Montgomery Blues Band, which will be more active in March and April. In Rochester, Kramer will take the stage as a guest performer.

“He’s one of the best drummers in rock and roll. He plays such a variety of grooves,” Montgomery says. “Most rock drummers can’t really play a shuffle. They think they can, but they can’t. But Joey is one of the most versatile rock drummers I’ve ever played with.”

During the concert at the Opera House, the band will play songs by both the James Montgomery Blues Band and Aerosmith. The concept of the show, Montgomery says, is to include representatives from some of the most successful acts ever to emerge from Beantown—Aerosmith, Boston and his own band.

“It’s gonna be great fun,” he says. “The goal was to put together a real Boston show for Rochester, to come up with arguably three of the four biggest bands that came out of Boston in the blues-rock genre.”

The show begins at 8 p.m. on Feb. 19 at the Rochester Opera House, 31 Wakefield St., Rochester, 603-335-1992. Tickets are $35 to $39. Visit www.rochesteroperahouse.com.

Complete article:  (here).

Aero Force One
February 16, 2010

Check it out… Brad Whitford’s birthday is coming up on February 23rd and AF1 wants to do something special for you And Brad! AF1 wants you to send in all of your birthday wishes so that we can pass them all along to Brad.

We’ve got an extra special treat for those of you rockin’ out in the snow with us up here in the Northeast… One lucky well-wisher will receive a pair of tickets to see Brad perform alongside the James Montgomery Band and special guests!

As you may know, Brad will be playing with the band on February 27th in Keene, NH and the next night in Boston. So which show will you get tickets to? How about both?! That’s right… you win and you get to take in two amazing shows! In addition to that, we’ll be throwing in a $20 AF1 gift card! We’ll randomly select a second winner to receive a $20 AF1 gift card as well!

All you’ve gotta do is send your Happy Birthday wishes to CustomerService@aeroforceone.com with the subject line “Happy Birthday Brad.” Wishes are due in by Monday, February 22nd, 2010. Simple enough, right? Don’t miss out on this awesome prize!

For Official Rules, click here.

ExperienceHendrixTour.com

Experience Hendrix, fourth edition, biennial concert tour featuring an all-star line up of music greats paying homage to the music and legacy of Jimi Hendrix launches March 2010 with special performances across the country.

Featured artists who will be performing music written and inspired by Jimi Hendrix. Include some of the best known and most respected artists in contemporary rock and blues including Joe Satriani, Jonny Lang, Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Brad Whitford (of Aerosmith), Doyle Bramhall II, Ernie Isley, Living Colour, Double Trouble’s Chris Layton, along with bassist Billy Cox……

Tour kicks off March 4th – Arlington Theatre – Santa Barbara, CA – 8:00 pm

Complete article:  (here).
Tickets and Tour Schedule:  (here).

Boston Music Spotlight
February 12, 2010

The House of Blues will welcome an all-star lineup featuring some of the best of rock and blues at the end of the month for a special benefit concert. Dubbed, “Legends of Rock N’ Blues”, the show take place on Sunday, February 28 with an impressive lineup topped by Jim Belushi, Aerosmith members Joey Kramer and Brad Whitford, and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer/Santana drummer Michael Carabello. Barry Goudreau of Boston, Johnny A, The Uptown Horns, the James Montgomery Band and Ernie and the Automatics round out the bill for the series kick-off show.

Tickets, which range in price from $30 to $45, are now on sale through Ticketmaster. A limited amount of VIP tickets, which include a meet and greet session with the artists, are available for $125. All process from the event will benefit the The International House of Blues Foundation (IHOBF) and DeviBlue charitable organizations. IHOBF is dedicated to bringing the arts to schools and communities through programs that increase public awareness of African American contributions to American culture. DeviBlue, a non-profit founded by James Montgomery, provides healthcare for musicians.

The event will serve as a kick off for the Powerhouse Breakout Artist Series, a new ongoing program that will be presented at the House of Blues Foundation Room on the last Sunday of each month. Each month a different Breakout artist will be showcased and introduced by an established artist.

Gibson.com
January 18, 2010

Aerosmith Les Paul slinger Brad Whitford, metal magician Joe Satriani, Living Colour six-string giant Vernon Reid, blues-rockers Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Doyle Bramhall II as well as Austin legend Eric Johnson and Hendrix disciple Ernie Isley will be among the guitarists playing tribute to Jimi on 2010’s Experience Hendrix Tour.

The annual tour presented by Experience Hendrix LLC begins its fourth edition on March 4 in Santa Barbara, California. The concerts will also feature Billy Cox, Hendrix’s close friend and bassist for the Band of Gypsys and the last incarnation of the Experience, plus drummer Chris Layton of Double Trouble. Pedal steel star Robert Randolph, blues singer Susan Tedeschi, and Los Lobos members David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas will join the tour in certain cities. Line-ups for each concert and ticketing information is available at http://www.experiencehendrixtour.com/schedule.php.

The previous editions of the tour in 2008, which, like the debut run in 2007, was sponsored by the Gibson Company, was also the final series of performances for Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, who was found dead in his Portland, Oregon hotel room five days after the run concluded. Mitchell’s death left Epiphone player Cox and Nashville-based guitarist James “Nick” Nixon as Hendrix’s lone surviving bandmates. Nixon and Cox both played in the Music City-based King Casuals with Jimi in the early ’60s, shortly after Hendrix was discharged from the Army. As Cox recounts, “Jimi told me that after he became famous he would call for me, and he kept his word. When he did call for me he was so famous he could have had any bass player in the world, but he wanted me. He was a good friend.”

The tour’s roots go back to 1995, when a tribute to Hendrix was organized as part of Seattle’s annual Bumbershoot Festival. That was followed by a string of tribute concerts from 1998 to 2006 in various cities across the country and in London before the launch of the formal biennial “Experience Hendrix Tour” in 2007. A DVD with highlights from “Experience Hendrix” concerts in San Diego and Seattle was released in 2008, featuring performances by Cox and Mitchell, guitar hero and top-flight Hendrix interpreter Mato Nanji and his group Indigenous, blues legends Buddy Guy and Hubert Sumlin, vocalist Paul Rogers, and former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor.

In a recent press release, Experience Hendrix CEO Janie Hendrix, Jimi’s sister, explains the tour’s raison d’etre thusly: “Everyday, we see how Jimi’s musical legacy continues to transcend generational and cultural boundaries. This tour is our way to give a live concert experience that reflects the genius of his unifying spirit. Part of our mission is to share Jimi’s music with audiences of all ages and these tours continue to play a key role in fulfilling that vision. As my brother Jimi would say, ‘We want our sound to go into the soul of the audience, and see if it can awaken some little thing in their minds.’ ”

Merrill Auditorium, ME
January 9, 2010

Guitar Legends of Rock ‘N Blues
7:30 p.m. Saturday, January 16, 2010

The Johnny Winter Band &
The James Montgomery Blues Band featuring
Brad Whitford, Johnny A, Barry Goudreau, Grace Kelly, & The Uptown Horns
Where: Merrill Auditorium , 20 Myrtle St. Portland
Phone: 842-0800
Cost: $46 $66

For over 30 years, Johnny Winter has been a guitar hero without equal. Johnny has always been one of the most respected singers and guitar players in rock and the clear link between British blues-rock and American Southern rock (a la the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd). Count on Johnny to perform a blistering, late night blues-rock set with his band. Rock N’ Roll hall of Fame inductee, guitarist Brad Whitford, will make a rare appearance on the stage. Brad has 1 American Music Award, 2 Billboards, 3 Boston Music, 18 MTV, and 8 People’s choice. The legendary Johnny A will be gracing the stage on guitar. Johnny A is widely regarded as one of America’s finest contemporary guitarists. Gibson Guitar thinks so – their Custom Shop designed a Signature Edition guitar per his specific requests in 2003. Barry Goudreau, former member of the platinum selling band Boston, lends his chops to the lineup. Backing these guitar legends will be The James Montgomery Blues Band. Whether it’s recording with Kid Rock, sitting in with Gregg Allman, or fronting his hot band of thirty years, Montgomery plays with authority. Adding to this entourage of talent is 17 year old Jazz sensation, Grace Kelly, brilliant saxaphonist & vocalist who is hailed by greats like Wynton Marsalis as a genius and the future of Jazz. Rounding out this spectacular lineup are The Uptown Horns, widely hailed as the premier Rock and Roll horns ensemble in the country.

Tickets:  (here).