THE KNICKERBOCKER MUSIC CENTER

35 Railroad Avenue, Westerly, RI 02891 (Misquamicut) | (401) 315-5070

Open Today: 1am

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Venue Description

The Knickerbocker Café, a storied music club in Westerly, Rhode Island, was built in 1933, shortly after the end of Prohibition. The Café itself is named after a train that passed through Westerly station at the time of the Café’s founding.

The club thrived as one of the leading entertainment centers in southern New England, hosting regional and national bands with an emphasis on the blues. Some of the greats that played on the Knickerbocker stage included, Big Joe Turner, Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Johnny Nicholas, Leon Russell, Eric Burdon and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 1967, Roomful of Blues was born in Westerly, when guitarist Duke Robillard and pianist Al Copley started a band that played tough, no-holds barred Chicago blues. Making the Knickerbocker Café their home club, it did not take long before they started exploring swinging, jumping blues and added a horn section. Roomful would pack the house every Sunday and still plays their great brand of blues today.

Fast forward and the Café has become the Knickerbocker Music Center, a non-profit organization formed in partnership with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School. The mission of the Knickerbocker Music Center is to preserve, cultivate and grow the “Knick’s” unique brand of blues, as well as expanding access to music of all genres, by transforming the Knick into both an exciting performance venue and an exceptional center for music education.

Today

Saturday
05

Sunday
06

Monday
07

Tuesday
08

Wednesday
09

Thursday
10

Friday

Live Music

NIGHTLIFE: Live Music. National to local acts. Visit www.knickmusic.com for more info.

DRINK DEALS: Drink Specials Available.

Hours
1am

Age
21+

Music
Live Bands

Atmosphere
Busy

Live Music (8pm)

NIGHTLIFE: The Tap Room at The Knickerbocker is an intimate listening room with a retro speakeasy atmosphere that hosts acoustic sets. The Tap Room features a house sound system playing exclusively vinyl records on non-performance nights.

DRINK DEALS: The Tap Room offers specialty cocktails, eclectic cordials, local craft beer, and more!

Age
21+

Cover
No Cover

Music
Acoustic

Atmosphere
Busy

Live Music (8pm)

DINING: Brand new food menu for Tap Room and adjacent Knickerbocker Music Center.

DRINK DEALS: The Tap Room offers specialty cocktails, eclectic cordials, local craft beer, and more!

Age
21+

Cover
No Cover

Music
Acoustic

Closed Today

Live Music (7:30pm – 10pm)

NIGHTLIFE: Let's Dance Wednesdays. Live Bands from 7:30-10pm. Offering Free Dance Lessons starting at 7p. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Age
21+

Cover
10

Music
Live Bands

Atmosphere
Busy

Live Music (8pm)

DINING: Brand new food menu for Tap Room and adjacent Knickerbocker Music Center.

DRINK DEALS: The Tap Room offers specialty cocktails, eclectic cordials, local craft beer, and more!

Age
21+

Cover
No Cover

Music
Acoustic

Atmosphere
Busy

Live Music

DINING: The Best Fish and Chips.

NIGHTLIFE: Live Music. National to local acts. Visit www.knickmusic.com for more info.

Hours
1am

Age
21+

Music
Live Bands

Atmosphere
Busy

Special Events

17 April
Adam Ezra Group-postponed -
Opener: TBA "NOT SINCE SPRINGSTEEN AND BONO HAVE I SEEN A LEAD SINGER WITH HIS TALENT AND CHARISMA." - JACK CASEY, GENERAL MANAGER WERS RADIO IN BOSTON Talk to any Adam Ezra Group fan around the country and they’ll tell you that each AEG performance is a one-of-a-kind, community-driven experience, propelled by the spirit of the people in front of the stage. For both fans and band members alike, an AEG concert is a rally to live life with intensity and soak in the moments we share with one another. Hailing from Boston, AEG’s unconventional approach to the music world has allowed them to surge beyond their beloved hometown and emerge as one of the most uniquely powerful, underground live music experiences in the country. While Ezra has played with an array of musicians over the years, his current line-up featuring Corinna Smith on fiddle, Alex Martin on drums, and Poche Ponce on bass has been creating a new buzz around the country in 2019, as evidenced by their mind numbing tour schedule, ballooning tickets sales, and opening features with The Wallflowers, Galactic, John Oates, The Wailers, Southside Johnny, Graham Parker, and America. Not believing in set lists, every AEG show provides new and unique concert experiences that the band has been recording in real time and sharing with fans on thumbs drives as part of their "Live Sound Project" every night. Go to any Adam Ezra show, solo or with the group, and you will not only find fans who have traveled vast distances to be there, but also doubtless a fair number of rabid followers accumulating as many AEG shows as possible throughout the year. The fall of 2019 has AEG on more headlining tours supporting their 19th album release and the latest in a series of enhanced, remixed, live albums, aptly named "Better Than Bootleg"(Aug 24, 2019). The musicians who make up Adam Ezra Group are all believers in the power of real-time connection with their audience, explaining their non-stop touring schedule throughout the year. The Bootleg Series is Ezra's attempt at delivering recordings that have the energy and spirit of their live show, while also showcasing studio quality sound. Recorded at City Winery Boston December 2, BTB III also features “Juna Please, All I Am, and Hold Each Other Now” co-written with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, John Oates, and the standout track, “The Devil Came Up to Boston”, a parody of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia." Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $20 advance | $25 door ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
01 May
Johnny Nicholas & Hell Bent, w/ Greg Piccolo -
Johnny Nicholas and Hell Bent, with Special Guest Greg Piccolo Johnny Nicholas Biography by Jacy Meador Nestled deep in the Texas Hill Country, just outside of Fredericksburg, you’ll find a former gas station turned restaurant & music venue named the Hill Top Café. A visit to this eclectic café gives a good idea of the worldly, yet down-home nature of Johnny Nicholas’ unique style. Built piece by piece, recipe by recipe, and song by song by Johnny Nicholas and his beloved late wife Brenda, the Hill Top Café is covered in music memorabilia and old photos from his nearly five decades of touring. The décor, home-cooked food, and tunes on the old jukebox give a glimpse into the vast melting pot of Americana that define not only the food at the Café, but the incomparable musical style of Johnny Nicholas. Often referred to as a ‘bluesman,’ to classify Johnny Nicholas as strictly a blues artist is quite a misnomer. Nicholas’ signature style of music might be better defined as deep roots music. His musical roots grow deep and wide – spanning the many musical traditions found across the country. Drawing from the wealth of musical influences found in areas such as Chicago, Louisiana and Texas – Nicholas’ original music stirs together elements of folk, blues, western-swing, jazz, Cajun and country. While his dexterity on the guitar, husky growl of a baritone, and talent on the 88’s make him well at home in the world of blues and jazz, Nicholas’ skill as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and performer of authentic Americana music is not to be understated. Having written “the first song he was proud of” in the early 1970s at the encouragement of his friend and mentor Robert Lockwood Jr. – Johnny Nicholas has been writing his own brand of organic, deep roots music for nearly 50 years. Born in Rhode Island, Nicholas’ early influences of Howling Wolf, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles and The Band as well as his love of Chicago Blues and New Orleans music mingled with traditional music of the Greek community of his childhood. In 1964 while a freshman in high school, Nicholas officially started his first band The Vikings. In the historic year of 1969 he helped form a band in Providence called Black Cat – a collaboration with his friends Duke Robillard, Frannie Christina, Larry “Slow Drag” Peduzzi, and Steve Nardella. The group made a pilgrimage together to the now legendary 1970 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, but shortly thereafter the band amicably diverged into two groups. Robillard started Roomful of Blues and Nicholas started the Boogie Brothers with Nardella and Christina. As 1970 rolled around, Nicholas found himself living outside of Ann Arbor in what was little more than a shack they dubbed The Apple Grove. This little home became known as a friendly place where Chicago bluesmen and other like-minded artists and outlaws could stay while playing in Ann Arbor. The Boogie Brothers became a mainstay of the town’s burgeoning roots music club scene and Nicholas became a regular at the 1972, ’73 and ‘74 festivals in Ann Arbor. During this time, he also made his recording debut on Atlantic Records, performing with the Boogie Brothers on a double album compilation of the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival - singing one of his songs and backing up Boogie Woogie Red and Johnny Shines. After playing a gig with Commander Cody at the Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Cody suggested that the Bay Area would be a better home base with a larger audience. So, Nicholas, Christina, and Nardella piled into their VW bus and headed to Oakland where Cody introduced Nicholas to the members of Asleep at the Wheel – who were also recent transplants to the Golden State. While Nicholas still called the Apple Grove home, and California became his band’s headquarters for a spell, his ramblings across the country certainly didn’t cease. Nicholas’ desire to seek out his musical heroes soon took him to the Gulf Coast and southern Louisiana where he discovered Clifton Cheniers’ magical Zydeco band as well as Cajun music and swamp pop. Finding a parallel between Greek culture and Cajun culture – both love good music and good food – Nicholas was quick to make friends. Doug Sahm introduced him to Link Davis Jr., son of classic Cajun fiddler Pappa Link Davis, who wielded a mean saxophone and loved to play the blues as much as Cajun music. Davis had recently joined Asleep at the Wheel and Nicholas found himself performing alongside not only Davis, but renowned Cajun artists Nathan Abshire and Dewey Balfa. As Nicholas’ reputation grew among some of the more veteran bluesmen of the time, he found himself billed at the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival as ‘Johnny Nicholas & The Chicago Blues All Stars with Big Walter Horton, Hubert Sumlin, Mack Thompson and S.P. Leary.’ The same year, Asleep at the Wheel packed up and moved their operations to the budding music scene in Austin, Texas. While Nicholas still didn’t call Texas home yet, he often found himself down in the heart of Texas performing alongside his old friends and the scene’s many cosmic cowboys, as well as hanging out and playing at the original Antone’s “Home of the Blues” on sixth and Brazos. In 1975, Nicholas finally turned the Apple Grove over to a friend to spend more time in Chicago, South Louisiana and Austin. Rambling back and forth between these music hot spots – Nicholas hopped freight trains and hitch hiked his way around the country. While spending time in south Austin, he began recording informally with some of the boys from Asleep at the Wheel in Ray Benson’s living room, adding the trove of recordings he had made with Johnny Shines and Big Walter Horton back in his Detroit & Ann Arbor days. The year of 1977 saw the release of Johnny Nicholas’ first solo album – Too Many Bad Habits – on Blind Pig records. A year later, Nicholas officially moved to Texas and joined Asleep at the Wheel. While with the band, he was a featured vocalist on the band’s album Served Live on Capital Records and Asleep at the Wheel earned their first Grammy for a cover of Count Basie’s “One O’Clock Jump.” Served Live’s “Jumping at the Woodside” was also nominated for a Grammy. While off the road with The Wheel, Nicholas and Link Davis Jr. would return to Basile, LA to play with Nathan Abshire, Johnny Spain, Dewey Balfa and other artists in the Acadian neighborhood. Nicholas remained active with Asleep at the Wheel until 1980. His final performance with the group coincided with the famous closing night of the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin on New Year’s Eve of 1980. Later that June, Johnny and Brenda (who he had met a few years earlier at Antone’s Night Club) married in Fredericksburg, and Nicholas officially began to call Texas home. They purchased that old old gas station just outside of Fredericksburg and spent the next several decades mixing Johnny’s music and Brenda’s cooking with a lot of love to form the Hill Top Café. Since Brenda’s passing in 2016, Johnny has continued to host phenomenal music and the finest food in the Hill Country at the Café. Johnny Nicholas’ music, much like the Hill Top’s menu, is a melting pot of American roots traditions, a dozen different cultures, and – most importantly – a lot of kindness and love. When not on the road, Sunday mornings find Nicholas (or one of his many talented musical cohorts) hosting a “Gospel Brunch” at the Hill Top – with music and food to fill your soul. 2018 saw the re-release (and Grammy-nomination) of Nicholas’ debut album Too Many Bad Habits as a special double vinyl box set. He continues to tour across the United States – often traveling back to his original stomping grounds in Rhode Island and the east coast. Still calling central Texas home, Nicholas’ residency at The Saxon Pub in Austin, Texas with his band Hell Bent is a must see show – often featuring some of the talented friends he has amassed over the years. 2019 took Nicholas overseas to both Hawaii and France – as well as on multiple east coast and west coast tours. Still showing no signs of slowing down in 2020, you can catch Johnny Nicholas at your favorite listening rooms, dance halls and festivals across the country. With several album projects in the pipeline, fans can only expect more original deep roots music from the incomparable Johnny Nicholas. Greg Piccolo Written by Bob Bell Perhaps best remembered for his 24-year stint with Rhode Island's internationally renowned jump blues band Roomful of Blues, Greg Piccolo has followed his muse since his teenage years. He started his first band, The Rejects, at age 13, singing and playing a little alto sax. It was while with this band, playing a date at the Westerly, Rhode Island YMCA, that he met Duke Robillard. It was one of the defining moments in his life. He joined Duke in The Variations, and Duke introduced him to the work of such musicians as Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. Greg was already familiar with their songs from the covers recorded by the likes of the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Animals, but until Duke played Greg the originals, he was unaware of the wellspring of the blues. Greg started to drink from the source. When Duke broke up The Variations, Greg hooked up with Al Copley and together they formed Groupe, an outfit that became popularly known as Greg and the Groupe. In keeping with the redefining sixties, neither an article nor an adjective preceded Groupe. During this period Duke Robillard very briefly led a band called The. Just for the record, this was before Monty Python. Around the age of fifteen, Greg turned from alto to tenor, a move that was the result of his being transfixed by the tenor solo on Dion's "The Wanderer." Another defining moment. After working with Duke in an early edition of Roomful of Blues, (a Roomful without horns – Greg played harp), he returned the following year with his tenor sax. He was nineteen, the year was 1970, and that was the time Greg notes, "I really started in on tenor sax. Duke made it happen; he was a strong musical leader." Duke had heard Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson that summer at the Ann Arbor Blues festival, and had decided a horn band was the way to go. Rich Lataille (alto and tenor) joined Roomful the same time as Greg, and baritone player Doug James came on board the following year. The now legendary Roomful of Blues horn section was born. From this point until his departure from Roomful in 1994, it is impossible to speak of Greg without mentioning Roomful and vice versa. During the seventies he took care of the band's booking and management, and when Duke left in 1979, he became bandleader, and for much of the time, the band's singer too. It is from this period that one can say that Roomful's career really took off in an international sense, and Greg's singing – soulful, declamatory and passionate – coupled with a jaunty and energetic stage demeanor, won him fans all over the world. And of course, there was that battered old Selmer Mark VI, hanging from his neck, a tornado in the offing, an ever-present threat of mad abandon. His hard and driving take-no-prisoners sound on up tempo numbers caused pandemonium on the dance floor, while he could make the bouncers weep on a slow blues. Producer, critic and DJ ("Portraits in Blue") Bob Porter, who produced two of Roomful's Grammy nominated albums, noted "Pic has started a new tradition on tenor sax." It was during the early 1980's that Greg started writing songs, and Roomful's 1984 release. "Dressed Up To Get Messed Up" broke new ground for the band in that most of the tunes came from his pen, and endowed the band with an artistic integrity that none could dispute. Greg had given Roomful of Blues, a band that could trace its musical influences back to the nineteen thirties, a contemporary edge that put it in the vanguard of roots based bands. In 1990 Greg cut his first solo album "Heavy Juice" for Black Top Records. A collection of mainly instrumental cuts, it featured his tenor and garnered unanimous critical acclaim. Around this time he took up guitar, which he had dabbled with when a teenager, and fairly quickly developed a sound that could fairly be described as archetypical Piccolo. Just like his sound on sax, his sound on guitar emphasized tone and simplicity to tell a story. Greg left Roomful in 1994 to follow his own particular musical vision. Greg Piccolo and Heavy Juice toured incessantly for the next five or six years, and cut two albums for Fantasy Records, "Acid Blue" (1995) and "Red Lights" (1997). The sound was more contemporary than his previous work and showed his willingness to experiment and to blaze new trails. Nevertheless, it was still music with a feeling. Both albums contained those Greg Piccolo staples that one had come to expect over the years. Finely crafted songs, tasty guitar, some raucous tenor, even a bit of alto, all heavily spiced throughout with soul and passion. The continuing decline of venues across the nation ultimately took its toll and by the time Greg released "Homage", his tribute to his tenor sax heroes, issued on his management company's Emit Doog label, he had hung up his touring shoes. He now cherry picks those dates he wants to play. He is in demand as a session player by the cognoscenti, although sadly in these days of downloads and general digital gloominess, the cognoscenti is undeniably diminishing. He recorded a couple of sessions with Canadian superstar Colin James ("Little Big Band 3" and a Christmas album), and gets the occasional call from the likes of Jimmie Vaughan. For instance, he played on Jimmie's Grammy nominated "Ironic Twist." Currently he is working on some big band arrangements of his tunes, and hopes to book some dates around that project. He plays New England dates with old band mates from Roomful occasionally, folks such as Carl Querfurth, Sugar Ray Norcia, Rich Lataille and Doug James. His tone, sound, and outlook are unchanged, although these days he finds himself playing more ballads than before. It is still the sound and the feeling that drive him. And when he says, "Swing is closest to my heart" one has to stand back and look at what this man has done over the last forty years. In company with his Roomful compatriots, Greg Piccolo is one of the guys that reintroduced swing to America in a popular sense. The swing revival of the nineties would never have happened without Roomful of Blues pointing the way during the seventies and eighties. Over his long career, Greg has played with scores of the legendary heroes of American music, and although he will emphatically deny it, he now has his own place in that pantheon. Music with a feeling indeed. – 7pm doors $17 advance / $22 door tickets
06 May
Cherry Pie -
Let's Dance Wednesday! Blues, Swing, Zydeco, Rockabilly, Latin Doors open at 6:30pm. Free dance lessons starting at 7p. Music from 7:30pm-10p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
09 May
The Al Copley Quintet -
Pianist and singer; arranger and co-founder of "Roomful of Blues" - the renowned American jump band nominated for two Grammy Awards while he was with them. After 16 years with Roomful, relocated to Europe in 1984, and back home to the US in 2010. Al has been performing extensively in Europe and the northeast US for the past few years, and continues to develop in style and taste, always noted for energy, versatility and impeccable harmony. In June 2002 and 2009, Al Copley performed four of his own full symphonic orchestrations before an audience of more than 25,000 with the Boston Festival Orchestra at Summer Pops. Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $17 advance / $20 door ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
13 May
The Cartells -
Let's Dance Wednesdays! Jazz/Swing/Motown/R&B/Rock n Roll. Doors open at 6:30pm. Free dance lessons starting at 7p. Music from 7:30-10p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
20 May
Superchief Trio -
Let's Dance Wednesdays! with Superchief Trio Swing/New Orleans R&B/Jump Blues/Boogie Woogie Free Dance Lessons starting at 7p. Music from 7:30pm-10pm. $10 Cover
22 May
Ward Hayden & the Outliers -
Celebration of Country Music Show Mark, here's a blurb for the show: Ward Hayden and the Outliers, (formerly Girls Guns & Glory), who recently took home Country Artist of the Year honors at the 2019 Boston Music Awards, have put together a stunning show in celebration of Country Music. This show pays tribute to the music that established the Country & Western genre and wove itself into the fabric of our culture. It runs the gamut of country greats and also touches on the more obscure, but equally incredible country artists, all whose legacies deserve to be championed, appreciated, and preserved. From Hank Williams to Hank Thompson, from Willie to Waylon, from Dolly to Emmylou, this special performance covers the greats and a whole lot more. This is a show that’s not to be missed. Ward Hayden & The Outliers (formerly Girls Guns & Glory) formed as a way to break from the music so commonly found on popular radio airwaves. Hayden’s foray into country music and early rock ‘n’ roll began with a fateful borrowing of a few of his mother’s cassettes. When asked, Hayden remarks, “I was doing these long drives and there was nothing appealing to me on the radio. I was twenty years old at the time and had been through my first experiences with heartbreak and loss. When I put some of these cassettes on the player in my Oldsmobile Delta Eighty-Eight, all I could think was, “this is everything I’ve been searching for.” It took a few years after that to get the band up and running, and now with a line up featuring Paul Dilley on Upright/Electric Bass, Josh Kiggans on Drums and Cody Nilsen on Lead Guitar/Pedal Steel the band has cut it’s teeth the old fashioned way: on the road and on the stage. Since their formation they’ve barnstormed far beyond their Boston hometown, playing honky-tonks, beer joints and more recently concert venues throughout the U.S and Europe. They’ve amassed a loyal legion of fans along the way. The media have noticed too, including Rolling Stone, who heralds them as a “modern-day Buddy Holly plus Dwight Yoakam divided by the Mavericks.” Spending much of their young-adult lives relentlessly touring the US and Europe has not been without hardships, but also not without it’s rewards. The experiences the band has gone through on the road have led to a broader songwriting perspective and also conditioned the band into a well-oiled machine. And when it comes to versatility and musicianship, these guys are second to none. I’m not sure there’s an instrument under the sun that someone in this band can’t find a way to play. Their love for early rock ’n’ roll, true country, raw blues and pretty much any kind of authentic American music branded them quickly as anomalous — and electrifying. The song topics run the gambit of love, hope, work-a-day life, the grind and the results of those experiences on the body and mind. The band, hailing from the Northeast, have always been outliers in the world of country music, often joking they were born out of time and out of place. But, they have stayed true to the sounds that inspired them and the genuine life experiences they’ve gone through no matter where they hail from. Ward Hayden and The Outliers are a musical force to be reckoned with. From heart wrenching ballads, to foot-stompin’ rock ‘n’ roll, whether live or on record, Ward Hayden and the Outliers deliver every time. Cowboy and Lady is a country-blues inspired duo featuring Tyler-James Kelly (The Silks) & Jess Powers. Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $15 advance / $18 door ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges. Seats are on a first-come, first-serve basis, and seats are not guaranteed with ticket purchase.)
23 May
The Breakers tribute to Tom Petty -
If you hear someone mention “Tom Petty Tribute Band”, and you think blonde wigs or dyed blonde hair and a mediocre-at-best vocal performance, then you haven’t been to a Breakers show. The Breakers are a no frills rock band who meticulously encompass the Tom Petty sound and musically establish an emotional connection with the crowd that’s palpable. When asked why they didn’t take the impersonation and prop-driven approach, founder Tom Smith says “we wanted to approach the tribute genre as a true live band, and in (lead vocalist) Chris Chartier we have what no one else has - the most genuine sounding Petty experience in the country.” The members of the Breakers all come from a background of recording and touring with original bands and perform the music of The Heartbreakers with the same passion and dedication. They have paid tireless attention to detail to each and every song which appeals to both casual and diehard Tom Petty fans alike. Since the fall of 2018 when Tom Smith, Chris Chartier, Evan Smith, Rick Hiller, Tom Booth and Steve George joined forces, they have been practicing and honing their sound. In May 2019, they posted a homemade video compilation to YouTube which in just a few months has over 7k views. Playing to an emotional and packed house, their debut performance at The Newport Blues Cafe in August was a resounding success. And with only one show under their belt their next performance would be a sell out show at the Narrows center for the arts in Fall River MA. The Breakers are currently booking venues through-out New England and the east coast. If you want to experience Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers music there's only one band that can deliver that sound authentically...The Breakers. Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $15 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges. Seats are on a first-come, first-serve basis, and seats are not guaranteed with ticket purchase.)
27 May
Ryan Hartt & the Blue Hearts -
Let's Dance Wednesday! Doors open at 6:30pm. Free dance lessons starting at 7p. Music from 7:30pm-10p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
31 May
Youth on-the-mic -
The United Theatre and The Knickerbocker Music Center are excited to present YOUTH ON-THE-MIC, a new open mic series for 6th to 12th graders who want to perform, sing, or play music (whether original or covers) to an audience. Open mics for adults are plentiful, and so often, open mics for adolescents aren't held at actual venues. We are thrilled to offer an alternative, providing kids and teens with a place to play and a community of music lovers eager to hear them. Sign-ups for a spot are first-come the night of. Solo singers, solo instrumentalists, and small bands are welcome, but the space is restricted in size with no room for a drum kit.
03 June
Ed Peabody And The Big Blue Thang -
Let's Dance Wednesdays! 1997 winners of the CT Blues Society Challenge Ed Peabody has been a fixture with the blues. With his band Blue Steele, Ed Peabody band, The Johnny Press Mess. And now his dream band Ed Peabody And The Big Blue Thang comprised of three other original members of Blue Steele. Brother Ned Peabody on drums, Larry Parquette on the keys, Michael Barrett on Guitar also Tony Carminati on Bass and Deke Kendarian on sax. Over the years Ed has sat on with any blues icons. James Montgomery, Jeff Pitchell, Neal Vitullo, and James Cotton to name a few. He has also opened for Roomful of Blues, Rod Piazza, and James Cotton. Ed is also a very popular featured artist at many of the local and regional blues jams. Doors open at 6:30pm. Free dance lessons starting at 7p. Music from 7:30-10p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
24 June
Al Copley Quintet -
Let's Dance Wednesdays! Blues Piano and Boogie Woogie Doors open at 6:30pm. Free dance lessons starting at 7p. Music from 7:30-10p Tickets: $15 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
27 June
Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez -
with special guest Matt York Christine Ohlman is the current and Longtime vocalist of the Saturday Night Live Band On Matt York's "Boston, Texas," The singer-songwriter uses basic building blocks – Holly's chords, Hank Williams' swagger, Steve Earle's boozy wisdom, Paul Westerberg's straight-up-drunk wisdom – to construct an album of beauty, optimism and heartbreak." – Boston Herald __ This queen of blue-eyed rock n’ soul, who grew up loving equally the sweetness of a Memphis horn line and the raunch of an electric guitar riff, whether played by Muddy Waters, Keith Richards, or Pop Staples, teased her blonde hair into a beehive in honor of Ronnie Spector and never looked back, picking up a guitar and forging a career as a songwriter in the process. She’s the current, long-time vocalist with the Saturday Night Live Band (SNL40’s anniversary post-show concert also featured her star turn onstage with Jimmy Fallon, Elvis Costello and the B-52s), whose latest CD, The Deep End, was honored on five national Top Ten lists and features special guests/duet partners Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, and Marshall Crenshaw, plus Levon Helm, GE Smith, Andy York, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, Catherine Russell, Big Al Anderson, and others. Ohlman topped the Alternate Root.com’s Readers’ Poll as top Americana vocalist, joining other winners Paul Thorn, The Mavericks and Rodney Crowell. Ohlman’s legendary voice and stage presence (she’s known as “The Beehive Queen” for her towering blonde hairdo) have most recently been featured on at the 2016 AMA Conference in Nashville; the PBS series “Music City Roots” with Bonnie Bramlett, Sarah Potenza and the McCrary Sisters (June, 2016); 2016 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival’s Tribute To David Bowie; on numerous guest vocal shots on the HBO series “Vinyl" that feature a duet with Elvis Costello; on SNL’s 40th Anniversary telecast (pulled onstage by Jimmy Fallon at the after-party concert at the Plaza Hotel, she tore the roof off with the B52s as her backup vocalists), “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” (guest shot with Black 47); the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Concert in Cleveland (filmed by HBO); the Carnegie Hall tribute to the Rolling Stones; the 2012, 2013 and 2015 Little Kids Rock galas in NYC (taking the stage with Bruce Springsteen, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Steve Miller, Graham Nash, Bill Medley, Tom Morello and others); and the 2012-2015 WC Handy Festivals (she was the special guest of the Blind Boys Of Alabama and soul queen Candi Staton, and helmed a sold-out tribute to legendary producer Jerry Wexler; in 2015 she was the festival’s Grand Marshall and co-billed with iconic guitarist Travis Wammack), as well as on both SNL’s 25th and the aforementioned 40th Anniversary telecasts; Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary bash at The Garden (with George Harrison, Chrissie Hynde, and others); the 2013 Obama Inaugural Gala in Washington, D.C.; The Lincoln Center “American Songbook” series with Sting, Lou Reed and Van Dyke Parks; and the Central Park Summerstage Tribute To Janis Joplin (where she fronted both Big Brother & The Holding Company and the Kozmic Blues Band). She appears on Grammy nominees A Tribute To Howlin’ Wolf (with Taj Mahal and Lucinda Williams) and Charlie Musselwhite’s One Night In America (with Marty Stuart); sings the theme song for NBC’s 30 Rock; worked on a musical with the late Cy Coleman (who compared her sense of timing to Peggy Lee’s); duets live with friends like the aforementioned Miss Spector, Mac Rebennack (two private evening of duets she calls “absolute highlights”), Americana stalwart Paul Thorn, Bonnie Bramlett (who has become a longtime friend), Muscle Shoals legends Donnie Fritts and John Paul White of the Civil Wars, and New Orleans mainstays The Subdudes (she joins The ‘Dudes, BB King, Irma Thomas, Richard Thompson and others on Get You A Healin’ to benefit the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic and has guest-hosted five editions of “Down On The Bayou” during successive Jazz & Heritage Fests with Widespread Panic’s JoJo Hermann, again to benefit The Clinic); worked often with the late blues giants Hubert Sumlin and Eddie Kirkland; collaborated on critically-acclaimed tracks with Marshall Crenshaw (Labour Of Love: The Music of Nick Lowe), Big Al Anderson (Pawn Shop Guitars), and Ian Hunter (When I’m President and Shrunken Heads); edited legendary Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham’s autobiography 2Stoned and appears also on Oldham’s historic 2013 release “Andrew Loog Oldham and Friends Sing The Rolling Stones Songbook Vol. 2”). A musicologist of note, Ohlman is a cover-story-writing contributor to Elmore Magazine, and worked with Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder & others on the Rhythm & Blues Foundation Awards. Ohlman tours relentlessly, torching clubs up and down the Eastern Seaboard in support of her recordings (Strip, The Hard Way, Radio Queen, Wicked Time, 2008 career retrospective Re-Hive, the aforementioned The Deep End, 2011 concert DVD Live Hive and 2016’s upcoming “The Grown-Up Thing” with her band Rebel Montez (Michael Colbath-bass; Cliff Goodwin-guitar; Larry Donahue-drums). “I’ve come here tonight to set your souls on fire,” she’ll tell an audience. And she will. __ The Boston Herald says of Matt York’s new album Boston, Texas that ”the singer-songwriter uses basic building blocks — Holly’s chords, Hank Williams’ swagger, Steve Earle’s boozy wisdom, Paul Westerberg’s straight-up-drunk wisdom — to construct an album of beauty, optimism and heartbreak”. Matt's new album explores a cross-section of everything from straight-up rock n roll to hints of outlaw country. His album has received radio airplay throughout the world. His album "Boston, Texas" was named Limelight Magazine's Debut Album of the Year". His most recent release, Between the Bars was listed as one of the top albums of 2017 by the Patriot Ledger, Gatehouse Media, Ryan's Smashing Life and radio stations WATD 95.9 FM's Almost Famous Radio and PIXY-103FM. Matt grew up in Foxboro, Massachusetts and began playing the clubs of Boston as a teenager. Since then, he's played on stages through New England, New York, Nashville and Toronto. His latest album "Between the Bars" was released in November, 2017. Gatehouse Media's Peter Chianca wrote of the new album "Put Boston’s Matt York in the 'should be rich and famous department' -- his country rock with a jangly edge has instantaneous appeal, combining wry lyrics about barflies, ex-lovers and fading summers with infectious melodies and a rocker’s penchant for strumming his way through heartbreak". Show: 8:30p | Doors: 7:30p Tickets: $12 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
01 July
Roger Ceresi’s Trio -
Let's Dance Wednesdays! Paying tribute to the great music legends of the 50s & 60s Doors open at 6:30pm. Free dance lessons starting at 7p. Music from 7:30-10p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
25 July
Rachael & Vilray -
Co-presented by: The United Theatre and Knickerbocker Music Center Rachael & Vilray feels like a rare old vinyl gem that a curious collector found hidden in the dusty bins of some second-hand record shop and decided to share with the world, an unearthed jazz-vocal treasure. Even if listeners are in on part of the secret and already know Rachael Price as lead vocalist of Lake Street Dive or as a frequent musical guest on NPR’s Live from Here, they will surely want to research these marvelous yet utterly unfamiliar songs she and guitarist-singer-composer Vilray (pronounced VILL-ree, no last name needed) perform together. These tunes seem to have been pulled from some hitherto undiscovered chapter of the American Songbook; one might assume that a little Googling will surely yield an intriguing provenance, a colorful story behind each of them. There is indeed a story behind these songs and the formation of this gifted duo, one that is arguably even more fascinating than any lesson in obscure musical history, since ten out of these twelve tracks were written by Vilray himself, expressly for this project. (There are two vintage covers that fit in seamlessly with his work -- Cuban composer Pedro Junco Jr.’s 1943 “Nosotros” and Milton Drake/Louis Atler’s “I Love the Way You’re Breaking My Heart", first popularized by one of Price’s idols, Peggy Lee.) Vilray is very much a contemporary composer who can truly evoke, not merely imitate, Tin Pan Alley tunes from the thirties and forties, a period that he and Price have both long been passionate about. These songs are truly transporting: One can easily believe they could have been plucked from the soundtrack of a Hollywood musical filmed in glorious black and white or from a now-forgotten Broadway show that briefly lit up the Great White Way. But the fact that they are utterly original makes them all the more impressive and even more delightful to hear. The album is a dreamy, warm, inviting set from two good friends who share a unique sensibility as well as a mic. Though they recorded the album with Lake Street Dive pianist Akie Bermiss, a rhythm section, and a small complement of horns, the other players keep a discreet distance, never disrupting the intimacy of this enterprise. They do make room for guest star Jon Batiste to contribute a jaunty piano solo to “Go On Shining,” but otherwise it’s all about the playful vocal back and forth between Price and Vilray, with tempos that facilitate dancing cheek to cheek and lyrics that are sophisticated but never arch, by turns naughty and nice. There’s a sly wink to many of them, but the punchlines are always subtle. Vilray cleverly manages to quote Jean-Paul Sartre’s infamous “hell is other people” quip during the generally sunny “Alone At Last;” the narrator of “At Your Mother’s House” cheerfully threatens some amusingly diabolical revenge against a spurned lover. There’s a lot of period-appropriate referencing of romance, but the approach is more worldly-wise than starry-eyed. After all, the final track is called “There’s No True Love.” Price and Vilray first met in 2003 as students at the New England Conservatory of Music. He formed a couple of bands with Price’s soon-to-be bandmates in Lake Street Dive, Mike Calabrese and Mike “McDuck” Olson. Even then, Price recalls, Vilray had a nimble mind and quick wit when it came to lyrics: “That’s when I knew Vilray was a good songwriter. They would do random clicks on Wikipedia and when they found something interesting, they would write a song about it -- say, the cold-blooded rat of Somalia. Vilray was able to take any subject and write excellent poetry about it, funny rhymes, and he would sing the songs. I thought he was so good -- he could just apply himself to anything.” But at school, says Price, “I didn’t know that Vilray and I shared a love of this particular time period of jazz. It was all I liked to listen before I got there and everyone at school was listening to more avant garde, free stuff that I had yet to be exposed to. So I hid my love of traditional jazz music. I didn’t know then that he played it perfectly.” It was more than a decade later that Price and Vilray began to collaborate. She’d been on the road a good part of each year with Lake Street Dive and he’d been developing his own solo act, just voice and guitar. Though Vilray had kept up with his composing after graduating from the conservatory, he’d fallen out of performing and playing his guitar. It wasn’t until he’d broken a finger at his day job that he realized what had been lacking in his creative life: “When I broke my hand, it changed things psychologically. That slapped me awake and made me realize I only had so long on planet Earth with ten fingers. A friend ran into me on the street when I was in the cast and said to me, ‘You seem really bummed.’ I talked to him a little bit about not playing guitar. He said, ‘I’m going to book you for a show a month or two after you are out of the cast so start thinking about the music now. Once you are out of the cast, you can reclaim that part of your life.’ So I played a couple of shows at this series he was running at Bar Below Rye in Williamsburg, and Rachael came to one of them.” That was in 2015. Price remembers that night vividly: “It was a very moving show. I think everybody in the bar that night felt it. There was dead silence while Vilray was playing. It may have been one of the best sets I’d seen, a perfect night of music. It really tugged at my heart because I missed singing this style of music. I had never really even performed it, even though I was a jazz singer. My repertoire was from even a bit later, fifties and sixties-style arrangements. But I was obsessed with the big band singers of the thirties and forties. I asked Vilray if he would let me do that gig with him -- ‘Can I sing with you next time at this bar?’ And then he gave me one of his songs to learn. That was the first time, the first gig we did, that we had one original. But he wanted me to make sure not to tell the audience it was original, he wanted to see if it would pass. And of course it did. No one knew it wasn’t just a standard of that time. That got the ball rolling for him on the writing from that point forward. He started sending me songs constantly. We quickly went from peppering in his songs and performing a lot of obscure songs from the thirties and forties to all Vilray songs. Which gave the project a whole different feel. “It took us a little bit of time to get into the studio but I’m glad that we waited,” Price continues. “We tried to make a few recordings a year in, but we realized there was a lot of sonic discovery that needed to be addressed, a lot of thinking about how these songs really needed to sound. That could be done so much better after we’d toured a couple of times and played the songs in lots of different ways and lots of different tempos and saw how audiences laughed, reacted. That was an important part of the process.” On stage, Vilray and Price share a mic and Vilray plays guitar. In the studio, they expanded their sound with the help of keyboardist Bermiss, bassist Tony Scherr, drummer Jason Burger, and a horn section arranged by their friend Jacob Rex Zimmerman. Dan Knobler, who’d been behind the board for Lake Street Dive’s Free Yourself Up, came on as producer and engineer. After a day of rehearsal, the players gathered at the relatively small Figure 8 in Brooklyn for what would be a week of basically live-in-in-the-studio sessions. “A hat tip is deserved in the direction of Dan Knobler, the producer,” notes Vilray. “It was his vision to have it largely a live recording. We didn’t only have a rhythm section or a horn section in the room; we were all together recording, nobody in a booth. That’s a dangerous way to play-- you can’t say, ‘Let’s take out the drums and re-record ‘em.’ But it lends itself to a classic energy that’s absent on a lot of jazz and pop recordings these days because it’s safer to do it the other way, where you lay down a guitar track, a basic vocal, and build around it. As a result, for example, a song like ‘At Your Mother’s House’ sounds like an early Louis Jordan rock and roll-jazz hybrid thing. There’s an intimate energy to the record that’s largely thanks to Dan and Jacob, who wrote all the horn parts so authentically. “ “There’s probably a few more instruments present than you may realize,” adds Price. “And that’s because of the way it’s recorded. Besides the vocals, nothing is that in your face, it’s just there lightly supporting. And that’s a lot about what this recording is about. Dan captured that really well.” With Rachael & Vilray, the duo adds a new chapter to the American Songbook, an opportunity to hear tomorrow’s standards today. Show: 8:30p | Doors: 7:30p Tickets: $35 advance / $40 door ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges. Seats are on a first-come, first-serve basis, and seats are not guaranteed with ticket purchase.)
22 August
Peter Rowan, Solo -
Grammy-award winner Peter Rowan is a singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades. From his early years playing under the tutelage of Bluegrass veteran Bill Monroe, to his time in Old & In the Way and his breakout as a solo musician and bandleader, Rowan has built a devoted, international fan base through a solid stream of recordings, collaborative projects, and constant touring. Born in Wayland, Massachusetts to a musical family, Rowan learned to play guitar from his uncle. He spent his teenage years absorbing the sights and sounds of the Hillbilly Ranch, a legendary Country music nightclub in Boston frequented by old-time acts like The Lilly Brothers and Tex Logan. In 1956 Peter Rowan formed his first band, the Cupids, while still in high school. After three years in college, Rowan left academia to pursue a life in music. Rowan began his professional career in 1963 as the singer, rhythm guitarist and songwriter for the Bluegrass Boys, led by the founding father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. “One thing I started to like about the Monroe style was that there was a lot more blues in it than other styles of bluegrass,” reflects Rowan. “It was darker. It had more of an edge to it. And yet it still had the ballad tradition in it, and I loved that.” The late ‘60s and early 70’s saw Rowan involved in a number of rock, folk and bluegrass projects, including Earth Opera, Sea Train, Muleskinner, and the Rowans, where he played alongside brothers Chris and Lorin Rowan. After the Rowan Brothers disbanded, Rowan, David Grisman, Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements and John Kahn formed a bluegrass band christened Old & In the Way. It was during this incarnation that Rowan penned the song “Panama Red,” a subsequent hit for the New Riders of the Purple Sage and a classic ever since. Rowan subsequently embarked on a well-received solo career in the late ‘70s, releasing critically acclaimed records such as Dustbowl Children (a Woody-Guthrie style song cycle about the Great Depression), Yonder (a record of old-time country music in collaboration with ace dobro player, Jerry Douglas) and two extraordinarily fine bluegrass albums, The First Whippoorwill and Bluegrass Boy, as well as High Lonesome Cowboy, a recording of traditional and old-time mountain music with Don Edwards and Norman Blake. Rowan’s recent releases- Quartet, a recording with the phenomenal Tony Rice and Legacy with the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, coupled with a relentless touring schedule have further endeared Peter Rowan to audiences around the world. Following on the heels of the celebrated album “Crucial Country: Live at Telluride” Peter recorded his second album for Compass entitled “Old School” with memorable new songs such as “Doc Watson Morning” , “Drop The Bone” and “Keepin’ It Between The Lines (Old School)” with members of the current Bluegrass Band plus Chris Henry, Michael Cleveland, Bryan Sutton, Ronnie, Robbie and Del McCoury and more. Since then the prolific singer songwriter has recorded and released Peter Rowan’s Twang an Groove Vol. 1 (his electric band with drummer Jamie Oldacker and bassist Mike Morgan) on There Records, Dharma Blues (produced by John Chelew and including Jack Casady, Jody Stecker, Patrick Korte and Manose Singh performing songs of the Buddhaverse) on Omnivore Records and his newest, My Aloha, also on Omnivore Records. Internationally, Rowan often performs as a solo singer-songwriter, while stateside, along with solo appearances, he plays in three bands: the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, a quintet featuring Keith Little, Chris Henry, Blaine Sprouse and Paul Knight; Big Twang Theory and its Texas Cousin Twang n Groove and rock band The Free Mexican Air Force. Show: 8:30p | Doors: 7:30p Tickets: $20 advance | $25 door ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges. Seats are on a first-come, first-serve basis, and seats are not guaranteed with ticket purchase.)