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THE KNICKERBOCKER MUSIC CENTER

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

Open Today: Open

Venue Description

  • Today

    Sunday

  • 02

    Monday

  • 03

    Tuesday

  • 04

    Wednesday

  • 05

    Thursday

  • 06

    Friday

    1

  • 07

    Saturday

    1

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

Closed Today

Closed Today

Live Music

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

Closed Today

Live Music

SPECIAL EVENTS: Neal Vitullo and the Vipers

DINING: The Best Fish and Chips.

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

Age
21+

Music
Live Bands

Atmosphere
Busy

Live Music

SPECIAL EVENTS: Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez. Opening Ma

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

DRINK DEALS: Drink Specials Available.

Age
21+

Music
Live Bands

Atmosphere
Busy

Special Events

  • 06 August

    Neal Vitullo and the Vipers -

    NEAL & THE VIPERS are a Rhode Island based band who play American Roots Music encompassing blues, rock & roll, rockabilly, and surf, that will get you up out of your chair to dance all night long! When the show is over, you will feel full of energy and looking forward to catching the next show. The Vipers are professional musicians; all experts in their instruments with decades of playing experience that is one of the the keys to their amazing performances. You can feel the chemistry between them as they play hits from their many original songs off their CD's as well as covering classic songs such as "Little Wing", "Hey Joe", "Right Place Wrong Time" and instrumentals like "Sleepwalk" and "Pipeline". The Vipers always put their own spin on these classic songs, making them their own. Some fans even say that they enjoy hearing their versions better than the original. Maybe you're thinking, how did it all begin? Neal Vitullo, lead guitarist and Dave Howard, lead vocalist are the original founders of what started as "Young Neal and the Vipers" in the early 1980's. Steve Bigelow joined the band a few years later and they played all over the north east and regularly in New York City and that was where they caught the attention one night from the Atlantic Record founder & president Ahmet Ertegun, who signed them to their label in 1989. That same year they were signed to Atlantic Records they played 300 shows. Their first CD, "Hooloovoo" ended up being released on "Big Noise" records in 1991, where it went on to be the best selling CD in 1991 and 1992 by "TheNicePaper" as well as the 1991 Critic's Choice Award from "The Providence Journal". "I'm Finally Alone", their second CD also released by "Big Noise", went on to be the best of 1993 from "The Providence Journal" and the best selling CD of 1994 from "TheNicePaper". They continued to win awards from "Best Music Poll" from "The Providence Pheonix" to the "Best of Bands" and "Best of Blues Acts" from the "Hartford Advocate". Steve Bigelow and Dave Howard decided to leave the Vipers back in the early 90's to pursue other projects and Neal continued on as lead vocalist and lead guitarist, playing as a trio with The Vipers. Neal never stopped recording CD's and touring as far west as Texas and also all over Europe. Neal was signed by Bob Greenly to King Snake Records for the next 4 albums, and 2 self-produced Live CD's between 1991-2012, The Vipers also have tracks featured in 9 other compilation albums released by Big Noise from 1992-1998. Current drummer Mike LaBelle joined the Vipers in 2003 when The Vipers were still a trio until Dave Howard and Steve Bigelow reunited with Neal in 2010, coming "full circle". October of 2010, after 20 years of not sharing the same stage together, Neal, Dave, and Steve reunited together with Mike on drums to play at the Knickerbocker Cafe in Westerly, RI. Soon after, they recorded the 8th CD "Full Circle". Today, NEAL & THE VIPERS continue to play shows every week and they finished their 9th CD, "One Drunken Kiss" that was released June 1, 2018 and is available for sale on this website online store and at all shows. Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $15 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
  • 07 August

    Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez. Opening Ma -

    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 About Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez: 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-52's), 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 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 evenings 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 “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. About Matt York 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: 8p | Doors 7p Tickets: $20 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
  • 13 August

    Duke Robillard Band -

    Since starting his musical career in 1967 by founding and fronting Roomful of Blues, Duke Robillard has been at the forefront of Blues, Swing and classic R&B/Jump blues for over 50 years, earning him his legendary status while influencing and inspiring countless legions of musicians and fans worldwide. Leading his own group, Duke has toured non-stop for the past 40-some years, recording more than 30 critically acclaimed CDs under his own name. He has toured as a guitarist with Tom Waits and the Fabulous Thunderbirds and recorded with the likes of Bob Dylan, Ruth Brown, Jay McShann, Pinetop Perkins, Kim Wilson, Jimmy Witherspoon, Rosco Gordon, Maria Muldaur and many more. “Robillard is a soloist of stunning force and originality” — The New York Times “Most everything Duke Robillard has done as a guitarist during the past four-plus decades bears witness to his musical intelligence and his dedication to his craft.” — DownBeat Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $20 ($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.)
  • 20 August

    Phil Adams/Phish Tribute: Curveball Rescue -

    Phil Adams/Phish Tribute Band: Curveball Rescue League From the guy who brought The Music of John Mayer to The Knickerbocker, Phil Adams' music yields the accessible familiarity of popular music, while the Group's  arrangements, and grooves guide the audience through musical exploration. Phil Adams Group's nightly excursions are sure to satisfy a wide audience. In his career, Phil has shared the stage with the likes of Max Creek, Donna Jean Godchaux, Assembly of Dust, Twiddle, Addison Groove Project, Ryan Montbleau, Consider The Source, The Movement, Badfish, Bella's Bartok, The Breakfast, Formula 5, and Keller Williams, to name a few. Feel good music unafraid to explore, and guaranteed to make you move... Show: 9p | Doors: 8p Tickets: $10 advance /$15 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.)
  • 21 August

    The Troublemakers -

    100 Watt Suns, John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band, The Hoolios, Whitesmoke, Soul Searchers, Brother Big Eye, Green Tea, Water St. Quartet, Crows Toes, and The Collective are just a few of the bands the members of The Troublemakers were playing in while this band formed accidentally in the summer of 2016. A band canceled on a local booker and and after a few phone calls, the lineup was assembled. The lineup includes the area’s most talented, in demand and seasoned veteran players. Ronnie Lewis plays the drums and handles lead vocals. Sitting next to him is Don “DC” Culp who plays the drums as well. Together they create a devastating pocket. The always busy - and in high demand - Dan Sherer holds down the keyboard/piano duties. Bill Light handles most of the lead guitar work and backing vocals. The band is rounded out by the younger but already seasoned Josh White (rhythm/lead guitar) and Mike Palazzolo on bass. The Troublemakers play music and have fun, that’s actually their only real rule. No egos and none of the other nonsense that, unfortunately, has become part of being a modern-working musician. It’s refreshing to see them having fun on stage, acting like they are in the garage like when they were kids and just playing music to play music! Show: 8:30p | Doors: 7:30p Tickets: $10 ($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 August

    Wooly Mammoth & Mac Daddy -

    About Wooly Mammoth: Gray Hallberg is the founder & lead guitarist of Wooly Mammoth. In addition to honing his guitar chops by studying with local legend Chris Leigh, Gray studied jazz performance at UVM and theory and composition at the University of Colorado. Currently residing in Boston, he plays and sings with the punk rock group At Least We Tried and blues driven Wooly Mammoth. Mike LaChance is the bassist. He lives in Mystic and also plays double bass with Cabin Fever, a local bluegrass band and the euphonium, as a volunteer with the New London Salvation Army. Toby Halsey has played guitar for fun for 30 years. He joined Wooly Mammoth at the first Mystic Blues Festival and played at the Racer’s Jam for 5 years supporting Mudhead Benefit Cup for Hospice. Chris Chapman has been involved in music since he was a teen. Formally trained in drums and percussion, Chris has experience playing almost every type of music, ranging from Classical to Rock and Jazz. Music is one of Chris’ true passions. He enjoys listening and playing daily, as well as seeking out and attending live performances as much as possible! Scott Parry’s blues driven piano style was inspired by local legend, Al Copley, the original keyboardist in the local Grammy-winning band Roomful of Blues. Scott and Al’s moms were friends and Al inspired Scott to take up the piano at the advanced age of five. He had been playing in bands ever since. About Mac Daddy: Connecticut's Original Classic Rock Experience Don’t you want real music? You have to be tired of hearing the same overplayed bullshit on 5 CT classic rock stations. We have a superb cast of pro musicians that know how to get under the layers of crap and bring you our versions of great classic rock songs (except Joe, we still don’t know why we let him play). 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.)
  • 28 August

    Johnny and the East Coast Rockers -

    Where people are swinging in Rhode Island and Connecticut, Johnny and the East Coast Rockers are playing. A premiere Rhythm and Blues dance band in the Northeast for over 28 years, Johnny MacLeod and his band perform original tunes and favorite covers from the 40's, 50's, and 60's in an eclectic mix, that combines elements of traditional blues, swing, jazz, R&B, and roots rock. Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $15 *Limited ticket sales. ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.) Please Note: The Knickerbocker will be following any covid restrictions that are still in place when we reopen. Shows listed with "limited tickets" will be at 50% capacity.
  • 01 September

    Johnny & The East Coast Rockers -

    Let's Dance Wednesday! Jazz/Swing/Motown/R&B/Rock n Roll Music: 7:30-10p | Doors: 6:30p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.) Offering Free Dance Lessons starting at 7p
  • 02 September

    Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys -

    RHYTHM & ROOTS FESTIVAL PRE-SHOW PARTY AT THE KNICK Jeffery Broussard has long been respected as one of the greatest accordion players to ever grace the beautiful Creole culture and for that matter the world. He is one of the most influential accordionists and vocalists in modern Zydeco music, Jeffery Broussard continues to be one of the genre’s most dynamic performers. He has continually been an innovator, beginning his career with traditional Creole Zydeco music playing drums in his father’s band, Delton Broussard & The Lawtell Playboys, then moving on to develop the nouveau Zydeco sound in Zydeco Force, now returning to the more traditional Zydeco sound with his own band, Jeffery Broussard and The Creole Cowboys. Jeffery’s music career started very early in life, like many other famous Zydeco musicians. At the age of 8 he started playing drums in his father’s band, the renowned Delton Broussard & The Lawtell Playboys. Whenever he could, Jeffery would sneak in to the house and get his daddy’s accordion down from the closet where it was stored and would teach himself how to play. Jeffery Broussard is well, the real deal. Dedicated to preserving and promoting the Creole culture and traditional Zydeco music. Jeffery plays with passion and commitment to carry on his daddy’s legacy. Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $15 advance / $20 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.)
  • 03 September

    Hiss Golden Messenger -

    “I went looking for peace,” says songwriter M.C. Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger about his new album Quietly Blowing It, out June 25, 2021, on Merge Records. “It’s not exactly a record about the state of the world—or my world—in 2020, but more a retrospective of the past five years of my life, painted in sort of impressionistic hues. Maybe I had the presence of mind when I was writingQuietly Blowing It to know that this was the time to go as deep as I needed to in order to make a record like this. And I got the time required in order to do that.” He pauses and laughs ruefully. “I got way more time than I needed, actually.” Quietly Blowing It was written and arranged by Taylor in his home studio—his 8’ × 10’ sanctuary packed floor to ceiling with books, records, and old guitars—as he watched the chaotic world spin outside his window. “Writing became a daily routine,” he explains, “and that was a ballast for me.Having spent so much time on the road over the past ten years, where writing consistently with any kind of fl ow can be tricky, it felt refreshing. And being in my studio, which is both isolated from and totally connected to the life of my family, felt appropriate for these songs.” Between March andJune, Taylor wrote and recorded upwards of two dozen songs—in most cases playing all of the instruments himself—before winnowing the collection down and bringing them to the Hiss band. In July, the group of musicians, with Taylor in the production seat, went into Overdub Lane in Durham, NC, for a week, where they recordedQuietly Blowing It as an organic unit honed to a fine edge from their years together on the road. “We all needed to be making that music together,”he recalls. “We’ve all spent so many years traveling all over the world, but in that moment, it felt cathartic to be recording those particular songs with each other in our own small hometown.” ThroughoutQuietly Blowing It, Taylor brings his keen eye to our“broken American moment”—as he fi rst sang on Hiss GoldenMessenger’s critically acclaimed, GRAMMY®-nominatedTerms of Surrender—in ways that feel devastatingly intimate and human. Beginning with the wanderer’s lament of “WayBack in the Way Back,” with its rallying cry of “Up with the mountains, down with the system,” Taylor carries the listener on a musical journey that continually returns to themes of growing up, loss, obligation, and labor with piercing clarity, and his musical influences—including classic Southern soul and gospel, renegade country, and spiritual jazz—have never felt more genuine. Indeed,Quietly Blowing It is a distillation of the rolling Hiss Golden Messenger groove, from the rollicking, Allman-esque “The Great Mystifier” to the chiming falsetto soul of “It Will If We Let It,” to the smoky, shuffling title track with its bittersweet guitar assist fromNashville legend Buddy Miller. The album ends with soulful lead single “Sanctuary,” a song about trying to reconcile tragedy and joy, with references to John Prine (“Handsome Johnny had to go, child...”), economic disparity, and the redemptive quality of hope. Indeed, when he sings, “Feeling bad, feeling blue, can’t get out of my own mind; but I knowhow to sing about it,” it feels like the album’s spiritual thesis.ThroughoutQuietly Blowing It, Taylor reckons with the tumultuous present in wholly personal terms, encouraging listeners to do the same. “These songs always circle back to the things that I feel like I have a handle on and the things thatI’m not proud of about myself. When I think of the phrase ‘quietly blowing it,’ I think of all the ways that I’ve misstepped, misused my gifts, miscommunicated. ‘Born on the level, quietly blowing it.’ That’s what’s on my mind there. Always fuckin’ up in little ways.” Surrounding himself with a trusted cast of collaborators that includes Miller, songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov, song writer and Tony Award–winning playwright Anaïs Mitchell, multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaufman, Dawes’ brothers Taylor andGriffin Goldsmith, and his oldest musical confidant Scott Hirsch, Taylor has made his most audacious and hopeful work yet withQuietly Blowing It; it’s an album that speaks personal truth to this moment in which the old models of being feel broken and everything feels at stake. “I don’t know that the peace that I crave when I’m far from home exists, actually,” says Taylor. “It’s more complicated. I still don’t know what peace means for me, because I can be sitting on the couch watching a movie with my family and be completely tangled up in my head. But if I keep on doing my own personal work on myself—writing records like Quietly Blowing It—I have to think that I’m getting closer. Show: 9p | Doors: 8p Tickets: $25 advance / $30 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.)
  • 08 September

    The Cartells -

    Let's Dance Wednesday! Show: 7:30-10p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.) Offering Free Dance Lessons starting at 7p
  • 10 September

    Knickerbocker All-Stars® -

    The Knickerbocker All-Stars, sponsored by the Knickerbocker Music Center and the United Theater, will be featured guest artists in the Chorus of Westerly Summer Pops Concert. Knickerbocker All-Stars® FEATURING Sugar Ray Norcia, and special guest Darcel Wilson Sugar Ray Norcia, a three time Grammy Nominee joins Darcel Wilson, who sang with the Knickerbocker All-Stars on their most recent album, "Love Makes a Woman" which was nominated for soul blues album of the year by the Blues Foundation. The Knickerbocker All-Stars are a group of extremely talented blues musicians who have been in the business for decades. Members of the band have played with such notable performers as Freddie King, Robert Cray, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Roomful of Blues as well as their own bands. Sunday nights at the Knickerbocker Café in Westerly, RI featured the Roomful of Blues in the 1970’s and early 80’s. It quickly became the hottest social event in the area. Duke Robillard, the legendary blues guitarist and leader of the Roomful, would invite many up and coming musicians on stage to get their licks in as well as featured artists, the list of which is too long to mention. Every song on their CD was carefully selected to emulate the great blues front-men, backed by a full horn section with bluesy and boogie woogie piano. The band includes blues heroes Sugar Ray Norcia, Darcel Wilson, Ricky King Russell, Doug James, Matt McCabe, Doc Chanonhouse, Sax Gordon, Brad Hallen, Carl Querfurfh and Mark Teixeira. If you play their songs loud enough and close your eyes you can envision the band blasting away while dancers on the floor twist, swing, jitterbug and slow dance real tight. All of this is what was and still is the hallmark of the Knickerbocker Café. The songs are characteristic of the ones played in the heyday of the Knick, first done by early Roomful influences Bobby Bland, Freddie King, Guitar Slim, Cleanhead Vinson, and many others, and this crew reanimates them with authority. The excitement is freshly minted, and there are new songs which could have been done by Louis Jordan and Albert King. What better place than this to celebrate a robust yet undervalued American musical genre? It may have started years ago, but its spirit is timeless, and it's found a home at the Knick. Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $20 ($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.)
  • 15 September

    Cherry Pie -

    Let's Dance Wednesday! Blues, Swing, Zydeco, Rockabilly, Latin Music: 7:30-10p | Doors: 6:30p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.) Offering Free Dance Lessons starting at 7p
  • 18 September

    Sugar Ray and the Bluetones -

    Award-winning Blues. History written by Mudcat Ward, bass: In 1977, Sugar Ray Norcia and Neil Gouvin were working southern Rhode Island in their band, Sugar Ray & the Blues Stompers. Up in Boston, Ronnie Earl, still using his given surname Horvath, was beginning to try stage monikers such as Little Ronnie. After a while, the winds of change were swirling. Ronnie and bassist, Mudcat Ward were searching for musical colleagues that wanted to play bluer, lower down, earthier and produce the highest quality blues. Ronnie chose to book a series of dates out of town, under the name "The Dueces." Neil Gouvin, well-known blues drummer in southern New England, was contacted to make the dates and demonstrated that he could provide the sought-after groove. After reviewing the situation from his own vantage point, Gouvin made the suggestion that altered blues history: get his vocalist/harp player Sugar Ray into this picture. Although the band enjoyed the four-piece sound, they wanted a larger band and the addition of a piano player. A number of months later, Ronnie and Mudcat attended a show at Paul's Mall in Boston where Muddy Waters and his band were performing. The opening act, a band from New Hampshire, featured a damned good blues piano player. He turned out to be Little Anthony Geraci. Ronnie and Mudcat visited him in Newton, MA where he was in the middle of writing a sonata. The blues musicians offered Anthony the position and he signed on. The band christened itself Sugar Ray & the Bluetones. They have had multiple personnel changes over the last 40 years but remain true to their blues roots- returning to The Knick and touring throughout the New England area. Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $20 ($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 September

    Roger Ceresi Trio -

    Let's Dance Wednesday! Playing music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Music: 7:30-10p | Doors: 6:30p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.) Offering Free Dance Lessons starting at 7p
  • 24 September

    The Wolff Sisters -

    Gritty and raw folk-rock outfit The Wolff Sisters first broke into the Boston music scene as an acoustic trio. With haunting harmonies and songs reminiscent of washed up wanderers on New England’s salty coasts, Rebecca, Rachael, and Kat stole Boston’s heart (yes, they’re really sisters). Born to a poet and a musician, they grew up on the heavy realism of Dylan and Springsteen blended with the loose and loud Rolling Stones. Drawing inspiration from blues giants like Howlin’ Wolf and modern storytellers Dawes, The Wolff Sisters don’t fit into one genre of music. With Rebecca on acoustic guitar, Rachael on electric guitar, Kat on keys, and all three on vocals, the sisters spent years honing their sound together in an old Victorian house just outside Boston. In 2015, the trio amplified their performance with the addition of Will Rodriguez on drums, and a talented cast of rotating bass players. The band seeks to bring that loose blues, roots, and rock n’ roll sound back into the forefront of the music scene. 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.)
  • 29 September

    Steve Lott Band -

    Let's Dance Wednesday! Swinging Blues Steve Lott, founding member of Texas outfit LittleWolf is joined by some of New England's best players to form THE STEVE LOTT BLUES BAND on a select(post Covid) tour stopping at THE KNICKERBOCKER MUSIC CENTER. It will be a swinging Blues evening Wednesday, September 29 for all you dancers! Steve Lott- guitar/ vocals Ted Armstrong- keyboards Scotty Monette- guitar/ lap steel Jennifer Truesdale- vocals Bob Vabulas- bass Dan Salvucci- drums Photo: Dan Busler Photography Music: 7:30-10p | Doors: 6:30p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.) Offering Free Dance Lessons starting at 7p
  • 01 October

    Jeff Pitchell & James Montgomery -

    Jeff Pitchell and Texas Flood with special guest James Montgomery High energy Rhythm & Blues, Rock, Soul, and Funk. Jeff Pitchell has been blistering the paint off the walls of most clubs in the New England area for some years now and he is one of the hottest guitar slingers on the circuit, drawing comparisons to Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn. Pitchell is an internationally acclaimed dynamic singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor, winning "best guitarist" in the State of CT when he was 15 years old. He has been performing recently with Charles Neville, Grammy Award winner, sold out 35 shows in a row with guitarist and Rock Hall of Fame nominee J. Geils, performed with Phil Lesh of Grateful Dead, played for the World Champion Boston Red Sox on national television and radio, had a #7 CD stay on the national Billboard charts for 12 weeks performed on the Don Imus show on national television and radio as well! Jeff also has guitar dueled with Kenny Wayne Shepard and Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers! Hartford Magazine readers honored Jeff as Best Musician/Band in Connecticut! Special guest James Montgomery has finished his new CD and there's talk that the long awaited CD "From Detroit To The Delta may be nominated for a Grammy. The CD has many guest musicians including members of Aerosmith, Johnny Winter, James Cotton, DMC from the band Run DMC and others. The CD will be officially released this year. James Montgomery is currently going through one of his best periods ever. In the past two years Steven Tyler, Huey Lewis, Jim Belushi, Honey Boy Edwards, Joey Kramer and Brad Whitford from Aerosmith, Jay Geils, Billy Squier, James Cotton, the Uptown Horns, Kim Wilson, Barry Goodreau formerly of Boston, Johnny A, Grace Kelly, Duke Robillard, and Matt Kelly from the Dropkick Murphys are just a few of the artists who have performed on stage with the James Montgomery. Also in the past two years the band has been invited by Morgan Freeman to be his guests in Clarksdale at Ground Zero. James was featured in a movie with Morgan Freeman and Willie Nelson called "Delta Rising". It was these trips to Mississippi that inspired the new CD. Together, James and Jeff get their dueling-axes on and backed by Jeff's band, Texas Flood, tear up a high energy mix of Rhythm and Blues, Rock, Soul, Pop, funky Texas Blues and even a little Country. This one is a barn-burner! Show: 8p | Doors: 7p Tickets: $20 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
  • 06 October

    Ed Peabody And The Big Blue Thang -

    Let's Dance Wednesday! 7:30-10p $10 Offering Free Dance Lessons starting at 7p 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. ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
  • 10 October

    Women's Voices 4 -

    Women's Voices 4 Concert & Performance Showcase The Performing Artist Lineup: HEADLINING: Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez The CarLeans Kala Karnham & Co Midnight Anthem All profits to benefit the Institute for the Musical Arts I.M.A. Rock and Roll Camp for Girls Sponsored by ImagineMystic.comCo-Sponsored by Gramma’s Attic & Sound Waves Show: 2-7p | Doors: 1p Tickets: $15 donation plus tax deductible ($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.)
  • 15 October

    Al Copley Quintet -

    Blues Piano and Boogie Woogie 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, Copley relocated to Europe in 1984, and then 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: $20 ($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.)
  • 16 October

    The Tallest Man On Earth -

    Opening with Madi Diaz Show: 8p | Doors: 7p 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 October

    Roger Ceresi’s All Starz -

    Paying tribute to the great music legends of the 50s & 60s Roger rocks the planet with the "All Starz". With Roger's powerful vocals leading the way and his ability to motivate and incite crowd participation, the "All Starz" will deliver high energy jump blues, rhythm & blues and a bit of rock & roll WITH GRIT, SOUL, AND PASSION THAT WILL ROCK YOUR SOUL AND MAKE YOU MOVE YOUR FEET & Dance All Night long!! Backed by a stage full of incredible musicians, each a star in his own right, Roger leads this horn-driven band with all of his soul. Roger is an engaging performer who draws from all his life experiences to create a powerful, high-energy performance filled with passion, excitement and pure unadulterated fun! Audiences are immediately swept up by his energy and enthusiasm. But, like any other great performer, he knows that without a great group backing him up, it wouldn't be the same. To that end, Roger says "this is the best group of guys I've ever performed with, hands down no doubt! I love this band. I have found my home and I'm loving it!" 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 October

    Dr. G & The Believers -

    Let's Dance Wednesday! Dr. G and the Believers is a group of experienced musicians that hail from Southeastern Connecticut and specialize in high energy, blues-based, upbeat music. Influences include Junior Wells, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Tommy Castro, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Otis Rush, Robert Cray and many others. The core of the group consists of Bob Garofalo on lead vocals, harmonica and keyboards, Bob Young on bass, Mark Burno on guitar and vocals, and Jim Piccione on drums and vocals. Together they’ve put together a collection of songs that are danceable, fun and funky and honed their sound into a tight and soulful blues machine that will get your blood pumping, fingers snapping and feet moving! Music: 7:30-10p | Doors: 6:30p Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.) Offering Free Dance Lessons starting at 7p

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Dine & Dance Menu

Hours

Sunday: Open

Monday: Closed

Tuesday: Closed

Wednesday: Open

Thursday: Closed

Friday: Open

Saturday: Open

About

Scenes: Dance Venue, Live Music, Club, Restaurant, Bar

Cuisines: American, Burgers, Pizza, Seafood

Music: Blues, Live Bands, Rock

Crowd: 21+, Casual Crowd, Locals

Best Food: Burgers / Sliders, Salads

Best Drinks: Beer Selection, Martinis

Dancing: Always

Highlights: Dancing, Drink Deals, Live Performances

Avg. Entree: $10 - $15

Details

Capacity: 250

Dress Code: Casual

Parking: Plenty of Street Parking

TVs: TV's only in the Tap Room

Other Features Include: Beer Selection, Catering, Seating, Takeout, Dance Floors, Gift Cards

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