THE KNICKERBOCKER MUSIC CENTER
35 Railroad Avenue, Westerly, RI 02891 (Misquamicut) | (401) 315-5070
Open Today: Open
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.
Johnny Nicholas
8pm
Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 8:00pm
The Knickerbocker Music Center. 35 Railroad Avenue, Westerly, RI 02891
Live Music
Tenor Sax legend Greg Piccolo will be joining Johnny Nicholas and his great band from Texas this Saturday at the Knick!
"TEXAS SONGWRITING AND BLUES/ROOTS MUSIC AT ITS BEST!" - DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE
Make no mistake: Johnny Nicholas knows from the blues. His credentials? Impeccable. Conviction? Immeasurable. And chops? If an instrument’s got strings, keys, or reeds he can play the hell out of it. He’s also a consummate songwriter and a great singer blessed with a warm, toasty growl of a voice that can roll from rumble to croon and back again with seductive ease.
Marcia Ball calls Nicholas “an extremely engaging innovative traditionalist” who “writes instant classics and sings them to break your heart and rock your soul.” But the key word there is “innovative,” because as deep as his roots go — and we’re talking about a cat who learned firsthand from the likes of Robert Lockwood Jr., Howlin’ Wolf, Big Walter Horton, and Johnny Shines (to name but a few of the legends he studied under early in his five-decade career) — Nicholas does not paint in one color.
As befits a soul who’s spent a lifetime soaking up the flavor of such vibrant music scenes as Ann Arbor, Chicago, South Louisiana and Texas (which he’s called home now for nearly 40 years), his music is full-spectrum Americana — a rich gumbo of not just blues, but cajun, swing, folk, and barrelhouse rock ’n’ roll.
As an artist and performer he can mesmerize a listening room crowd or bring a festival crowd to their feet with his rollicking boogie woogie piano and his stellar band.
For proof, just take a listen to Nicholas’ most satisfyingly eclectic collection of original American roots music yet, 2016’s Fresh Air, which finds him drawing on all of the above and deep into his soul for words of wit, wisdom, and heart. As the esteemed writer Bill Bentley puts it best, “He’s someone who cares about being real, and the hell with everything else … .”
Show: 8p | Doors: 7p
Tickets: $15 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
Visit website: http://johnnynicholasblues.com
