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.
Rosie Flores
8pm
Friday, June 14, 2019 at 8:00pm
The Knickerbocker Music Center. 35 Railroad Avenue, Westerly, RI 02891
Live Music
Opening: Vince Thompson and the Next Fun Thing
About Rosie Flores -
It’s telling that Rosie Flores’ e-mail handle begins “chickwpick…” In a long and eclectic career of singing, songwriting and performing, no phrase has ever more aptly described the San Antonio native.
Over the course of a career that has spanned more than four decades, Flores has jumped feet first into punk rock (with her ’70s-era band, the Screaming Sirens), country music of both the Bakersfield and Nashville varieties, the Texas singer/songwriter scene, alt-country, straight-up rock, and rockabilly. So much so the latter, that her onstage moniker for years was “Rockabilly Filly”—but through it all, she was the "Chick with the Pick."
Profiled in Guitar World, Premiere Guitar and Guitar Player magazines, Flores was cited by Venuszine as one of the “Top 75 Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time." Along the way, she released a number of critically acclaimed albums—among them, her solo debut, 1987’s Rosie Flores, 1995’s Rockabilly Filly, 1999’s Dance Hall Dreams, the acoustic live set Single Rose in 2004, 2009’s Girl of the Century and, in 2012, the aptly-named, self-produced Working Girl’s Guitar. Flores was the first Latina to chart in Country Music.
In recent years, Flores worked with female rockabilly pioneers Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin, in an effort to help propel them back into the spotlight. In 2007, she won a Peabody Award for her narration of the rockabilly documentary, Whole Lotta Shakin’ and later produced the The Blanco Sessions, which would prove to be Janis Martin’s last recording. In February 2019, Flores was inducted into the Texas Music Legends Hall of Fame.
Simple Case of the Blues brings Flores full circle, and takes square aim at a genre she has only touched on in the past. She lends her soulful voice and fiery guitar to songs by Roy Brown, Wilson Pickett, Heath Wilson, and a spate of new originals. Produced by songwriter/guitarist Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan, The Arc Angels), with an assist by guitarist Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart, Lucinda Williams) and bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash), Simple Case of the Blues was, to hear Flores tell it, a long time coming: “I got infatuated with the blues in high school,” says Flores. “It was the first music I ever played."
She returns to the blues now as a seasoned performer steeped in life’s uncompromising lessons. At once torchy, soulful, heartfelt and yearning, Simple Case of the Blues "is the music you make when you’ve come through joy and heartbreak and back again," says Flores. "It's an ongoing process; I’ve mastered the life of a musician, but I’ll be working on the guitar for the rest of my life.” (2019)
Album Reviews:
“Rosie Flores is in top form on Simple Case of the Blues as a blues shouter, a soul singer, and riveting guitarist who can put her own stamp on a song. Simple Case of the Blues brings beauty out of the shadows, dances joyously across every musical terrain, and delivers some of the most soulful music released so far this year.” ~ Henry Carrigan, No Depression
“It’s easy to see why Flores calls this the best album of her career. Let’s see if Flores and this Nashville/Austin cast of musicians are considered for a BMA. In any case, check this, a February release, as an early contender for one of this year’s best soul/blues albums.” —Jim Hynes, Elmore Magazine
“Simple Case of the Blues….might just be the best one yet.” ~ Blues Matters, UK.
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.)
