Great tunes and treats are coming to the Red Deer Elks Hall on Friday, Aug. 4.
Red Deer’s Charlie Jacobson and his band will perform with blues heavyweights Silent Partners in what’s being billed as a high-energy evening of “real deal blues.”
Concert organizer Mike Bradford of the Central Music Festival, has also arranged for the Red Deer Food Bank’s food truck and ice cream truck to drive into the parking lot at 6 p.m. This will allow music lovers to buy some delectables before the 7 p.m. concert and also allow the food bank to make extra revenue to cover its escalating costs for a growing list of clients.
The non-profit is operating these food trucks to raise money and awareness of the growing hunger problem in this province.
Bradford is happy to keep supporting the food bank while staging this special summer concert that will feature blues and soul music that’s “as good as it gets in Red Deer.” The show will start an hour earlier than usual so that two full sets from two different bands can be heard — “and probably a little jamming.”
Jacobson, a songwriter and instrumentalist, honed his blues skills by playing with esteemed U.S. musicians, including Jackson, Kenny Wayne, and Donald Ray Johnson.
The Red Deerian first got his foot in the door by repeatedly showing up at the Blues on Whyte in Edmonton until he was invited to sit in with the band. His talent was soon recognized and Jackson invited him to play with his group on a regular basis.
Jacobson has since formed his own band and put out some albums, including Alberta Flood. He previously explained that blues, “to me, is a release of emotion. Expressing the blues really helps you to feel better. It doesn’t get me down, it expresses hard feelings… so I’m all over the place when I play.”
Silent Partners and their album Changing Times, are an example of seasoned sidemen stepping into the limelight and finally get their due.
Although guitarist Jonathan Ellison won’t be on this tour, he will be replaced by Wilbert Crosby, a Chicago resident who has performed and/or recorded with Mavis Staples, Aretha Franklin, and a bevy of others.
Along with bassist Russell Jackson and drummer Tony Coleman, the three musicians have over 100 years of experience on the road and in sessions with B.B. King, Johnnie Taylor, Otis Clay, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, and Denise LaSalle, among many.
Silent Partners debuted on Antone Records in 1989. Their form of the blues is the natural expression of the genre — the musicians develop a feel for the rhythm of each song and play only the notes needed, without restoring to the exaggerated dramatics of so other “blues” artists.
“I can feel it,” Coleman has said of a song’s rhythm.
For more information about this concert, please visit centralmusicfest.com.
