With over 25 years of professional experience in music, Joe Restivo’s guitar playing strongly reflects his Memphis roots. Joe Restivo 4 is influenced and inspired by soul and jazz musicians such as Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow, Steve Cropper and Reggie Young.

Your Academy is the resurrection of Memphis power pop featuring former members of The Scruffs, Dwight Twilley Band, crash into june, and Her Majesty’s Buzz.

 

Arkansas based trio, The ShotGunBillys are bringing a southern, down home, look you square in the eye, approach to today’s music. The SGB’s offer high energy southern rock with a firm country handshake that keeps fans feeling welcome and coming back for more. 

 

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On the walls of any local used music shop there hangs a gallery of mysteries. Picked up and handed down across the decades, each instrument contains the imprints and stories of those who have played it before, most of which remain untold. For Kansas City-based songwriter Kelly Hunt the most intriguing of these stories is the origin of her anonymous calfskin tenor banjo. “I really wasn’t looking for it,” she says, “but I opened up the case and it said ‘This banjo was played by a man named Ira Tamm in his dog and pony show from 1920 to 1935.’ I strummed it and said ‘This is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.’ People often think of the banjo as being rather brash and tinny – loud and kind of grating – but this was so warm and mellow, with an almost harp-like quality to it, very soulful” – apt words for the Memphis native’s debut album, Even The Sparrow, coming out May 17 on Rare Bird Records.

The daughter of an opera singer and a saxophonist, Kelly Hunt was raised in Memphis, TN, and grew up performing other people’s works through piano lessons, singing in choirs, and performing theater. “It was a very creative, artistic household,” says Hunt. During her teenage years, influenced by musical inspirations as diverse as Norah Jones, Rachmaninov, and John Denver, she began writing her own songs on the piano as a creative outlet. After being introduced to the banjo in college while studying French and visual arts, Hunt began to develop her own improvised style of playing, combining old-time picking styles with the percussive origins of the instrument. “I’m self-taught, I just started letting the songs dictate what needed to be there,” she says. “I heard a rhythm in a song that I wanted to execute, so I figured out how to do it on the drum head while still being able to articulate certain notes in one motion.” After college, Hunt followed a rambling path that took her through careers in acting, graphic design, traditional French breadmaking, and medicine, all the while making music as a private endeavor. “I wanted to get serious about a responsible career choice, but music kept bubbling up. I was writing a lot and playing a lot and started to not be satisfied just playing to my walls of my room.”

After moving to Kansas City and discovering her mysterious Depression-era tenor banjo, Hunt began recording Even The Sparrow in Kansas City alongside collaborator Stas’ Heaney and engineer Kelly Werts. “It took almost two years to record,” she says, “learning how to let the songs dictate the production.” Having finally come to light, the album displays Hunt’s penchant for masterful storytelling and intriguing arrangement, as researched and complex as they are memorable, punctuated by her articulate melodies and a well-enunciated and creative command of lyrical delivery infused with deft emotional communication. While reminiscent of modern traditionalists such as Gillian Welch–a number of her songs even borrow titles and phrasing from traditional American music (“Back to Dixie,” “Gloryland”)–Even The Sparrow reveals an ineffable quality that hovers beyond the constraints of genre, à la Anais Mitchell and Patty Griffin. In “The Men of Blue & Grey,” what begins as a Reconstruction-era ballad about the repurposing of Civil War glass plate negatives in a greenhouse roof soon becomes a meditation on the hope that growth and life may one day be able to emerge from the ruins of suffering and haunting of violence. “Across The Great Divide” turns an otherwise traditional accounting of spurned love into a philosophical epic of the ethics of forgiveness and freedom, evoking the ideas of Søren Kierkegaard and Walt Whitman.

As for the original owner of Kelly Hunt’s mysterious tenor banjo, not much is known. “I’ve never been able to find anything about Ira Tamm,” she says, “I think he just had a humble little traveling show.” What’s clear is that the itinerant performer laid down his banjo at the height of the Great Depression, almost eighty years before it would be picked up by Hunt. “That banjo has stories. I wish I knew them all,” says Hunt, though the banjo’s most intriguing story may just be beginning with Even The Sparrow. “The marks of Ira’s hands are still in the calfskin head, so I can see where he played and left his mark,” she says. “Now my own hand marks are there too, in different places, like a kind of portrait.”

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Bassist Mike Watt was the living embodiment of the punk rock spirit. As a founding member of the highly influential Minutemen, he created one of the most important bodies of work in the American underground canon, delivering adventurous, fiercely polemical music informed by such disparate traditions as funk, folk, and free jazz. Although his subsequent material — most notably his records with the trio  fIREHOSE , as well as his latter-day solo efforts — lacked the sheer impact of his earliest outings, Watt remained true to the D.I.Y. ethos that originally inspired him, emerging as one of the most highly respected figures in contemporary music.

Doors open at 6 pm. Join us for dinner and drinks before the show. Click here to view our menu. *General Admission seats are first come, first serve Vegas-style. With Vegas-style seating, you will be seated with other guests.

 

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Doors open at 7 pm. Join us for dinner and drinks before the show. Click here to view our menu.
*General Admission seats are first come, first serve Vegas-style. With Vegas-style seating, you will be seated with other guests.
*All sales are final. No refunds and or exchanges.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Vaneese is the daughter of Rufus Thomas, whose legendary career as a musician and entertainer began in Vaudeville and spanned more than half a century in rhythm-and-blues recording and radio. Her older siblings are the hit recording artist “Memphis Queen” Carla Thomas and the highly respected keyboardist and producer, Marvell Thomas. Embracing this remarkable musical legacy, Vaneese carries forward the rich heritage of Memphis soul and R&B, a music that has touched several generations and crossed many divides. At the same time she has combined all the influences of her background and experience – R & B, gospel, blues, and jazz – to cultivate a soul-stirring style that’s all her own. Her latest album due for release on August 23, 2019 is entitled ”Down Yonder.” On it she tells stories of her southern upbringing and issues that are both uplifting and disturbing. The music is the Blues and beyond, evoking the traditional blues genre and and what it can become.

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Doors open at 7 pm. Join us for dinner and drinks before the show. Click here to view our menu.

*General Admission seats are first come, first serve Vegas-style. With Vegas-style seating, you will be seated with other guests.
**All sales are final. No refunds and or exchanges.

Active in the greater Memphis area for 5 years now, Cruisin’ Heavy is best known for their dual female powerhouse vocalists, Mandi Thomas and Angela Burton. This group has a memorable sense of harmony and musical diversity, which is sure to impress you and satisfy your musical needs in every way!

Almost Famous is the quintessential high energy, sophisticated, and versatile band. Tailoring themselves to their clients’ needs, this band has played everything from storybook weddings, corporate events, to sold-out stadium concerts. With show-stopping live performances and a high fashioned look, this 4 piece band is the best in its field.

Soulful Tennessee-based singer/songwriter Susan Marshall began her music career as a classical singer before becoming a successful backup vocalist for the likes of Lenny Kravitz, the Afghan Whigs, Cat Power, and Lucinda Williams. Raised in Memphis, Marshall spent her formative years soaking up the region’s rich musical legacy, honing her own impressive pipes.

 

Ashton Riker captures the essence of classic Memphis soul music that will you get you out of your seat and on your feet. Born and raised in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee he is an electrifying performer that never leaves a crowd disappointed. From the sensual sounds of “Al Green” to the unforgettable hits of “Otis Redding”, Ashton will take you back in time with his incredible voice. So come and join us for a night you won’t soon forget!

Dress your best and celebrate Halloween at Lafayette’s Boos & Booze Halloween Party on Saturday, October 26. We’ll have live music by The Dantones, signature Halloween cocktails and your chance to win cash and prizes for our costume contest. First place takes home $500 cash! 

With over 25 years of professional experience in music, Joe Restivo’s guitar playing strongly reflects his Memphis roots. Joe Restivo 4 is influenced and inspired by soul and jazz musicians such as Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow, Steve Cropper and Reggie Young.

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Doors open at 6 pm. Join us for dinner and drinks before the show. Click here to view our menu.

*General Admission seats are first come, first serve Vegas-style. With Vegas-style seating, you will be seated with other guests.
**All sales are final. No refunds and or exchanges.

New Orleans native Brian “Breeze” Cayolle’s rich and soulful saxophone style was born from the traditions of the Jazz, Blues and R&B of his hometown. World renown for his strong and spirited tenor saxophone, he has performed with many of the great artists of his time and many of the legends of New Orleans music.

Seeing Red has become a fan favorite selling out the biggest events throughout the Mid-South. Adaptable, energetic, and talented, this band plays a variety of songs, as well as, songs from their EP “Stereotype.” Featuring two terrific female voc