Matthews Blues, the father/son duo of Bill Matthews and Guthrie Matthews bring classic and contemporary acoustic and electric blues and a driving blues band to the Mainstay in Rock Hall, MD on Saturday June 7 at 8:00. Admission is $15.
The fourth concert in the Mainstay’s 2014 blues series is a family affair that combines classic blues and edgy contemporary interpretations from Guthrie Matthews, the son, on smoldering lead guitar & vocals and Bill Matthews, the father, on rhythm guitar & vocals. They will be joined by Charlie Bowley on blues harp and Jesse Massone on bass.
Guthrie Matthews is well known throughout the region for his bands, Guthrie Matthews Method and Fire on the Bay. An incredibly fine guitarist, he has been voted Best Local Musician by What’s Up Eastern Shore. He began playing under his father’s tutelage in as a teen. With influences from classes at Berklee School of Music in Boston, formal instruction from jazz guitarist Carl Filipiak, and his experiences with bar bands, Guthrie brings to the MainstayBlues series what the old blues “songsters” brought to a night in a juke joint: the ability to go from a John Lee Hooker boogie to a Chuck Berry tune, maybe a little bit of 50’s slow dance to a blistering blues/rock lead.
Bill Matthews is known to Mainstay audiences through his many performances with Tom McHugh over the years as part of Banjo Man and Bill, Chesapeake Scenes, Guys & Doll and Ladies Sing the Blues. He describes himself as a folk singer but his repertoire also strays to jazz, standards, country and blues and Tom McHugh calls him a “blues shouter.”
Guthrie and Bill will play mostly iconic blues from the great bluesmen of the past and will include both acoustic and electric blues styles. Their sound will be augmented by the driving blues harp of Charlie Bowley who has played with bands like Crossfire, Blues Factory and The Hurricanes, Jesse Masone on bass who has worked with Fez Cat, Mixed Signals, and Jordan Page and a drummer.
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
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