Blues Festival
Levee Town, Josh Vowell & The Rumble, Nobody's Bidnis

Saturday, May 26th, 2012
Kearney Amphitheater
Sponsored by Westbrook Care Center

Levee Town

Celebrating their tenth anniversary this year, Levee Town is a tight four-piece of exceptionally talented musicians and songwriters perfecting a skin tight ensemble sound. Guitarist and vocalist Brandon Hudspeth's style is a powerful mixture of blues, country & western, rock, and jazz. Jimmie Meade, the group's harp man, brings to the table a love of Chicago Blues and an obvious affinity for jazz and country music. The bottom end is made up of Jacque Garoutte on bass and vocals, and Jan Faircloth on drums. This hard-charging duo chugs along with intensity and restraint, laying down the rock-solid foundation that the Levee Town sound is built on. Levee Town has earned a reputation as one of the most hardworking bands around. Their awesome live shows and unique take on the blues have attracted an ever-widening fan base. Festival performances and a spot in the 2007 International Blues Challenge finals and 2010 semi-finals, have garnered the band national and international attention. In addition to their own live performances, they have backed Big Bill Morganfield, Kenny Neal, Lazy Lester, Lee McBee, Sandy Carroll and Louisiana Red. They have opened for Sonny Landreth, Buddy Guy, Watermelon Slim, and Chubby Carrier and are the house band at Knuckleheads, KC. Festivals played include Kalamazoo Blues Festival, Illinois Blues Festival, King Biscuit Festival, Famous Dave's Blues Fest, From Dusk 'til Dawn Festival, Eureka Springs Blues Festival, Tulsa Blues Festival, Boundary Waters Blues Festival, Memphis In May Festival, Cherokee Blues Festival, Bean Blossom Festival, Des Moines Wintertime Blues Festival, Anglesea Blues Festival, Mt Helena Music Festival, Kansas City Kansas Street Blues Festival, and Gladstone Blues Festival.

"An aural shockwave that blows away any hint of the rusty dusty blues with a striking emotional wallop." Dave Rubin

"Levee Town, the Kansas City quartet known for their hard rockin' blues and tenaciousness on the live music circuit, plays tight as ever on their newest release, Pages of Paperwork. ...The band shows off their melting vocal harmonies and precise musicianship again. Meade's harp playing is really enjoyable, as is Hudspeth's guitar picking...Pages of Paperwork is a excellent album and is sure to please most everyone. It sure pleased me." Phillip Smith, BluesWax

"This is just Levee Town the Band, right there for you. These guys have been together a long time and it shows in the tightness of the performances. Everyone in the band seems to know what the other is going to do, and they pull it off without being predictable to the listener. Pages of Paperwork is well worth your time, check it out!" Coyote Bill, Big City Blues

"These guys really do keep the blues alive with gusto and fire and are not ashamed to remember, as Willie Dixon put it that 'blues is the roots, everything else is the fruits'. Long may they continue to do so." Ian McKenzie, Blues Blast

"Based in Kansas City and clearly helping to energize the city's resurgent blues scene, Levee Town is a tough-minded quartet (guitar, harmonica, bass, drums) boasting original songs from three band members, stellar musicianship (especially that of Jimmy Meade, whose harp work is a revelation throughout in its scintillating blend of idiomatic virtuosity and searing emotional components), striking vocals, and a feeling for postwar Chicago blues that recalls nothing so much as the ferocity of the early Rolling Stones, with some southern rock and Texas blues flourishes mixed in for good measure. Blues bands all over the world are working this same turf-these are, after all, timeless blues topics-but on its fourth album, Levee Town starts moving away from the pack. Always an impressive band of musicians, its tunesmiths have stepped onto a higher rung with Pages of Paperwork. It whets the appetite for the next chapter." David McGee, Bluegrass Special

Check out Levee Town's music and tour schedule at http://www.leveetown.com.

Josh Vowell & The Rumble

Josh Vowell & The Rumble is a four-piece progressive blues band that stormed onto the Topeka music scene in November, 2007. The band, comprised of Josh Vowell, who electrifies on lead guitar and vocals, Myrl "Biggs" Brown on bass, Justin "J" Shelton on the blues harp, and Dave Spritzer keeping the beat on drums, showcases a powerful combination of extensive musical experience and exceptional raw talent. With a string of individual successes with other bands paving their way, the group found their true calling through the sound and soul of the blues, setting out to leave their own mark and legacy on an iconic American art form.

Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, with Challenge America funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, who believes that a great nation deserves great art.