Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist, songwriter and vocalist Marcia Ball -- the official 2018 Texas State Musician -- will give two performances at The Iridium in New York on Monday, April 6, 2020. Ball has won worldwide fame and countless fans for her ability to ignite a full-scale roadhouse rhythm and blues party every time she takes the stage. Ball's rollicking Texas boogies, swampy New Orleans ballads and groove-laden Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite with music lovers all over the world. Her latest album, Shine Bright , produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, is full of everything music fans love about Marcia-rollicking two-fisted piano, soulful vocals, a top-shelf band of Texas and Louisiana musicians, and Marcia's magnificent songwriting. In 2018 she was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall Of Fame. In 2019, Ball won the Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist-Piano. She also won the 2019 Living Blues Award for Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboards) in both the Critics' and Readers' Polls. Concert information is as follows:
Date: Monday, April 6, 2020
Venue: The Iridium
Address: 1650 Broadway
City: New York, NY
Phone: 212-582-2121
Showtimes: 8:30pm and 10:30pm
Ticket price: $45-$55
Website: www.theiridium.com
*See website for detailed ticket information
With Shine Bright, Ball set out to, in her words, "Make the best Marcia Ball record I could make." In doing so, she has put together the most musically substantial, hopeful and uplifting set of songs of her five-decade career. Produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and recorded in Texas and Louisiana, Shine Bright contains twelve songs (including nine originals), ranging from the title track's rousing appeal for public and private acts of courage to the upbeat call to action of Pots And Pans, a song inspired by renowned Texas political writer and humorist Molly Ivins. From the humorous advice of Life Of The Party to the poignantly optimistic World Full Of Love , the intensity of Ball's conviction never wavers while, simultaneously, the fun never stops. Shine Bright is exactly the album Ball set out to make. "It is a ridiculously hopeful, cheerful record," she says, in light of some of the album's more serious subject matter. The secret, according to Ball "is to set the political songs to a good dance beat."
Born in Orange, Texas in 1949 to a family whose female members all played piano, Ball grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, right across the border from Texas. Seeing an
Irma Thomas performance in 1962 and falling under the spell of Professor Longhair's piano playing convinced Ball to seek out a career in music. She led a couple of early psychedelic country rock bands before pursuing her solo career from her adopted hometown of Austin, Texas.
After her 1978
Capitol Records debut,
Circuit Queen, and a series of successful albums on Rounder Records, Ball joined Alligator in 2001 with the release of the critically acclaimed Presumed Innocent, the first of her six releases for the label, four of which are Grammy nominated. Altogether she holds eleven Blues Music Awards, thirteen Living Blues Awards, and five Grammy Award nominations. She has been inducted into both the Gulf Coast Music
Hall Of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame. The Texas State legislature named her the official 2018 Texas State Musician. As her hometown Austin Chronicle says, "What's not to like about Marcia Ball?"
Since joining Alligator, Ball has blossomed as a songwriter. Each album has been filled with fresh, original songs, never more so than on Shine Bright . Ball easily draws her listeners deep into her music with instantly memorable melodies and imaginative imagery. Her songs paint vibrant musical pictures richly detailed with recognizable characters, regional flavors, universal themes and colorful scenes, both real and imagined. Living Blues declares, "Her originals sound like timeless classics and southern soul masterpieces that no one else can imitate."
Now, with Shine Bright, Ball's aggressively hopeful songs are energized by Steve Berlin's inventive and exciting production, creating electrifying music that is daring, inspired, poignant and timely. The Boston Globe calls Ball "a compelling storyteller" who plays "an irresistible, celebratory blend of rollicking, two-fisted New
Orleans piano, Louisiana swamp rock and smoldering Texas blues." The New York Times says, "Marcia Ball plays two-fisted New
Orleans barrelhouse piano and sings in a husky, knowing voice about all the trouble men and women can get into on the way to a good time." The Houston Chronicle says simply, "She's as perfect as an artist can be."
"I still love the feel of the wheels rolling," Ball says of her love of touring, "and the energy in a room full of people ready to go wherever it is we take them." With both Shine Bright and her legendary live performances,
Marcia Ball will shine a light into the darkness, making the world a brighter place one song at a time.
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