CRAIG THATCHER BAND

THE CRAIG THATCHER BAND has been entertaining audiences with their exciting brand of blues/rock music since 1993. This is a must-see-live performing band; their on-stage energy and confidence is explosive! CTB is based in Pennsylvania’s northeastern Lehigh Valley (Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area) located just an hour north of Philadelphia and 90 minutes from NYC. CTB has been Artist-Of-The-Day and also Artist-In-Residence at Musikfest, a 10 day international music and arts festival held in Bethlehem, PA. The festival is the largest of its kind in the world and draws over a million people from all over the globe. They have performed at concert halls, theatres, festivals and clubs all over the world including European tours in 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004. The Craig Thatcher Band has released 2 CD’s – “Because of You” (1996) and “Temptation” (2000). Most of the recorded material is original, written by Craig. They have also been featured on releases on Bummer Tent Records and individually, have been featured as guest artists on many other independent releases. CTB has also been featured on radio and television in many parts of the world. Craig & James Supra released an acoustic blues CD called “Hard Times” in August, 2005. It won several Lehigh Valley Music Awards and has received a great deal of airplay on PBS radio. In the Fall of 2003, Craig and Mike Dugan released “The Mike Dugan/Craig Thatcher Dream Band Live”cd which was recorded during two consecutive evening performances at the former Main Street Theatre in Quakertown, PA. This recording featured all members of CTB along with Mike’s bandmates. The Craig Thatcher Band has appeared as the opening act for many major acts including Buddy Guy, The Derek Trucks Band , John Hammond, Kenny Neal, Deborah Coleman, Duke Robillard, Bernard Allison, Madcat & Kane, Debbie Davies, Jonny Lang, Chris Smither, Charlie Musselwhite, The Spencer Davis Group, Robin Trower, Herman’s Hermits, Ted Nugent, Bobby Rydell, Fabian, The Badlees, Train, Tommy Conwell, Scott Bradoka, Dickey Betts , Roomfull of Blues, Kim Simmonds & Savoy Brown and Kid Bangham to name a few. They have also performed many times with top LehighValley/Regional artists Craig Kastelnik, Mike Dugan, Todd Wolfe, Rob Stoneback, Pete Fluck, Alan Gaumer, Sarah Ayers, Bev Conklin and many others. Craig has also performed in concert with Roseanne Cash, John Leventhal, Roger McGuinn, Thom Bresh and Marty Stuart. Along with bandmate Eric Steckel, CTB has also opened for Robben Ford and Chris Duarte, among many others. In 2001, Musikfest chose CTB to represent the city of Bethlehem, PA at Stadtfest in their German sister city of Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. This was a really exciting experience and brought the band together with musicians from England, Hungary, France, Italy and Germany. The band was so well received that they were asked back to perform at the festival in 2002, 2003 and 2004. CTB certainly hopes to return to Germany to perform once again in the not-too-distant future. In 2005, Craig signed a management contract with attorney Seth Weber of Butter Creek Music. Together, Seth and Craig came up with the idea of creating a musical tribute to one of Craig's main and lifelong musical influences: Eric Clapton. CTB, along with second guitarist Chris Morrison, and the husband & wife team of Craig and Pat Kastelnik now present their Eric Clapton Retrospective in various theatres throughout PA, including Easton's State Theatre,the Sellersville Theatre,House of Blues, Atlantic City,and the Mauch Chunk Opera House. The show, which traces the musical career of EC beginning with the Yardbirds onward, has been very well received, with sold-out crowds at several venues. For 2008, CTB has teamed up with Craig's former guitar student Eric Steckel and together they'll be performing several shows here in the US, including Springing the Blues in Jacksonville, FL., Sellersville Theatre in PA, Club Havana in New Hope, PA and Darwin's in Atlanta, GA. In June they'll be hitting some West Coast dates together and then in July, August and October they'll be performing in clubs and at festivals in Europe including Italy, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They'll also be performing together at Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA during August. Eric will be releasing a new album entitled Feels Like Home in March o8 and Craig is featured on the track, "Don't Look Back." Learn more about Eric by visiting his website EricSteckel.com Also since 2008, Craig has been performing with the beautiful and talented Simone, daughter of world renowned song stylist and pianist Nina Simone. Craig played guitar on Simone's international debut release, Simone on Simone, which features Simone's renditions of songs her mother had recorded and performed, as well as some of Simone's original music. Along with members of the Rob Stoneback Big Band, they've been performing together in NYC, (the Canal Room, Joe's Pub and the Blue Note) and Philadelphia (World Cafe Live) and have shows coming up in Chicago, Telluride, Tampa, Boston and many other urban centers. To hear Simone please visit her website SimonesWorld.com Along with Craig on guitar/vocals the Craig Thatcher Band also features longtime member Wayde Leonard,on bass/vocals and Don Plowman on drums.