Tag: blues

New Year’s Eve EVE Party
w/The Downtown Livewires!
December 30, 2016 – 7:00PM to Midnight
(Party Begins at 7:00, Live Music Begins at 8:00)

The Downtown Livewires, based in one of the fastest growing regions in the nation, Northwest Arkansas (Bentonville/Fayetteville), play high energy Electric Blues/Rock, Memphis blues, and legacy blues. Audiences of their shows love to dance and sing along, no matter the venue, whether it be clubs, festivals, private parties, concerts, or city events. Now, they’re coming to The Lyric to provide music for our five-hour-long New Year’s Eve EVE Party! Come at 7 to grab some drinks and food, find a seat with your friends, and be ready for the show to begin at 8!

Down home Memphis blues in Northwest Arkansas? You bet—Just call THE DOWNTOWN LIVEWIRES! I’ve mixed countless bands over the years and these guys lay it down right. Always a pleasure to work with, too!

~ Evan Chronister, SCB Audio Productions

The band’s first gig was on Halloween 2011. They have played at many venues since, including a two-night weekend gig at Club 152 on world famous Beale Street in Memphis, multiple Oklahoma casinos, special events including The Grape Festival as the “warm-up” band for Country Platinum recording artist Collin Raye, and for The Reverend Horton Heat concert in Downtown Bentonville, AR in Oct 2015.

Their first CD, “Cruisin’ for a Bluesin,”came out August 2nd, 2013 with a Release Party (with 2 hours of live music from the band) at George’s Majestic Lounge on Dickson St in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Their new CD “I’ll Do It Today, But Not Right Now” came out in January, 2016.

The Downtown Livewires are exactly that! LIVEWIRES! It’s like hiring a party in a box; They come with enthusiasm, talent, energy and always bring a happy crowd! The Downtown Livewires is a group of dedicated, knowledgeable, well- rehearsed and hardworking professional musicians who come to play their hearts out and raise the roof every time…

~ Andy Green, Director of Productions, Downtown Bentonville, Inc.

• The leader of the band is Roger Thomas from Bentonville, Arkansas.  Roger was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee (South-Central, Oakhaven neighborhood) until he was 30 (with some time in Harrison, Arkansas, during high school), playing professionally there through his 20’s.  Roger is known for talking and picking out people in the audiences with whom to have on-stage conversations, sometimes jumping off the stage and playing, dancing and singing within the crowd. He also invites guests to sing songs on-stage, and maybe even play tambourine.
• Bob “Super Harp” Coleman is out of New Haven, Connecticut, and is a world-class harmonica player who also sings some of the lead vocals. Bob has played with blues legends all over the country throughout his illustrious career.
• Dan Doebele from Kansas City, Missouri is an absolute beast on lead electric guitar, is known by all other professional musicians to be one of the elite guitarists in the region, and plays slide with anything handy!
• Kurt “Where’s Kurt?” Haas is on keyboards and vocals from Lone Star, Texas, and is known for his stellar new arrangements of old blues songs.
• The rhythm section of Mark Vanderhoof on drums and Jan Sallings on bass is one of the most tenured blues rhythm sections in the country, and audience members often find themselves fixated on their musicianship and killer beats and fretboard runs.

The Downtown Livewires put on a show that is out of this world, absolutely engaging, full of fun and great party music, in which audiences keep calling them back for more!

I am never surprised when Roger Thomas and The Downtown Livewires Band brings the largest crowd of the summer to our City of Bentonville’s Orchard Concert Series. They bring their own crowd, and they have a great following. Over the last two years, they have proven to be professional, and one of the best sounds of any band we hire. We will continue to hire them for events in our city.

~ David Wright, Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Bentonville

 

 

Need more recommendations? See Roger’s personal Facebook page where he not only has 4,200+ “Likes,” but segments them by town/city based on where the band plays for events. The Downtown Livewires have fans from all over—and a lot of them travel to every show within a few hours’ drive…so don’t sleep on this, thinking that you’ll always be able to get tickets! This will  be a sold out show!

Go ahead and “Like” and “Share” the band’s Facebook page, too; share the good times with your friends!

This is a great video of the band performing in the studio when they were recording their first single, “Just Say It Once”, released August 2nd, 2013: