The Ponte Vedra Concert Hall presents rousing, down-home feel-good blues musician Elvin Bishop and his Big Fun Trio live at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on Sunday, November 19, 2017. Tickets for Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio go on sale this Friday, August 25 at 10 a.m.
“Fabulous good-time romps…The pleasure is infectious.” –Blues & Rhythm
A lot has happened since guitar legend Elvin Bishop released his last album, 2014’s Grammy-nominated Can’t Even Do Wrong Right. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and soon after into the Blues Hall Of Fame. He won the Living Blues Award for Best Blues Album Of 2014 and three 2014 Blues Music Awards: Album of the Year, Song of the Year (for the title track) and The Elvin Bishop Band took the award for Band of the Year.
Now, Elvin—along with his friends, guitarist/pianist Bob Welsh and percussionist/vocalist Willy Jordan—launches The Big Fun Trio. Preparing for one of the first live gigs with his new trio, Bishop told The San Jose Mercury News, “Every time I pick up the guitar, something new comes out of it. I guess you’d call me a late bloomer. When you get to be my age, you’re not expecting to be progressing or coming up with any new ideas, but for some reason, I’m lucky enough that that’s what’s happening to me.” His new album—Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio—is among his very best musical ideas ever. The music is rootsy, spirited and soulful, performed by serious musicians hell-bent on having a good time. Prior to the group recording a single lick, A Prairie Home Companion brought them onto the program in November 2015.
Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio features Bishop’s down-home delivery, deep blues picking and slide guitar, playfully meshing with Welsh’s piano and guitar licks and Jordan’s soul singing and propulsive cajón playing. The album’s laidback, frontporch vibe mixes four rollicking Bishop originals with three co-writes and five raucous, well-chosen covers. And because one can never have too much fun, Bishop’s pals Kim Wilson, Charlie Musselwhite and Rick Estrin stop by the sessions, each adding his distinctive harmonica talent (and in Musselwhite’s case, vocals too) to a song. Listening to the proceedings, it’s easy to see why the Chicago Sun-Times enthusiastically declared, “It’s impossible not to like Bishop. He’s always singing something lowbrow and uplifting.” When it comes to the formation of The Big Fun Trio, it’s best to let Elvin tell the story himself: “In a trio, there’s no place to hide. You need to be totally into it all the time and you got to have the right guys. The combination of the three of us clicked big time. We went out and played a couple of gigs, and it was really cool to see how the people reacted to the goin’-for-it feel of the music.”
Now, with Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio, Bishop confidently debuts his new—yet satisfyingly familiar—sound, ready to share the group’s happy-go-lucky vibe with listeners near and far. The trio’s instrumental, vocal and songwriting talents guarantee a boisterous good time. Living Blues says the music is “rousing, swaggering and rollicking.” In other words: Big Fun.
Tickets for Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio will go on sale this Friday, August 25 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available for purchase at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall and St. Augustine Amphitheatre Box Offices, ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster outlets and by phone at (800) 745-3000.
SHOW: Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio DATE: Sunday, November 19, 2017 TIME: Doors 7:00p.m. / Show 8:00p.m. TICKET PRICE: $66.50 – Rows A thru K $56.50 – Rows G thru Q $46.50 – All Remaining Rows WEBSITES: www.elvinbishopmusic.com; www.pvconcerthall.com
