Celebrate Mardi Gras with Roy Rogers, the Delta Rhythm Kings

News release

GRASS VALLEY — The Center for the Arts welcomes Roy Rogers & the Delta Rhythm Kings to the Marisa Funk Theater for a Mardi Gras Dance Party Feb. 11.

Rogers is considered one of the world’s preeminent master Delta slide guitarists. With more than 20 recordings to his credit, Rogers has garnered eight Grammy nominations for producing as a recording artist and as a songwriter. His collaborations have earned major media accolades globally for producing critically acclaimed Grammy-nominated recordings for John Lee Hooker and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, as well as collaborations with Ray Manzarek (The Doors), Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, Allan Toussaint, Sammy Hagar & Bela Fleck and more. He is known worldwide for his searing performances that have been named a festival favorite at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, Montreux in Switzerland, Pistoia in Italy as well as many North American festivals in Canada and the United States, having performed worldwide for more than four decades.

Early on, Rogers discovered his love for the blues and slide guitar and for making music that’s “deep and funky.” At age 13 he was already performing in a rock ‘n’ roll band that wore gold lame jackets and playing Little Richard and Chuck Berry tunes. Thus began his love of the blues, slide guitar in particular, which had an immediate e ect on Rogers and through the years he developed a distinctive style of playing slide guitar that is instantly recognizable.

Rogers performed with various groups until 1976, when he and harmonica player David Burgin formed an acoustic duo and recorded an album entitled “Rogers And Burgin: A Foot In The Door” for Waterhouse Records. They also played on the “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” movie soundtrack before the duo ran its course. Rogers then formed his own band in 1980, the Delta Rhythm Kings. A series of solo albums were released such as “Chops Not Chaps,” “Sidewinder” and “Blues On The Range,” garnering critical acclaim and winning fans over. Rogers was asked to join John Lee Hooker’s Coast to Coast Blues Band and for the four years he toured with Hooker as a featured guitarist/ vocalist Rogers established a strong personal and

■ See ROGERS, page B8

Symphony Hall in San Francisco.

Manring has worked with a diverse collection of musicians from new age keyboardist Suzanne Ciani to avant-improv guitar innovator Henry Kaiser to celebrated folk troubadour John Gorka to experimental post-metal rockers Tim Alexander (Primus) and Alex Skolnick (Testament) to electropop pioneer Thomas Dolby. His long-term collaboration and close friendship with the late acoustic guitar genius Michael Hedges led to a lengthy stint as house bassist for Windham Hill Records. He has garnered three gold records, Grammy and Bammie nominations, a Berklee School of Music Distinguished Alumni Award, three Just Plain Folks Awards and numerous Bass Player Magazine Readers’ Poll awards including 1994 Bassist of the Year. He was also the subject of a PBS TV documentary, “The Artist’s Profile: Michael Manring” and a Youtube video of him playing his iconic solo piece “Selene” has well over 1.5 million views.

Opening the show will be The Perry Mills Project featuring Perry Mills (Objects in the Mirror) on guitar, Tommy Coster (Dr. Dre, Eminem) on keyboards, Mark McCartney (Achilles Wheel) on drums and Gerry Pineda (Eddie Harris) on bass. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad St. in Nevada City. For tickets and more information visit paulemerymusic. com.