|
|
|
Michael Powers to perform free concert May 11
April 3, 2007
--HELENA-WEST HELENA -- Michael Powers, nominated for three 2007 Blues Music Awards, will perform a free concert on the Mississippi River levee in historic downtown Helena-West Helena on Friday, May 11, at the Delta Cultural Center's Cherry Street Pavilion.
The performance begins at 2 p.m.
Powers’ “Prodigal Son” is nominated for a Blues Music Award (long known as the Handy Awards) for Contemporary Blues Album of the Year; the title track is among contenders for Song of the Year; and Powers is a nominee for Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year. The Blues Foundation’s 28th Blues Music Awards will be held May 10 at Memphis’ Cook Convention Center, a day prior to Powers’ Cherry Street Pavilion concert.
“More than anyone else, anywhere,” Billboard Magazine has said, “Powers represents the future of the blues.”
Powers will kick off his visit to Helena-West Helena on May 11 with a 1 p.m. appearance on the “Delta Sounds” radio program on KFFA-AM. The show is broadcast from the Delta Cultural Center Visitor’s Center at 141 Cherry Street; the public is welcome to attend. The program is hosted by “Sunshine” Sonny Payne and DCC Assistant Director Terry Buckalew.
Though he has reached new audiences with “Prodigal Son” and his 2004 release, “Onyx Root,” Powers is no newcomer to the scene. His mother used trading stamps to buy her seven-year-old son a guitar after she witnessed him continually playing a broom along with television performances. He had his first band while in high school, and soon became guitarist and vocalist for the Ad Libs, who scored a cult hit with “Boy From New York City.” Powers and the Ad Libs toured the nation regularly, opening for the Everly Brothers, The Box Tops, Richie Havens, and others. In the 1970s, Powers’ new band, Moonbeam, played the New York circuit successfully during the era of CBGBs, the Ritz, the New York Dolls, and the Blues Brothers, and opened for more acts like James Brown, Bo Diddley, and the Ronnettes. After the band’s breakup, Powers continued to pursue his virtuosity as a guitarist and songwriter. Those talents would lead to performances and recordings with musical greats John Lee Hooker, Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, and Chuck Berry.
“Powers is a precise guitarist,” Blues Revue magazine noted in a review of “Onyx Root.” “He doesn’t squander notes and he sounds like no one else.”
For more information, interested persons can contact the Delta Cultural Center at (870) 338-4350 or (800) 358-0972.
The Delta Cultural Center shares the vision of all seven agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage – to preserve and promote Arkansas heritage as a source of pride and satisfaction. Other agencies within the department are the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Arts Council, and the Natural Heritage Commission.
Back to Press Room
Back to Top
|
|
