Erin and the Wildfire, The Jill Warren Band, Mary-eL, Cathy Ponton King
Gypsy Sally's
08/07/2015 08:30 PM EDT
$10 Advance Tickets/$14 Day of Show Tickets
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Erin and the Wildfire
Rock, blues, folk, and soul had a baby and they named it Erin. She collected three of her most talented friends in 2012 and dubbed them The Wildfire, in reference to the fiery quality of their groove. Erin & The Wildfire is comprised of Erin Lunsford (vocals, acoustic guitar), Ryan Lipps (guitar), Matt Wood (bass), and Nick Quillen (drums). Erin is an award winning vocalist (1st place Winner of Charlottesville’s Paramount Idol 2013) and an award winning songwriter (1st place Winner in the 11th Annual Rapunzel’s Songwriting Contest) with the song “Best I’ve Ever Been.”
Erin & The Wildfire has been described as a “local treasure” and their presence continues to grow throughout Central Virginia. The band met at the University of Virginia and have been making their mark on the Charlottesville music scene ever since. Erin & The Wildfire recently released their debut self-titled EP, which features poignant lyrics, dynamic energy, and sultry melodies. The EP track, “Best I’ve Ever Been” was also chosen as one of the best new songs of 2013 by WNRN Radio’s LocalMotive broadcast. The combination of Lunsford’s soulful and striking vocals with the Wildfire’s feverish intensity will start a flame in the heart of any listener.
The Jill Warren Band
After years of classical training Jill Warren joined the College Park, MD music scene in 2008, surrounding herself with talented musicians and experimenting in a variety of original projects. After writing two albums with the heavy-hitting progressive rock band VASUDEVA, Jill began arranging her own music to complement her expansive vocal range while crafting her own brand of storytelling through relatable lyrics and timeless melodies. Idolizing Eva Cassidy and Joni Mitchell as musical heroes, Jill strives to cross genres and continues to expand her following with her raw, distinctive live performances.
Enjoying a residency at Madam’s Organ Blues Bar and a local following, Jill was invited to perform at the Kennedy Center in the March of 2014. She carried this momentum into the studio to record her first full length album, Tell Me Something, released on October 14, 2014. The successful studio collaborations led to the formation of the Jill Warren Band, a six piece powerhouse group featuring a talented string section and the lead guitar of longtime musical partner Greg Nigel. Jill is an enthusiastic and driven bandleader, excited to embark on the next phase in her musical career and to take her act outside of the D.C. area.
Mary-eL
Once described as "DC's best kept secret", Mary-eL captivates audiences with explosive stage presence, smooth vocal timbre, witty banter, and soul-grasping lyrics. The following videos are simply a snippet of the actual talent and raw vibe she embodies. Sit back, open your ears, and enjoy the show!
Cathy Ponton King
Cathy Ponton King plays Telecaster guitar, BLUES, ORIGINAL MUSIC, jazzy blues, 'Nawlin's music and SWING, Rock 'n Roll/rhythm and blues and sweet ballads. She was born in Washington DC and attended the University of Md. and earned her degree in Journalism, and subsequently worked at ABC news after college, before making the decision to put journalism on the back burner as the call to sing, write and perform music was overwhelming.
Over the years she has played at many events, clubs, outdoor concerts, great blues festivals, (such as Springing the Blues in Jacksonville Florida for 20,000 attendees, and the BlueBird Festival in Largo Maryland with such greats as Little Milton and the Holmes Brothers) -and the band plays all kinds of venues: festivals and clubs, receptions, corporate events, parties, city festivals, and many outdoor summer shows at theatres.
While a student at University of Maryland Cathy met Muddy Waters several times at his concerts backstage and Cathy learned to love his style of playing guitar and passionate vocals. Her friends the Nighthawks brought her backstage for many shows and she always enjoyed his warmth and friendliness and the way he performed so commandingly on stage with deep deep blues.
Later she got the chance to open for Albert King's band at the Wax Museum in Washington, once a large concert venue, and he called her on stage to sing with his band. She also opened for blues greats Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Earl King, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, Son Seals, Paul Butterfield, Roomful of Blues(with Ronnie Earl on guitar),Marcia Ball, Sonny Landreth, the late Clarence Gatemouth Brown, and Buddy Guy. At the time Cathy was launching her own music career, many of these giants of blues were older and most of them have passed on now. Her education and learning in the style and family feeling and affection with these musicians, has left her with indelible memories and love for the musicians and their music and the sacrifices they made for the music, and she got to meet and socialize and learn and get to know this passing generation at a time when their
careers were ending, and hers was just beginning. Fortuitous timing.
Cathy performed a set at the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival , which was headlined by Mavis Staples and the Steve Cropper band. Her band has played the Kennedy Center "Open House" festival, the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage Series , she's played the Wolf Trap jazz and blues festival with Keb' Mo', and Richard Thompson Band; she's done concerts at Carter Barron Amphitheater, played the Cape Charles Blues Festival with Bobby Blue Bland and Bo Diddley, performed at ARTSCAPE Baltimore in fall 2001 -billed along with Ray Charles and Etta James; played the Merriweather Post Pavilion Wine Festival, the Tinner Hill Festival in Falls Church , Va., and many concerts with the late great guitarist Bobby Parker, whose last concert was with Cathy at Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club before his untimely death in October of 2013.
Cathy has three CDs of original blues, swing, rockabilly and beautiful ballads.
World renowned Blues guitarist Jimmy Thackery played guitar on her first, "LOVIN' YOU RIGHT", and he returned again on her latest, "THE CRUX" which also features the great Ronnie Earl on lead guitar, as well as the late great legendary bassist Butch Warren (who played bass with Miles Davis,Herbie Hancock, and Thelonious Monk) as a guest bassist on two of Cathy's original compositions. Her CDs are played from coast to coast on various radio stations such as WWOZ in New Orleans, WRFG in Atlanta, WMNF Tampa, and of course her hometown blues and jazz station WPFW in Washington DC. Many blues DJs around the world feature Cathy's music such as "Drivin' Home with the Blues" in Cairns, (northeast coast) of Australia with Irene Barrett, ROOTS General De Wittestraat 1, a blues program in Belgium-and 'Blues and Friends' www.baarnfm.nl, With BERTWIN, in the Netherlands, and Italy's Simon Bargelli - www.radiorcc.com
On each of her CDs, Cathy has written the songs along with her songwriter producer husband Jeff King. A new EP was released in 2013, which is also all original songs with Cathy harmonizing with four Washington DC blues women singers, on "THAT'S WHEN A WOMAN CALLS THE BLUES BY NAME", and a DUET with the great legendary singer Joe Triplett , on "FAMOUS LAST WORDS".
Cathy and her husband Jeff live in Vienna Virginia and continue to write and record and her band is in demand for all kinds of music festivals and events for the soulful and high energy show. Cathy's set features a mix of her love of traditional blues, mixed with her swing, and ballads and rock and roll upbeat songs which brings the dancers to their feet.
Review from Spanish Bluesman, musician and DJ Vincente Zumel, of "THE CRUX": 2013 Review
MUY BUENO. Third album in the career of this wonderful singer and guitarist called Cathy Ponton King, this time, with the valuable collaboration of guitar players Ronnie Earl and Jimmy Thackery, to round up a delicious work based on blues and ballads. You will also find the good work of jazz and fusion bass player Butch Warren, an effective hard musician, who gives strength and a fine texture to the songs "Sweet Change To My Heart" and "Little House In The Country". All the selected material has been written by Cathy herself, who has been involved for more than twenty years in the music business. As she has not done so much work in studio till now, this new album is even more welcomed. "The Crux" also includes some great musicians, like saxo player Ron Holloway, a genuine versattile musician, whose fruitful career places him as one of the best actual saxo players. Less well known Bill Starks on piano and Antoine Sanfuentes on drums, show a good virtouso technique at their instruments too. In short words, this is a good album that will drive you along the long and winding roads of blues, with very pleasant feelings. VERY GOOD.---"La Hora del Blues" Radio Show from Barcelona (Spain)
REVIEW OF "THE CRUX" - TONY DEL REY, Boston Blues Society :The quick-tempo, boogie-woogie hum of "I'm Just A Woman" has a wired feel, while the laid-back groove of "Bridges That You Burned" finds its charged brilliance in Ron Holloway's saxophone clarion call. Even a relaxed chug-along like King's elementary "Blues Companion," can't help but build to a propulsive swing as it heads to the fade.
Serving as the album's fulcrum, however, are its ballads. The trio of gems that King bequeaths to her listeners is unabashedly ripe with feeling. "Cerulean Blues," "Tattoo On My Heart," and "Sweet Change To My Heart," all bear the scars of King's anguish, the suffering blood that flows within those who have found love, only to lose it.
Nowhere does emotion run deeper than on "Tattoo," where King's gorgeous leap to falsetto at the song's refrain, "It's four o'clock in the morning," carries with it all the despair that one heart can stand. Who hasn't been there?
Clearly, The Crux deserves to be applauded as much for its emotional resonance as its stellar musicianship. The effort King has put forth stands on its own merit as a living, breathing entity. The only "crux" involved in the matter is the concept of a blues album built on pure expression of feeling rather than a fusillade of fast wrist-work. And that's something to cluck over. -2012 Review of CD "THE CRUX"
BLUES MUSIC magazine: Sept. 2013
1st edition, www.bluesmusicmagazine.com
CATHY PONTON KING -The CRUX Long Gone Records
Cathy Ponton King, a female vocalist and guitarist and 20 -year veteran of the blues and bar scene in and around Washington DC, and Baltimore, has teamed with long time musician friends to create a fresh slate of compositions that affectionately embrace the blues and balladry.
"SUGARFACE", the earthy punch initial track on THE CRUX, hgas a nice melody, solid instrumental parts, guitar, horns, rhythm section. Contrast that with the graceful "Cerulean Blues", which possesses a
literary quality and imagery not often achieved by those who strive for it.
THE CRUX's ambitious tableau deserves a complimentary frame, that's what King has wisely constructed for us here. Ronnie Earl plays guitar for her on several tracks, and Jimmy Thackery(a friend since grade school), mans the frets for most of the others. Dan Hovey and Dave Chappell -- celebrated in this region, if not beyond, offer their guitar artistry to the effort as well. Saxman extraordinare Ron Holloway, who's worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Root Boy Slim, elevates the discourse just that much more.
A nice little Cajun-style two step, called "I Want You to Be Happy", finds Tom Corradino stitching the song together with his piano accordian. Supplying the Bottom are two of the finest bassists available in this or any region, John Previti ( who worked with the departed "Master of the Telecaster", Danny Gatton, and the late songstress Eva Cassidy). Then there's the renowned bassist Butch Warren. He's recorded with jazz piano colossi Tommy Flanagan, Herbie Hancock, and Joe Henderson; trumpeters Donald Byred and the mystic Miles Davis, and the reedman Dexter Gordon Jackie McLean, Stanley Turrentine and Joe Henderson. Name Dropping? Well yes. But these names are of a heft that, when dropped, like E.F. Hutton,
the musical conversation stops.
I do have one slight grouse, not of King's doing. Too often she's been portrayed as another Bonnie Raitt (presumably because she sings and also plays a guitar. DUH). That's not an apt comparison. Her voice lacks Raitt's range and sonority (which can be said
of many a vocalist). King knows her comfort zone, however, and she stays within it; her sensibilities and presentation achieve a bluesy style worthy of a larger footprint than she already enjoys. She (along with husband Jeff King), writes sophisticated blues music, she delivers it honestly , proudly, and
gracefully. -- written by M. E. Travaglini
Venue Information
Gypsy Sally's
3401 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20007
http://www.gypsysallys.com/