MUSIC

A night of serious Blues and dance your butt off Boogie Woogie featuring Tommy Castro, Marcia Ball and Earl Thomas and the Blues Ambassadors. Ever since he first picked up a guitar and started making music, Tommy Castro believed. He believed he would not only be able to make a living playing music, but could develop his own signature sound and style. From his start playing in local Bay Area cover bands to joining the much-loved Dynatones to touring the world with his own band, Castro's belief in himself has been rewarded. Today he is famed not only for his hard-hitting, impassioned vocals and his blues-infused, rocking R&B sound, but also for his striking, original songwriting and exhilarating stage show. Castro navigates seriously funky Southern soul, gritty big city blues and scorching rock. His silvery guitar licks simultaneously sound familiar and fresh.

Four time Grammy Nominee and winner of eight Blues Music Awards, singer/pianist Marcia Ball knows how to raise roofs and tear down walls with her infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional brand of southern boogie, rollicking, roadhouse blues and heartfelt ballads. Over the course of her three-decade career, Ball has earned a huge and intensely loyal following all over the world. Her exquisite piano playing and passionate, playful vocals fuse New Orleans and Gulf Coast R&B with Austin's deep songwriting tradition into a sound described as"a little rock, a lot of roll, a pinch of rhythm and a handful of blues.

The story of Earl Thomas and The Blues Ambassadors begins at a historical crossroads when African rhythms merge with European folk music, where sorrow creates soul, rural meets urban, and the global becomes national. Interpreting a uniquely American music, this San Francisco-based band achieves its distinctive sound from international heritage of the blues, which is-for the first time-reflected in the multi-ethnic composition of the ensemble.