Harvest Confirms Gregg Allman and Jonny Lang at 2010 Festival
March 31, 2010
The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival confirmed what may be New Brunswick’s worst-kept music secret today. The 20th edition of the Festival will feature Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer Gregg Allman, and Grammy-winning guitar phenom Jonny Lang.
Rumours and unconfirmed media reports have been teasing the Capital for weeks that the two would headline the September 14th to 19th Festival, Atlantic Canada’s largest celebration of jazz and blues. However, those rumours have only been partially accurate, as Allman is playing not one, but two shows during the Festival.
The Festival will announce more headliners in the coming weeks, leading up to its first-ever Online Early Bird Ticket and Pass Sale at 9am on May 15th. The Festival will put approximately 50% of its passes and tickets on sale online only during the Early Bird event. Purchases can be made at www.harvestjazzandblues.com, www.ticketpro.ca. If you do not have internet access, you may call the Ticketpro call centre at 1-888-311-9090.
“Gregg Allman and Jonny Lang are only the tip of the musical iceberg, in terms of the talent we have slated for this year’s Festival,” says Harvest’s music director, Brent Staeben. “The twentieth anniversary is a huge milestone, and something we want to celebrate right. The line-up we have in store reflects that spirit of celebration.”
For over 40 years, Gregg Allman has fronted the Georgia-based Allman Brothers Band, shaping their unique sound by infusing southern rock with blues, country and a touch of jazz. With his powerful and soulful vocals and distinctive song writing, including classics like “Whipping Post”, “Melissa” and “Midnight Rider”, Gregg expanded the boundaries of rock and roll.
With the Allman Brothers Band, Gregg has racked up eleven Gold and five Platinum albums between 1971 and 2005, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, won a Grammy in 1996, and has been nominated for two more since. Gregg was also named one of the 100 Best Singers of All-Time by Rolling Stone Magazine.
Allman will play two nights in the Budweiser Blues Tent, both to kick off the blues part of the Festival on Wednesday night and again on Thursday.
“Gregg Allman has always been high on the Harvest wish list, for the organization and patrons alike. Bringing him to the Festival has been a natural progression,” says Staeben. “Our Allman Brothers Band connection started with Warren Haynes playing with Gov’t Mule back in ‘07, then we had Derek Trucks the following year, and Derek’s wife Susan Tedeschi last year. It only seemed right to bring Allman himself for our twentieth.”
Originally from Fargo, North Dakota, Jonny Lang was only 12 years old when he started playing guitar, under the mentorship of Ted Larson of the Bad Medicine Blues Band. Larson recognized his incredible natural talent, and after only a few months of lessons, Jonny joined the band under the new name Kid Jonny Lang and the Big Bang. The band moved to Minnesota when Jonny was only fourteen, and by 1997, at the age of sixteen, he released the critically-acclaimed album Lie to Me, which went multi-platinum. A year later, he was nominated for his first Grammy for the album Wander The World.
A huge festival headliner across North America each summer himself, Lang has shared the stage with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Blues Traveler, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton, who personally invited him to be part of the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2004, and once again this summer. Not yet thirty years old, Jonny continues to gain momentum as his recent soul and gospel-inspired album Turn Around, earned him his first Grammy win.
Jonny Lang will hit the Budweiser Blues Tent stage on Saturday night of the Festival.
All tickets and passes will go on sale at the Harvest store, online, or by phone on Saturday, July 17th.
