Photos: Amythyst Kiah, Carolyn Wonderland
Date: Saturday, March 30, 2024
Event: Mainstage Blues
Venue: Logan Center for the Arts
Address: 915 E. 60th St.
City: Chicago, IL
Phone: 773-702-2787
Showtime: 7:30 pm
Ticket price: $30 general / $10 students, seniors (60+) and children 12 and under
Website: www.logancenter.uchicago.edu
Amythyst Kiah and Carolyn Wonderland - Contemporary Voices in The Blues This performance brings to the Logan Center stage two powerhouse leading voices in the Contemporary Blues scene. Singer-songwriters and multi-instrumental musicians Amythyst Kiah and Carolyn Wonderland immerse themselves in traditional blues and roots music while imbuing a fresh perspective in the music of their ancestors. See them together on one stage for the first time!
Amythyst Kiah
Tennessee native Amythyst Kiah has been hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of Americana’s great up-and-coming secrets.” This Grammy nominated singer-songwriter is an amalgam of the deepest roots of American Music and the freshest sounds of her own time. A multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo) and powerful vocalist Amythyst fluently moves through the intersections of American music making it clear that she is, among many other things, Blues progeny.
Carolyn Wonderland
Carolyn, a Houston Texas native is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin, trumpet and piano) singer-songwriter who started her career in the highly competitive Blues scene of Austin, Texas. In 2008 she released her breakthrough album Miss Understood. As a recent Alligator Records recording artist, Carolyn has been on the top of the Blues, Americana, and Alt Country charts, gathering critical acclaim for her Dave Alvin produced Tempting Fate album, released October 2021.
Tempting Fate is the next chapter in Wonderland’s remarkable career, one that is already overflowing with countless, colorful, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. She spent the last three years as lead guitarist in blues legend John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, and has now joined the Alligator Records family as the first female guitar hero in the label’s storied 50-year history. But that's not all. Her spine-chilling, soul-deep singing matches her guitar prowess note for note. And she has a knack for writing songs that sound like instant classics.
Tempting Fate finds Wonderland delivering ten riveting songs, including five fiery originals and one co-write. Her vocals range from raw and fierce to subtle and gentle. Her guitar work, on both six-string and lap steel, is often explosive and always melodic. According to Dave Alvin, “Carolyn is unique, strong, soulful and sincere. She can pick and belt out the blues with the best of them, but her powerful, melodic vocals and six-string stylings are truly her own. Traditional yet innovative, tough yet tender, Carolyn always sounds like no one else but herself.”
Wonderland has been performing professionally since the age of 15. Her music is a bold mix of timeless original songs and reinventions of some of her favorites, ranging from blistering electric blues to deep, heartfelt ballads to cosmic country to soulful Tex-Mex. Every song is fueled by Wonderland’s forceful yet melodic Texas-flavored guitar work and her full-throated, heart-on-her-sleeve vocals.
She has been a road warrior for over 20 years, and has played all over the U.S. and in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Panama, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, the Canary Islands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Japan. She concluded a three-year stint as the lead guitarist in British blues master John Mayall’s iconic Blues Breakers. In addition to his legendary musical skills, Mayall is among the world's greatest blues-rock guitar talent scouts. He personally chose Carolyn for the role formerly filled by Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Peter Green, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, and more six-string luminaries.
The Boston Herald describes Carolyn as “a dollop of Janis Joplin, a slice of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and a big load of soulful individuality.
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