Eddie Turner at Crawford Brew Works -- April 15.

Friday, April 15, 8 p.m.

Crawford Brew Works, 3659 Devils Glen Road, Bettendorf IA

With his most recent album Change in Me described by Rootstime as “an enticing journey of jazz, blues, and rock” resulting in a “melting pot of sounds,” blues-guitar legend Eddie Turner headlines an April 15 concert event at Bettendorf's Crawford Brew Works, with Blues Blast magazine saying that the artist “shines like a diamond” and Guitar Player magazine lauding Turner's “otherworldly, atmospheric guitar style.”

Born and raised in Chicago, the artist nicknamed "Devil Boy" is a former member of the Otis Taylor Band who began to play the guitar when he was 12. He attended the University of Colorado in the early 1970s, and while there played in the region's first punk/R&B band The Immortal Nightflames, which included Grammy Award nominee Tracy Nelson from Mother Earth. Subsequently, Turner joined the group Zephyr as a guitarist in the ‘70s, but after the death of the singer Candy Givens, he abandoned music for many years to work in real estate in Denver. In 1980, however, Turner agreed to join the Ron Miles electric band, and 15 years later, he joined Otis Taylor's ensemble, with whom he recorded five albums.

Performing with Taylor, Turner developed an enormous following as a touring performer through Europe and North America, with his exhilarating blend of psychedelic-rock and Delta-blues stylings later showcased on a trio of solo CDs: 2005's Rise (a Blues Music Award nominee for Best New Artist Debut), 2006's The Turner Diaries, and 2010's Miracles & Demons. While blues fans have greeted his many annual headlining and festival appearances with rapturous appreciation, their enthusiasm is matched in the raves that Turner has amassed from music critics. Blues Revue's Michael Cote wrote, "Eddie Turner's brand of blues evokes an otherworldly feel; a dreamscape of fire and passion, pleasure and pain." Barrel House Blues, meanwhile, called Miracles & Demons "an astonishing CD" with Turner playing "a lot like Jimi Hendrix once did, only with a more musical and controlled style,” and the recording earned its artist a Blues Blast Magazine Award nomination for Best Contemporary Album.

Since then, Turner's credits have included 2016's Naked in Your Face, a live album recorded at Calgary's Blues Can, and his latest offering Change in Me, which includes covers of songs by Lou Reed and Taj Mahal. The critically acclaimed release was praised by RootsTime for Turner's “expressive voice,” as well as by Jazz Weekly, who raved, “Turner mixes Jimi Hendrix-like guitar work with Staple Singers-styled soul on this rich blues-soaked release.”

Turner's Bettendorf appearance is sponsored through Crawford Brew Works' and the Mississippi Valley Blues Society's Brews ’n’ Blues Concert Series, a new part of the MVBS's fundraising efforts for its education-outreach program Blues in the Schools. During the Friday-night event, the Blues Society will have representatives on site to answer questions and take direct donations, while the venue will donate a portion of its sales during the series' performances.

Eddie Turner plays his Brews 'n' Blues Concert Series event on April 15 at 8 p.m., and more information on the evening is available by visiting CrawfordBrewWorks.com and MVBS.org.

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