The Jimmys and the Avey Grouws Band at the Davenport RiverCenter -- October 12.
Saturday, October 12, 8 p.m.
Davenport RiverCenter, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
A thrilling night of high-energy blues is guaranteed at the Davenport RiverCenter on October 12 when the venue hosts a shared headlining event with two masterful blues outfits: the Madison, Wisconsin-based touring artists of The Jimmys, and the homegrown talents of the Avey Grouws Band.
With the group's lineup including Chris Sandoval on drums, John Wartenweiler on bass, Perry Weber on guitar, Pete Ross on saxophone, Mike Boman on trumpet, and Joe Goltz on trombone, The Jimmys are led by Hammond Organ Artist Jimmy Voegeli, who received MAMAs (Madison Area Music Award) for Keyboardist of the Year in 2010, 2012, and 2015, as well as WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) Awards for Keyboardist of the Year in 2011 and 2015. Prior to forming The Jimmys, Voegeli played with the Westside Andy and Mel Ford Band (voted Best Blues Band in Wisconsin and Best Band in Madison numerous times) for 18 years, the group receiving a Grammy Award nomination for Contemporary Blues Album in 2003. That same year, Voegeli traveled to Europe with The Crashers in support of their album Love School, touring alongside Dan Baird and Homemade Sin. Over the years, the keyboardist has also been on stage with such greats as Pinetop Perkins, Rusty Zinn, Guitar Shorty, Joe Bonamassa, Perry Weber, Rev Raven, Billy Flynn, Tab Benoit, James Solberg, Shirley King, EC Scott, Clyde Stubblefield, Ben Sidran, Ken Saydak, and Dave Specter.
Since The Jimmys' 2011 album debut with Gimme the Jimmys, the band has released a quartet of additional recordings – 2013's Hadaya Do That ThingL Live, 2015's Hot Dish, 2016's Live from Transylvania at Sighisoara Blues Festival, and 2019's Gotta Have It – and have consistently been beneficiaries of rave notices. In a four-star review of Hot Dish, Downbeat magazine wrote, "Wisconsin’s seven-piece club band, helmed by deft singer/keyboardist Jimmy Voegeli, makes a good case for international notice behind the rousing entertainment of their third record since forming in 2008. They run the stylistic gamut – jump blues, shuffles, boogies, golden-era R&B, even New Orleans traditional jazz – using an honest, crisp expressionism that pegs them as eclectics of a particularly interesting sort." And recording artist Tinsley Ellis effused of the album, "The Jimmys have mined pure R&B gold with Hot Dish. From the opening hit of the Ray Charles influenced 'Lose That Woman' to the sultry swagger of 'Freight Train, Hot Dish is a winner from top to bottom. Try to not dance when listening to 'Funk Schway.' It simply can't be done!"
Composed of vocalist/songwriter Jeni Grouws, guitarist/songwriter Chris Avey, drummer Bryan West, bassist Randy Leasman, and keyboardist Nick Vasquez, the future members of the Avey Grouws Band met in 2015 at Bettendorf blues bar The Muddy Waters. Then working as a morning-radio personality, Grouws was in town on business, and dropped by the venue to hear a blues jam led by West, Avey, and Chris’ brother Mark Avey. Grouws, trained early in piano, trumpet, and vocals, and Chris Avey, a self-taught guitarist, subsequently performed for a year as a duo, and in 2017, West and Leasman joined the pair to form the Avey Grouws Band, with Vasquez joining the lineup in 2019.
The group's first album The Devil May Care was a significant critical hit in 2020, with Blues Blast magazine deeming it "an enjoyable and accomplished debut" and Rock and Blues Muse insisting, "Avey Grouws Band rocks it." The album hit number 10 on Billboard's Blues Album Chart, number 24 for 2020 on the Roots Music Report's Top Contemporary Blues Album Chart, and went on to be nominated for four 2021 Independent Blues Awards including Best New Artist and Best New Artist Album. The Devil May Care's single “Rise Up,” meanwhile, was named top song of 2020 in the Ben Vee Roadhouse 66 top songs of 2020, while “Come and Get This Love" won top honors in the Unsigned Only Songwriting Competition.
Hot on the heels of that Billboard-charting album, the Avey Grouws Band unveiled their sophomore release Tell Tale Heart in 2021. Recorded in Nashville, the album boasts Grammy Award-winning engineer/producer Casey Wasner at the helm and features 10 original songs that were composed during the 2020 pandemic, many of them direct responses to the international health crisis and political and social turmoil that engulfed the year. As Grouws has said, "Maybe the most important thing to understand about our band is that we are the mix of all of our Middle America backgrounds and experiences. That includes blues, folk, Americana, rock. We take what we have learned from those masters and make the music that feels the most authentic to us. This album is the best work we have ever done.”
The Jimmys and the Avey Grouws Band perform their co-headlining engagement at the Davenport RiverCenter on October 12, admission to the 8 p.m. concert event is $20, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting DavenportLive.com/the-rivercenter.
