Friday, March 2, 8 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
Performing what Acoustic Guitar magazine described as an “exhilarating all-acoustic swirl” of bluegrass, hip-hop, and gypsy jazz, the North Carolina-based Jon Stickley Trio plays Davenport's Redstone Room on March 2, sharing invigorating tunes that finds their inspiration in musicians as diverse as Green Day, Duran Duran, the Grateful Dead, and Nirvana.
Founded by singer/songwriter and guitarist Stickley, a native of Durham, North Carolina, the band's frontman performed in local bluegrass outfits for several years before fronting his own ensemble alongside Lyndsey Pruett and drummer Ryan Oslance, and released a self-titled EP for the Jon Stickley Trio in 2012. Percussion duties were eventually taken over by Patrick Armitage and, just last month, Hunter Deacon, but the genre-hopping variety in the Jon Stickley Trio's repertoire has remained the same – what Guitar Player magazine dubbed “a mixture of bluegrass, Chuck Berry, metal, prog, grunge, and assorted other genres all thoroughly integrated into a personal style.”
Since its debut, the trio's albums and EPs have included 2015's Crooked Road, 2016's Triangular, and last year's Make Believe, and the group's national touring schedule finds the musicians performing at more than 120 venues and festivals per year. Critical raves, meanwhile, have continues to amass. The New York Times wrote that the “hardy cohesion among the players” created a “sound both respectful and free,” while Premier Guitar magazine praised the trio's ability to move “from a serious ska beat to burning surf-style runs that would make Dick Dale proud.”
The Jon Stickley Trio's Redstone Room concert opens with a set by Frank F. Sidney's Western Bandit Volunteers, tickets to the 8 p.m. show are $10-12, and more information and reservations are available by calling (563)326-1333 or visiting RiverMusicExperience.org.
