Omaha, Neb. – April 12, 2022

After a two-year hiatus, the Playing with Fire concert series (like everyone else) is ready to cut loose and celebrate summer with live music! Whether your reaction is to sway, tap your toes, or dance it out like no one’s watching, we’ve got the bands for you!

 Organizers Jeff Davis and Vanessa Marie of Omaha’s longtime Playing with Fire summer concert series announce the return of FREE live outdoor performances. All family-friendly shows are open to the public and scheduled for the weekends of July 15–16 and Aug. 12–13 at Turner Park in Midtown Crossing.

 Davis and Marie also announce the re-launch of Music for the City, free concerts that take place at Omaha’s Miller Landing on May 21, June 11, July 23, and Aug. 20.

Blues and its incendiary offspring, rock, funk, R&B, soul, jazz, and roots will all be showcased at the free shows that highlight renowned national and international acts, as well as local and regional acts. 

Acclaimed bands featured in this summer’s free shows range from multiple nominees and award winners of Blues Music Awards, Maple Blues Awards, and Juno Awards (Canada’s equivalent of a Grammy.) Also featured are Dutch sensations Twelve Bar Blues Band, winner of the Dutch Blues Foundation Award for Best Blues band, and Ireland’s Dom Martin, whom Davis describes as “the number one acoustic guitar player from Europe.” These renowned acts from around the world will converge on Omaha, some appearing for the first time in the U.S.

“It’s a comeback year,” Marie said. “The excitement of being able to get out, listen to the incredible music from around the world, bring people together. It’s what we do — we build community through the power of music.” 

Playing with Fire schedule

Fri., July 15

• Ghost Town Blues Band – Tennessee: “Not your grandpa’s blues band,” GTBB, just won the 2021 Maple Blues Award’s B.B. King Entertainer of the Year. The band’s latest release Shine debuted at #1 on the 2019 Billboard Blues Chart. Too many recent awards to list here!
• Twelve Bar Blues Band – Amsterdam: “The Blues, the whole Blues and nothing but the Blues!” Playing mostly originals in traditional Chicago and New Orleans styles, Twelve Bar Blues Band has garnered fans from all over the world.
• The Rex Granite Band featuring Sarah Benck – Omaha: A 2020 finalist in the International Blues Challenge, the band was nominated for the third time in the 2020 OEA award for Best Blues, after being nominated in 2018 and winning that award in 2017.

Sat., July 16*

• Mike Zito & the Big Band – Missouri: With 18 albums to his name, as a former member of the US supergroup Royal Southern Brotherhood and multiple Blues Music Award nominations and wins, for 2022, his is nominated for a BMA Blues Rock Album for his 2021 release, Resurrection.
• Twelve Bar Blues Band – (See Friday, July 15th bio.)
• Levi Platero Band - Navajo nation: Take Me Back, won the 2016 New Mexico Music Awards for Best Blues, and he was also nominated for an Indigenous Music Award for Best Rock album, with Perspective. Levi mixes a spectrum of Texas Blues, vintage rock, to modern guitar heroes.

Fri., Aug. 12

• Markus James and the Wassonrai – California: Psychedelic blues-infused by West African traditional sounds performed by playing traditional African instruments – need we say more?
• JP Soars Gypsy Blues Revue with special guest, Anne Harris – Florida: Nominated in 2021 in the Contemporary Blues Male Artist category for a Blues Music Award (BMA), and now in 2022 as B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, and J.P. Soars and the Red Hots for Band of the Year, Soars is truly soaring.  
• Anne Harris  – Chicago: “She inhabits the music, or maybe the music inhabits her, but it is impossible not to be drawn under her spell.” Anne Harris not only presents a superb musical experience; her performances are also visually mesmerizing.
• Altered Five – Milwaukee: Their sixth studio album, Holler If You Hear Me, debuted at #3 on the Billboard Blues Chart and received three 2022 Blues Music Award nominations, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year, among previous chart placing achievements and accolades. 

Sat., Aug. 13*

• Catfish - U.K.: Nominated in five categories for the 2021 UK Blues Awards and winning the Best Instrumentalist for guitarist Matt Long, the same event in 2020 chose them as Band of the Year and again crowned Long Blues Instrumentalist adding to those previously earned in 2016 & 2018. 
• When Rivers Meet - U.K. (See Aug. 20th bio)
• Harris/James - California; Chicago: Harris James' sound is a kaleidoscope of deep grooves, atmospheric instrumental passages, harmonies, and poetic flashes in a musical terrain that ranges from acoustic old-time to amped-up Hill Country to electrified trance blues-rock.

Music for the City schedule

Sat., May 21*

• Dom Martin Band – Ireland: Blues in Britain calls Dom Martin, "A rare talent of SUCH sheer genius" and Cerys Matthews of BBC Radio 2 boasts of his music, “Absolutely wonderful stuff"
• Terry Quiett Band – Kansas: Midwest Records says of TQB, "Kicking things off with the kind of choogling boogie blues that electrifies your hair endings and fries your synapses, Quiett is now leading the blues power trio to beat.”
• Opener for this show announced at later date. 

Sat., June 11*

• JW Jones – Canada: This blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter is a 2015 Juno Award nominee, a Billboard magazine Top 10 Selling artist, a winner of the International Blues Challenge for Best Guitarist in 2020, and IBC winner of Best Self-Produced CD Award in 2017.
• Lucas Haneman Express – Canada:  Best New Act at the 2018 Maple Blues Awards, the Lucas Haneman Express is a soulful, fun-filled, and electrifying musical ride! 
• Jeremy Mercy Band – Omaha: Mercy’s raw and honest songwriting are often elevated to cinematic and transcendent levels.

Sat., July 23*

• MonkeyJunk – Canada: 23 Maple Blues Awards, 2 Indy Awards, 1 USA Blues Music Award, and 2 Juno Awards, the band is also a 2022 Maple Blues Awards nominee in the Electric Act of the Year category.
• Paul Reddick – Canada: His latest album, Alive in Italia serves as a reflective retrospective of his long, storied, boundary-breaking songwriting career, which spans 10 previous albums — including the 2016 Juno Award-winning Best Blues Album Ride The One.
• David Gogo – Canada: The “King of Boogie” has six JUNO Award nominations, has been named Guitarist of The Year three times at the Maple Blues Awards, and is currently nominated for two Maple Blues awards in 2022.

Sat., Aug. 11*

• Nikki Hill Band - N.C.: PopMatters explains, “When you have a powerful Southern soul singer with a penchant for AC/DC…you’re going to get something badass--talent not to be ignored.”
• When Rivers Meet - U.K. The first band to win 4 UK Blues Awards in the same year in 2021 and were Voted Best New Band 2021 by Planet Rock listeners. WRM’s unique harmonic vocal-led approach to songwriting, dirty electric guitar, slide resonator mandolin, and fiddle create a uniquely distinctive, and contemporary blues-rock sound that echoes 1970s classic rock with hints of the 1930s blues that inspire them.: 
• Vander-Wells  (Duo)– Omaha: Genre-bending brothers Brady Wells and Andre Vander Velde seamlessly weaves in and out of various styles from soul and rock to pop and folk, while keeping you entertained every step of the way. 

  *Six of eight shows will feature performances by Playing with Fire’s charitable partner,  BluesEd Youth Program, an Omaha-based, non-profit youth talent development program sponsored by Blues Society of Omaha with a mission of “keeping the blues alive.” 

Turner Park, home to Playing with Fire, is located at 3110 Farnam St. in Omaha’s Midtown Crossing development. Music for the City will take place on the Dam Stage at Miller’s Landing, 151 Freedom Park Rd., along the Missouri River.

Partners, sponsors, and donors of Playing with Fire and Music for the City include Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Douglas County, United for Business, Kutak Rock, Boone Jaguar Companies Accountants & Consultants, The Dispatch, Element by Westin, BluesEd, Midtown Crossing, KIOS 91.5 Omaha Public Radio, a cup of content and Blues Society of Omaha.

 For more information about Playing with Fire and Music for the City, visit www.playingwithfireomaha.net.

###

About Playing with Fire

Playing with Fire (PwF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a vision to support Omaha’s national reputation as a ‘music city,’ build community through the power of music, and support other local non-profit organizations, particularly the youth artist development program, BluesEd, which promotes music awareness and education for the children of our musical community. Started in 2004, Playing with Fire has held more than 100 free summer concerts that have helped introduce Omaha’s metro residents to the highest quality of local, national, and international musical talent. Playing with Fire is sustained by grants from the Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Douglas County Visitor Improvement Fund, sponsorships, in-kind donations, and volunteers. To learn more about Playing with Fire, visit http://playingwithfireomaha.net.