MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival

Stymie is a band of four veteran musicians specializing in Classic Rock/Soul/Funk dance music. All four musicians sing lead vocals with special emphasis on vocal harmony. Their song list is unique in that it isn't your every day Top 40 music. The songs are suited to being danceable, with great vocals, and high energy

From a young school girl singing in The Texas Girls' Choir, to twenty plus years on the New York City scene, Gale Cruz has had the good fortune of backing up such artists as PHOEBE SNOW, PATTI AUSTIN, and PHYLLIS HYMAN. While in New York, Gale also led her own jazz group as well as corporate/society bands performing for numerous clients such as SMITH BARNEY, MAYOR BLOOMBERG and SONY CORP. to name a few. She also did numerous jingles and voice overs. Gale has recently relocated to her DALLAS/FT. WORTH roots.

Trey & the Tritones is a stylish band for all occasions specializing in wedding receptions, banquets, dinner & dance evenings, corporate events, and private parties. Since 1992 this band has been entertaining audiences of all ages with their personality, professionalism, and wide variety of dance music. From Jazz, Swing, Ballroom, and Sinatra-style classics to Disco, Motown, Country, Classic Rock, and Pop, their variety will ensure a full dance floor and an event to remember. Whether you desire quiet, classy music to set the mood for your cocktail hour and dinner or fun, upbeat party tunes for your late night dancing, this band of professional musicians will play the crowd and keep all your guests entertained and involved. With years of experience, attention to detail, and a vibrant personality, Trey interacts with the crowd, emcees your activities, and helps keep your party flowing smoothly.

Because of their wide variety of music, Trey & the Tritones regularly entertains for theme parties and dances. In addition to almost every major hotel and country club in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, they have performed for clients in Chicago, Houston, Missouri, and Disney World in Orlando, Florida. They have shared the stage with such international stars as Robert Earl Keen, Marty Stuart, Eddy Raven, and the original Paul & Paula.

Rob Holbert and MIRAGE are well known for their delivery of Smooth Jazz, Standards and Classics. Their variety of music and the sometimes eclectic arrangements of songs set them apart from most other Jazz groups today. The group also performs a variety of lively R&B covers and dance music that's sure to make any event an exciting one!!

Mark Harper is a seasoned guitarist, performer and multi-platinum award winner who is introducing yet another side of his creative abilities to the world. Mark has recorded and performed with some of the industries top performers such as: Kirk Whalum, Ronnie Laws, Bebe Winans, Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams, Dave Koz, Gerald Albright, Phyllis Hyman, Tom Braxton, Fingerprints, The Mac Band, George Duke, Jonathan Butler, Michael Lington, Wayman Tisdale, Tower of Power and a host of others.

For seven years Mark was the guitarist for Wayman Tisdale. Mark and Wayman had a very special bond and friendship that was sealed at the very first rehearsal. After rehearsing all of the songs that Wayman had listed for an upcoming show, Mark began to play other songs of Wayman's while band members began to pack-up. Wayman was excited, joined Mark and right there a spark was ignited. They jammed for some time. After playing Wayman's music, both being fans of old school music they began to play songs from the 70's & 80's. By the time they finished an hour and a half had vanished! The spark that was ignited continued in Wayman's shows and fan's looked forward to the old school music tribute.

During his time with Wayman, Mark was in the process of writing and co-writing his solo project. Wayman heard some of the material and was astounded by what he heard. That inspired Mark and Wayman to record together on Mark's project. Mark and his keyboardist/co-producer, Tony Blaine, spent four days at Wayman's ranch completing the material for Mark's project. One of Wayman's favorite songs on the project was a song titled "Dedication" written for Mark by a long time friend and great musician, Steve Lewis. Wayman told Mark that "Dedication" was the perfect song for he and Mark to perform a duet and he felt people would love it! Just days prior to Wayman's passing, the radio mix for the single "Dedication" was complete. Wayman heard this duet with his friend and said, "That's a winner!" Neither Mark nor Wayman knew that the title of this track, Dedication, would in the end have a deep and personal meaning.

Ms. LaVette is one of the greatest soul singers in American music history, possessed of an incredibly expressive voice that one moment will exude a formidable level of strength and intensity and the next will appear vulnerable, reflective, reeking of heartbreak. Unfortunately, it says much about the vagaries of the popular music industry that, although LaVette has been recording for over four decades, up to this point she has remained criminally unknown.

Organized over 10 years ago, Crawfish was created from a select group of seasoned studio musicians from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Their act includes family-oriented entertainment and audience participation.

Whether it's performing a hot, New Orleans-style Mardi Gras party, a wedding reception, a formal dinner/dance for a charity fundraiser, a company Christmas Party, or a relaxed fun-in-the-sun music festival, Crawfish can help make the event enjoyable for all.

Crawfish has shared stages with an unbelievably long list of stars. While there isn't room to name them all, notables include: The Temptations, The Beachboys, The Monkees, The Shirelles, The Supremes, The Coasters, The Drifters, The Foundations, Chuck Berry, Leon Russell, Delbert McClinton, Three Dog Night, The Spinners, and Willie Nelson and Family. They can be heard on film scores and jingles for companies like McDonald's, Oldsmobile, Isuzu, Mazda and dozens of other radio and television programs. Crawfish has played during two Presidential Inaugurals, as well as festivals and parties throughout the Metroplex.

The N'awlins Gumbo Kings is comprised of six extremely accomplished musicians who have played with each other in various other configurations for decades. The flawless blending of their talent, styles and expertise creates a musical experience full of energy and excitement for both the band members and the audience.

Tom Braxton has thrilled audiences for more than 15 years with his superb saxophone skills. Jazz Review calls Braxton '...one of smooth jazz's most prolific saxophonists...with all the required tools to become a major force.' Braxton's distinctive sound - blending elements of jazz, Latin, funk and R&B - is certain to leave you spellbound.

Ravi Coltrane is a critically acclaimed and Grammy™ nominated saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Since 1991, Mr. Coltrane has worked as a sideman with many jazz luminaries, recorded noteworthy albums for himself and others, overseen important jazz reissues, and founded the prominent independent record label, RKM.

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Keb’ Mo’s music is a living link to the seminal Delta blues that traveled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America--informing all of its musical roots—before evolving into a universally celebrated art form. Born Kevin Moore in South Los Angeles to parents originally from the deep South, he adopted his better known stage name when he was a young player who became inspired by the force of this essential African-American legacy. In the storied tradition of bluesmen before him including Muddy Waters—formerly McKinley Morganfield—and Taj Mahal, who began his days as Henry St. Clair Fredericks, Moore became known as Keb’ Mo’.

Mo’s music is also a purely post-modern expression of the artistic and cultural journey that has transformed the blues, and his own point of view, over time. His distinctive sound embraces multiple eras and genres, including pop, rock folk and jazz, in which he is well-versed. In total, it owes as much to contemporary music’s singersongwriter movement, encompassing his longtime friends and collaborators Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, as to the spirit of blues godfather Robert Johnson that dwells in his work. For Keb’ Mo’, the common bond between these influences is the underlying storytelling ethic, the power of song to convey human experience and emotional weight.

Keb’ Mo’ is a three time Grammy winner for Contemporary Blues Album and was Grammy nominated for Country Song of the Year for ‘I Hope’ a co-write with the Dixie Chicks that appears on their latest album. His songs have also been covered by such artists as BB King, Wynonna, Joe Cocker, Buddy Guy, Robert Palmer and Tom Jones!

On camera he has appeared and performed music for several television and motion pictures including playing himself, singing “America The Beautiful” during the inauguration scene of the moving series finale of the award-winning show. 

Vintage Vibes plays many crowd-pleasing varieties of timeless rock. They thrill audiences with melodic vocal harmonies, searing leads and driving rock and roll.

Texas has produced more Grammy Award winners than anywhere else on the planet. Lone Star Attitude is a unique show that pays tribute to the legends of Texas music (past and present). It celebrates the overall influence that Texans have had, and continue to have, on Rock, Pop, Country and Blues. It's not only a live musical tribute, but a high tech, visual experience as well. From Stevie Ray Vaughn and ZZ Top to Waylon & Willie, Lone Star Attitude is a one of a kind show that you'll only experience in Texas.

For New Orleans native, Breggett Rideau, her first CD Release 'the opportune tune', afforded her the chance to do something she loves to do, which is sing and tell the story of her life through her extraordinary voice to appease the appetite of jazz enthusiasts and lovers of real, live This critically acclaimed songstress has defined an amazing legacy and has been a trailblazer throughout the DFW metroplex when it comes to preserving the rich, cultural heritage of traditional jazz music. According to The Dallas Morning News, "Ms. Rideau is one artist who's worth searching out. With her deep, resonant voice and her total command of jazz and soul, she's one of the area's most promising singers."

Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Johnnie Latham, who was inspired by B.B. King and Eric Clapton, started playing guitar on April 1st 1967 at the age of 15. In 1971, he started playing with his first rock & roll band. But by the late 70's he rediscovered his passion for the blues and started Johnnie Red & the Roosters, backing up Robert Ealey and Ray Sharpe. Over the years his band has played with Tina Turner, Chuck Berry (4 times), Buddy Guy, John Mayhall, The Fab. Thunderbirds, Delbert McClinton and many more. After 28 years with the Roosters, he is still plays with the same passion and energy as when he started the band in 1980.

Poo Live Crew, how do you sum up such a band? How about long hard practices, intense stylistic studies, tons of research, hours of theoretical training, and gallons of beer. PLC is all that minus the intense stylistic studies, tons of research, long hard practices, and hours of theoretical training. We're heading in a new direction and trying to do something not every cover band does. Our goal was to come up with a set list second-to-none, carefully engineered, and put together in 8.5 minutes. Actually, the Poo set is a carefully constructed plethora of music from 1968 to 98. Not to exclude any genre. The Poo mixes in eighties, pop rock, love ballads, new wave, country, pop Divas, and even sitcom themes.

It’s apropos that DOYLE BRAMHALL’s new Yep Roc CD is titled Is It News because, although they’re absolutely true to his deep roots in the blues, its dozen original tunes mark a turning point that is both ambitious and the logical summation of his artistic evolution. The answer to the forward thinking, envelope-pushing CD’s title is a resounding yes—and the news is all good!

“I wanted to make an all-original record that was big, energetic, intimate, and unpredictable,”Doyle states. “We got a lot of the sounds by pushing everything to the limit and then pulling it back from there.”

Fans already accustomed to Doyle’s high standards and willingness to chart new territory will nonetheless be pleased and surprised at just how high he raises the bar. This instant classic is the benchmark of Bramhall’s storied career—which is saying a lot! Continuing the tradition he started with the songs he co-wrote with Stevie Ray Vaughan, which struck a chord with the biggest audience the blues has ever enjoyed, he deftly expands the idiom’s vocabulary and texture.

Any discussion of Texas blues, be it T-Bone Walker or Stevie Ray, is incomplete without mention of Doyle Bramhall. As singer, songwriter, and drummer, he has been an integral part of that rich state’s music for almost 40 years and, indeed, one of the founding fathers of the blues/roots resurgence synonymous with the Lone Star state and the migration from Dallas to its musical epicenter, Austin. Considering the impact Texas, the state and the state of mind, has had on music around the globe, Bramhall’s importance cannot be overstated.

Growing up in Dallas, his Chessmen opened for Jimi Hendrix in 1968, when Doyle was still in his teens. Moving to Austin with the band’s guitarist, Jimmie Vaughan, the two formed Storm, which Bramhall eventually left to form the Nightcrawlers—this time with Vaughan’s little brother, Stevie Ray. Two Bramhall compositions, “Change It” and “Lookin’ Out The Window,” became linchpins of Stevie’s repertoire, and the pair began a fruitful songwriting collaboration that yielded seven more classics - including “The House Is Rockin’,” “Tightrope” and “Wall of Denial” from In Step, and three tunes from the Vaughan Brothers’ Family Style, which featured Bramhall on drums.

The term legend is bandied about, often in reference to Doyle, but there are few triple-threats as strong—as songwriter, singer (sited by Stevie Ray as his biggest vocal influence), and instrumentalist (blues queen Lou Ann Barton calls him as “the best drummer in the South”). So it was little surprise that his 1994 album, Bird Nest On The Ground, was such a powerful debut. Following that success, he produced critically acclaimed albums by Marcia Ball, Indigenous, and Chris Duarte, while leading
his own rocking band. His follow-up CD, Fitchburg Street, was a heartfelt ode to the blues and R&B he heard during his formative years in Big D—which also happens to be Doyle’s nickname, to differentiate between him and his son, guitar great Doyle Bramhall II.

 When I was 18, I was on the road with my dad. One day, we were sitting in the tour bus, talking about songs, and he mentioned a song, and I said, "I don’t know that one." He mentioned another one, and I said, "I don’t know that one, either." Then he started to get alarmed, so he spent the rest of the day making a list on a legal pad, and at the top he put "100 Essential Country Songs." And he handed it to me and he said, "This is your education."

The genesis of Rosanne Cash's remarkable new album, The List, dates back to that day in 1973—to a time before her eleven previous albums, her 1985 Grammy and numerous additional nominations, her twenty-one Top 40 country singles. She had just graduated high school and was starting to write songs of her own when her father, the incomparable Johnny Cash, discovered some gaps in her knowledge of American roots music.

"I think he was alarmed that I might miss something essential about who he was and who I was," says Cash. "He had a deeply intuitive understanding and overview of every critical juncture in Southern music—Appalachian songs, early folk songs, Delta blues, Southern gospel, right up to modern country music."

Three dozen years later, Cash has selected twelve songs from the syllabus presented to her by her father and recorded her first album of covers. Still, she remains a songwriter to her core, so she approached each composition—from Jimmie Rodgers' "Miss the Mississippi and You" to Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country"—in search of its particular essence.

The result is a glorious range of sounds and moods, as rich and complex as such Cash masterworks as Seven Year Ache, Interiors, and Rules of Travel.

The idea for The List came about while Cash was on tour promoting her 2006 studio album, the widely acclaimed, Grammy-nominated Black Cadillac

'It just didn’t interest me," she says. "I learned all the songs, but then I set on my own course as a songwriter, and set about separating myself from my parents, as you do when you’re young. When I was writing the narratives for the Black Cadillac. 

Still, she resisted the idea of recording the classic songs herself. Eventually, though, Cash decided that she needed a change after Black Cadillac

The response was immediate. "People were eating it up, like they were hungry for these songs," she says. "And the import started to sink in—that this was about me and my dad, but it was also about a cultural legacy. These songs are as important as the Civil War to who we are as Americans.  Something clicked and I entered it full-bodied then, with all my heart."

She's bad, she's beautiful, she rocks! Glitter Rose from Fort Worth, TX. This left-handed guitarist owns the stage with her charisma and her unique rockin' country sound. Glitter recently recorded her new hit single, "Doublewide on the Backside". She has also appeared on Good Morning Texas on the ABC Network and performed at PALMS Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Glitter has been songwriting and performing professionally for over 10 years. She has performed over 1,200 shows and has a decade of recording experience. Now, 24 years old, she is an ingeniously clever songwriter, an accomplished guitarist, and has a voice that is only GR. Glitter Rose can play in the style of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and The Rolling Stones, to name a few. A true artist, with a stage show that is unforgettable."

It seems like everyone thinks they can sing like Sinatra. Give them a listen, they can't. Ricki Derek can, but luckily, that's the way he really sings. He is not an impersonator, but rather a portal from a time when a show was really a show. Taking pieces of performers he loves from Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Tony Bennet, and Dean Martin, Derek has used their inspiration to fuel his career. His home grown success is based not only on his raw talent, but also on his ability to give one of kind performances night after night and after after year.

Me & My Monkey - The Beatles Tribute: Rod Bollinger as John Lennon (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Paul Sacco as Paul McCartney (vocals, bass, keyboards), George Jara as George Harrison (vocals, guitar), and Michael Daniel as Ringo Starr (vocals, drums) The two original members, George Jara (George Harrison) and Rod Bollinger (John Lennon), have been with the group since it's inception just six years ago, adding Michael Daniel (Ringo Starr) shortly there afterward, and as recently as three years ago, adding Paul Sacco (Paul McCartney) to complete the line-up. Since then the band has traveled extensively perfecting its' world class "

Not even blindness can stop vocalist/keyboardist Joe McBride. His status as one of today's most popular contemporary jazz musicians is rooted in a solid foundation of talent. Born in 1963 in Fulton, Missouri, he began playing piano at age four and started singing in high school. As a teenager, McBride contracted a degenerative eye disease and eventually lost his eyesight, but his passion for music was never impaired. He continued his studies at the Missouri School for the Blind and at Webster University in suburban St. Louis. McBride trekked to the sunny shores of San Diego for a while before enrolling at North Texas State University to study jazz and performance.

Brave Combo is America's premier contemporary polka band, and a Grammy winning one at that. Their versatility knows no bounds: they're a world music act, a jazz quintet, a rock band, a Tex-Mex conjunto, a blues band, a cocktail combo, a Latin orchestra and a dance band par excellence.