Fri 11/21 @ 8PM
During their initial twelve years together from 1978-1990, Colorado-based Hot Rize established a strong presence in the progressive bluegrass scene, respectfully updating and refreshing the traditional format. Singer/multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien is its best-known member. He’s maintained an active solo career, which he began on the side back in the ’80s, since the band broke up. Banjo player Pete Wernick remained active too, performing in several bands and hosting banjo workshops and other instructional activities.
After a synchronous 12 years apart, the band regrouped in 2002, adding guitarist Bryan Sutton, who has worked with artists like the Dixie Chicks, Bela Fleck and Ricky Skaggs, to the lineup of O’Brien, Wernick and their ’80s bassist Nick Forster. And there must be something magic about number 12 for these guys because exactly 12 years after they regrouped they’ve released their first studio album since 1990, When I’m Free, recorded in their home base of Boulder.
That means a tour, of course, and that tour will be hitting the Kent Stage. They’re bringing along Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers — actually O’Brien, Wernick, Forster and Sutton in old-school country & western attire doing honky-tonk music from the ’40s and ’50s.
Warming up the crowd for them will be bluegrass vocalist/flatpicking guitarist/songwriter Rebecca Frazier, the first woman to ever be featured on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and her band Hit & Run.
Tickets are $30-$45.