March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 44 F

Marcia Ball bringing her groove-laden R&B to Rams Head On Stage

marcia ballTexas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball, touring in support of her latest Alligator Records CD, THE TATTOOED LADY AND THE ALLIGATOR MAN, will perform at Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis on Friday, January 22 and The Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna on Saturday, January 23, 2016. Ball’s groove-laden New Orleans R&B, heart-wrenching ballads and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans everywhere. Her music mixes equal parts simmering soul fervor and rollicking Crescent City piano. THE TATTOOED LADY AND THE ALLIGATOR MAN is her sixth release for Alligator. Ball has five Grammy Award nominations. She received the 2014 Blues Music Award (BMA) for the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Of The Year. She has now won a total of 10 BMAs and has received a whopping 44 nominations. Ball recently received a 2015 Living Blues Readers’ Poll Award for Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard) and now holds nine Living Blues Awards in all. She was inducted into the Gulf Coast Hall of Fame in 2010 and into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2012. 

Marcia Ball has earned worldwide fame for her ability to ignite a full-scale roadhouse rhythm and blues party every time she strolls onto the stage. Her groove-laden New Orleans boogie, deeply soulful ballads and rollicking Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite with music fans all over the world.

On THE TATTOOED LADY AND THE ALLIGATOR MAN, Ball draws listeners deep into her music with instantly memorable melodies and imaginative imagery. Her songs paint vibrant musical pictures, richly detailed with characters, flavors and scenes straight out of Louisiana and Texas. With raucous horns punctuating Ball’s legendary piano pounding and emotional, melodic vocals, the new CD mixes Ball’s New Orleans R&B, swampy Louisiana ballads, and jumping, Tex-Mex flavored zydeco into a one-of-a-kind musical gumbo, a sound she has been perfecting over the course of her four-decade career.

From the poignant Just Keep Holding On to the fresh start of Clean My House to the surprising and timely The Squeeze Is On to the southern warmth of Human Kindness, Ball has delivered a set of songs so well written and so well performed, she’ll astound and delight her longtime fans and give newcomers plenty of reasons to join the party. Featuring her stellar, road-tested touring band, with help from friends Delbert McClinton and Terrance Simien and production by Grammy-winner Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, Joe Louis Walker, James Cotton, Susan Tedeschi), THE TATTOOED LADY AND THE ALLIGATOR MAN is happy, moving, joyful, stirring, thought-provoking, danceable and fun.

After a 1978 solo LP for Capitol and a successful series of releases on Rounder, Ball joined the Alligator Records family in 2001 with the release of the critically acclaimed Presumed Innocent. The CD took home the 2002 Blues Music Award for Blues Album Of The Year. 2004’s So Many Rivers, 2005’s Live! Down The Road, 2008’s Peace, Love & BBQ and 2011’s Roadside Attractions all received Grammy Award nominations as well as critical and popular acclaim.

The New York Times says, “Marcia Ball plays two-fisted New Orleans barrelhouse piano and sings in a husky, knowing voice about all the trouble men and women can get into on the way to a good time.” Living Blues declares, “Her originals sound like timeless classics and southern soul masterpieces that no one else can imitate.” Of the new album, Ball says, “I don’t make a record until I have something to say, stories to tell, messages to impart. I try to make records that are true to me,” she continues, “and this one couldn’t be truer.”

Date: Friday, January 22, 2016

Venue: Rams Head On Stage

Address: 33 West St.

City: Annapolis, MD

Phone: 410-268-4545

Showtime: 8:00pm

Ticket price: $39.50

Website: www.ramsheadtavern.com

Previous Article

Edgewater construction crew sickened after operating gas saw in basement of home

Next Article

More acts heading to Annapolis and Rams Head On Stage

You might be interested in …