$38.50–$43.50
Members who give $500+ annually receive 10% off concert tickets.
Tracy Nelson
She has one of the signature voices of her generation. That natural gift has always guided Tracy Nelson’s soul, and allowed her to both write and seek out the deeper songs regardless of niche or genre. A fierce singer of truth and a fountain of the deepest heartache, she is an ultimate communicator and has regularly dissolved audiences across decades of performing. She is one of the few female singers who has had hit records in both blues and country genres, performing with everyone from Willie Nelson to Marcia Ball and Irma Thomas, with Grammy nominations for both her country and blues efforts. Music writer John Swenson from Rolling Stone magazine asserts, “Tracy Nelson proves that the human voice is the most expressive instrument in creation.”
Nelson’s education began in the early 1960s when, while growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, she immersed herself in the R&B she heard beamed into her bedroom from Nashville’s WLAC-AM. As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, she combined her musical passions singing blues and folk music at coffeehouses and R&B at fraternity parties as one of three singers fronting a band (including keyboardist Ben Sidran) called the Fabulous Imitations. A short time later, Nelson moved to San Francisco, California, and, amid that era’s psychedelic explosion, formed Mother Earth, a group that was named after the fatalistic Memphis Slim song that she sang at his 1988 funeral. Mother Earth (the group), true to its origin of being more grounded than freaky, was a major attraction at the Fillmore, where they shared stages with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Burdon.
Nelson continued to record throughout the 1970s as a solo artist on various labels. In 1974, she garnered her first Grammy nomination for “After the Fire Is Gone,” a hit duet with Willie Nelson. She continues to tour and record, making music that is as deeply felt as anything she has recorded in her exceptional career; she is a soul survivor.
Tracy Nelson proves that the human voice is the most expressive instrument in creation.
—Rolling Stone
The Bel Airs
Living on the road and playing clubs from Austin to Boston, the Bel Airs are carrying on the tradition of American rhythm and blues. The band is fronted by brothers Dick and Dave Pruitt on bass and electric guitars. Growing up on country soul and rock ’n’ roll, the Pruitt brothers have developed a harmony vocal style all their own. They have been performing together for more than thirty years, wowing audiences nightly with their unique brand of music—leading one reviewer to refer to them as the “Everly Brothers of Blues.”
With four acclaimed albums and performances at festivals and nightclubs across the United States as well as in England, France, Belgium, and Spain, the band continues to travel extensively. Their musical approach and superbly crafted showmanship make for a more than memorable concert whenever they appear.
The Bel Airs work as a unit with tight chops and slick harmony—the very best.
—San Antonio Express-News