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February 10, 2012
Lensic Presents legendary bluesmen Eric Bibb & Guy Davis, 2/10

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 11, 2012

Contact: Emily Crawford
Tel: 505.988.7050 ext. 1211
Email: ecrawford@lensic.org

Lensic Presents
ERIC BIBB & GUY DAVIS

Grammy nominee Eric Bibb and Handy Award winner Guy Davis
join their blues lineages in a pilgrimage to find and preserve the spiritual center
of the blues in today’s world

February 10 at 7 pm

Bibb’s newly released live album, Troubadour Live, was nominated
for a Blues Foundation Award in the Best Acoustic Album category

Downbeat Magazine chose Troubadour Live as one of their best albums of 2011

Guy Davis portrayed Robert Johnson Off-Broadway, appeared on Broadway
in Mule Bone (music by Taj Mahal) and in the highly acclaimed revival
of Finian’s Rainbow

Santa Fe, NM – The Lensic Performing Arts Center is proud to present an evening with the blues and folk singer and songwriter, Eric Bibb, and blues guitarist, actor and musician, Guy Davis, together for a pilgrimage into the heart of the blues.

Grammy nominee Eric Bibb is a native New Yorker with deep roots in the American blues and folk tradition. The son of 1960s folk and musical theater singer and television personality, Leon Bibb, Eric’s uncle was the jazz pianist and composer John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Paul Robeson was his godfather.

For four decades, he has crisscrossed the globe, captivating live audiences by bearing witness to the infinite complexities of the human experience – both the mundane and the spiritual – with music that’s steeped in the tradition of American blues and layered with generous shades of folk and gospel. He is, in every respect, a modern-day troubadour, heir to the legacy of Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Odetta and countless other great voices of the early and mid-20th century. He has toured the world, performing at major festivals from the London Blues Festival to the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Bibb’s new recording, Troubadour Live, captures one of those powerful live performances in an intimate but emotionally charged setting. Recorded in December 2010 at Katalin and All That Jazz in Uppsala, Sweden (about 50 miles north of Stockholm), Troubadour Live was released on May 10, 2011, on Telarc International, a division of Concord Music Group.

“After many ambitious studio albums, I really wanted to document and share with a wider audience what I’d been doing live on stage,” says Bibb. “Given my intensive touring schedule over the past couple years, there was a window of opportunity to involve some fine musicians whom I really love working with live as well as in the studio, and it all seemed to come together around this gig.”

Handy Award winner Guy Davis has combined a theatrical legacy, as the son of stage legends Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, with a deep sense of the blues as the central trunk of African-American culture. He has portrayed Robert Johnson Off-Broadway, and also appeared on Broadway in Mule Bone (music by Taj Mahal) and in the highly acclaimed revival of Finian’s Rainbow.

At the same time, as Playboy magazine noted, “Davis reminds you that the blues started as dance music. This is blues made for humming along, stomping your foot, feeling righteous in the face of oppression and expressing gratitude to your baby for greasing your skillet.” He has appeared at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and a host of international festivals.

The show is part of the Lensic Presents series, a program of the Lensic Performing Arts Center created to bring diverse, affordable performances to Santa Fe.

Event Details: Lensic Presents Eric Bibb & Guy Davis, February 10 at 7 pm.

Tickets: $15-$30. Lensic member and student discounts are available. Tickets are available at www.lensic.org, www.TicketsSantaFe.org; 988.1234 or at The Lensic, 211 W. San Francisco St.

Press Contact: Emily Crawford, Director of PR & Marketing, at 505.988.7050 ext. 1211 or ecrawford@lensic.org.

Press Info: A separate press release is available for Eric Bibb’s album, Troubadour Live. Please contact Emily Crawford at the email or phone number above for the album press release, interview requests, high resolution photos and audio/video files.

About The Lensic Performing Arts Center
The nonprofit, historic Lensic Performing Arts Center presents more than 200 events year-round, including theater, music, dance, spoken word, film and lectures. Through Lensic Presents, Performance Arts Education and Community Sponsorships, The Lensic is a major partner and supporter of Santa Fe’s nonprofits, artistic organizations and schools. For more information on the many presentations and programs of The Lensic, visit www.lensic.org.

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Emily Crawford
Director of PR & Marketing
505.988.7050 ext. 1211
ecrawford@lensic.org

Lensic Performing Arts Center
211 West San Francisco St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
www.lensic.org