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MVBS Holiday Party with James Armstrong Dec. 5
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Press release submitted by Karen McFarland. The Mississippi Valley Blues Society presents James Armstrong and his band for a Holiday Party on Saturday, Dec. 5 at Rascal's, 1414 15th Street, Moline. MVBS members are admitted free; for non-members, admission is $10. The fun starts with food at 7 p.m. for members, and the music starts at 9 p.m. "With a skintight band and a well-balanced combination of fire, technical proficiency, and taste, [James] Armstrong continues on his way to the upper echelon of contemporary blues artists," notes Living Blues. And Jazz Times has said that James Armstrong "demonstrates the kind of flexibility that allows him easily and convincingly to shift gears from slow blues... to urban funk...to N'awlins grooves to rousing roadhouse shuffles. " Guitarist, singer and songwriter James Armstrong was born to play the blues. His mother was a blues singer. His father played jazz guitar. As a child he absorbed the sounds and lessons of his father's friends, among them, Irving Ashby, Nat King Cole's guitarist. Armstrong formed his first band in the seventh grade and by the age of 17 he was touring the country. Today he travels the world and continues to infuse his voice and guitar playing with his unique personal history, raw instincts and seasoned skills. His first HighTone Records release, Sleeping With a Stranger, drew widespread critical acclaim in North America and his popularity spread like wildfire across the ocean to the European circuit. His song "Pennies and Picks," off his third release Got It Goin' On, garnered a 2001 WC Handy nomination for Song of the Year. Armstrong himself was nominated for Contemporary Male Blues Guitarist of the Year. On Got It Goin' On Armstrong not only shows he's one of the best slide players in the business, he shares an impressive spectrum of styles and experiences. Known as an artist who respects the solid foundation of the blues tradition, Armstrong keeps the genre alive by injecting a contemporary groove into everything he does. He credits Jimi Hendrix and Robert Cray as singing influences and Albert Collins, Albert King and Eric Clapton as guitarists who constantly inspire him. Downbeat has noted of Armstrong that he is " a rare prize of a singer and guitarist with an exceptional sense of rhythm and understatement...a most soulful type of modern blues. " Armstrong learned the blues by playing in the club scene of Southern California. He recalls backing Big Joe Turner during that time at Santa Monica's Music Machine, and a similar gig with Albert Collins later on as part of a band that included guitarist Coco Montoya. James has gone on to share the stage with the likes of Roy Brown, Chaka Khan, Ricky Lee Jones, Jan & Dean, Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix's drummer), Sam Taylor, Debbie Davies, Tommy Castro, Joe Louis Walker Mike Finnigan, and Chris Cain. Armstrong also learned the blues by living it. After a near fatal incident, Armstrong recorded Dark Night. It revealed another side of the artist, highlighting his ability to move from his earlier muscular blues style to a bravely introspective approach. Dark Night is proof that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. And, in Armstrong's case, makes you write even better songs. As both a songwriter and performer, Armstrong knows how to weave a variety of moods and atmospheres into his shows. And that skill translates well to the screen. Several of his songs have been chosen for movie soundtracks, including "Bank of Love," used in both the Martin Sheen movie Hear No Evil and in The Florentine starring Jeremy Davies and Virginia Madsen. And "Two Sides to Every Story" is featured in the Michael Keaton, Geena Davis film Speechless. Seen live Armstrong has a stage presence that combines inherent grace with growl and grit. He can make a noisy rabble lean into his whispers, and he's had entire crowds follow him, quite willingly, into snowy streets and, once, to the edge of the sea where he serenaded the setting sun. 
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