Fuse lit for Blues Explosion

Explosion (noun) - a large-scale, rapid or spectacular expansion or bursting forth.

Blues Explosion (noun) - see above, and add music performed by Just Strange Brothers with guitar prodigy Noah Wotherspoon.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts caps its Fitton Showstoppers series Saturday, May 17, when Just Strange Brothers and Wotherspoon hit Hamilton with the sonic boom of their Blues Explosion.

“This show covers the gamut,” said Danny Manning, JSB keyboard player and saxophonist. “It’s got everything from Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top, which are very blues-based rock acts, to some traditional 12-bar blues like B.B. King and Freddie King.

“We’ve got some Blues Brothers kind of music that people will definitely know and some other stuff that they might not know all the words, but will definitely recognize the groove.”

Fitton audiences will recognize Just Strange Brothers from past performances like Kickin’ Brass and Yacht Rock, as well as their tributes to Elton John and The Talking Heads.

Wotherspoon, a Dayton native, played the Fitton Center for Winter's Edge in 2016 and is no stranger to the local music scene. Or the world-wide stage. He won the 2015 Albert King Award for best guitarist at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis; his Noah Wotherspoon Band placed second overall in the competition.

While Wotherspoon has performed all over the world, an extremely local connection led to the Blues Explosion collaboration.

Just Strange Brothers host a party/music jam – The Annual – every Labor Day weekend in Cincinnati. Wotherspoon lives two doors down from JSB trumpet player Charlie Ferrara and started coming to – and playing at – the party.

“He’s just part of the family,” Manning said. “It seemed like a good theme and Noah is really popular in this area, so it just felt like a good fit.

“This show was curated just for the Fitton Center with a firm foundation in what Just Strange Brothers already does – the horns, the organ, the vocals, the guitar – and some of Noah’s solo music worked up with the band. We just tried to pick something high energy and fun that the people will enjoy.”

There’s an element of rock history woven into the show, too.

“Blues is the American music,” Manning said. “It’s the foundation of our pop music that’s distilled from the African American experience. Blues is kind of your starting point before country or before rock. If you play funk or R&B or just about anything, you’re playing a form of the blues. It’s just a new iteration of an old form.”

In addition to Manning, Wotherspoon and Ferrara, Just Strange Bothers also features Pete Hall on lead vocals, Christian Robles on guitar, Da’Rosa Richardson on keyboard, Eric Wurzelbacher on tenor sax, Aaron Jacobs on bass and Devon Leigh on drums.

Tickets for Blues Explosion are $39 for Fitton Center members, $48 for non-members, and are available online right here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 or in person at the Fitton Center box office.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

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