This summer, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats headline the annual Honesdale Roots & Rhythm Music & Arts Festival in Wayne County.
HONESDALE — Award-winning San Francisco Bay-area blues band Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, two-time winners of the prestigious Blues Music Award for Band Of The Year, announced as headliner for the Honesdale Roots & Rhythm Music & Arts Festival on Saturday, June 17.
Honesdale Roots & Rhythm Music & Arts Festival starts at 1:00 p.m. at the main stage at Honesdale Central Park and price of admission is free. The annual live music festival began in 2006 and brings blues, rock, Americana, jazz, and roots to the community every year.
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats’ latest Alligator Records release is 2019’s “Contemporary.” The limitless combined talents of blues harmonica virtuoso and sly, soulful singer Estrin, guitar mastermind Kid Andersen, keyboard wizard Lorenzo Farrell and endlessly creative drummer Derrick “D’Mar” Martin take Estrin’s inventive, original songs to new and unexpected places.
With these musically fearless players kicking everything up a notch,”Contemporary” explores some different sounds, instrumentation and grooves from their previous releases, as they continue to reinvent traditional blues styles. UK tastemaker music magazine MOJO named it #4 Best Blues Album Of 2019.
“Contemporary” delivers twelve surprising, wise-cracking, foot-stomping songs, including nine by Estrin (one co-written with Andersen), one each by Andersen and Farrell, and one obscure cover. The album was produced by Estrin and Andersen and recorded at Andersen’s now famous Greaseland Studio.
According to Estrin, “Contemporary is the most fully realized expression of who Rick Estrin & The Nightcats really are and what we’re capable of as a band. Recording at Andersen’s Greaseland Studio, we all had so much fun and were so relaxed, the ideas just started pouring in from all sides. I really expect this record to blow some minds.” The UK’s Blues & Rhythm says, “Rick Estrin & The Nightcats have crafted an instantly identifiable sound. They serve up insightful, original blues combined with tough rock’n’ roll. This band is superb.”
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats perform at festivals and concert stages from San Francisco to Chicago to New York, and everywhere in between, plus tours of the United Kingdom, Norway, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Poland, Australia, Israel, Estonia and Russia. Over the years, Estrin has won a total of seven Blues Music Awards, including awards for Song of the Year, Traditional Male Blues Artist, Instrumentalist—Harmonica, and twice, the prestigious Band Of The Year (for Rick Estrin & The Nightcats).
On stage, the band’s ability to deliver an unpredictable, no-holds-barred show is unmatched. Forbes.com called them “America’s Greatest Showmen,” and said, “Estrin is a world class musician…the most colorful and entertaining showman around.”
Says Estrin, “People don’t go out to see people who look like themselves. They want to see something special. I was schooled in this business to be a showman, and that’s what you get when you come to see us perform. We know how to put on a show. I feel sorry for anyone who has to follow us.”
