St. Clair Productions presents an evening of acoustic blues with David Jacobs-Strain and Ben Rice on Saturday, November 19, 8 p.m., at the Unitarian Fellowship, 87 4th St., Ashland. Tickets are $18 in advance, $20 at the door, $10 for teens 12-17 and free under 12. Tickets are available at the Music Coop in downtown Ashland, on-line at www.stclairevents.com or by calling 541-535-3562.
Jacobs-Strain has come a long way from slugging a bamboo gear cart with a tattered "Delta Blues" sign through the Oregon Country Fair mud at the age of 13. His outrageous guitar work jumps from wild fingerstyle to slide and percussive drive produce enough tone to rival an electric jam band. Now in his late 20s, Jacobs-Strain tours nationally and has numerous festival credits, which include the Strawberry Music Festival, MerleFest, the Lugano Blues to Bop Festival in Switzerland, the Newport Folk Festival, and the Montreal Jazz Festival. He’s also served as faculty at guitar workshops, most notably at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch. In 2008 and again in 2010 Boz Scaggs chose him to open for his summer tour.
A fan of Rice's describes him as a "black blues singer stuck inside a normal white guy." Rice says that the biggest influences of his music are artists like Carlos Santana and B.B. King. However, he is inspired by music from a large range of varying genres – everything from blues to rock, soul, and even eastern African music. Rice and The Ben Rice Blues Band have been nominated for the Cascade Blues Association's Muddy Awards 10 times. In 2007, Rice and his band represented the Cascade Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. They placed second in the King of Beale Street competition.
Both Jacobs-Strain and Rice performed at the Rogue Valley Blues Festival in Ashland.
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