PERK UP YOUR EARS ROCK N ROLL FANS, GEORGE BEDARD AND THE KINGPINS ARE COMIN’ TO TOWN!
Tibbits Opera House will swing with the rockabilly/blues sound of George Bedard and the Kingpins on Friday, May 12, 2017
Sponsored by the Coldwater Swap Meet and Car Show, this event kicks off the area premier car event weekend. For more than 20 years George Bedard has been a key figure of the Michigan roots rock scene. While other kids of the 60s idolized the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and the rest of the British invaders, young George was in his basement teaching himself guitar by listening to blues legends like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and B.B. King. In the early 70s Bedard had co-formed the Silvertones with fellow musician Steve Nardella. Based in Ann Arbor, the group mixed blues with rockabilly and would become one of finest bands to come out of Michigan from that era. Over the corse of his long career Bedard would work in groups both as a soloist and sideman and would cover a wide range of styles from country to jazz to rockabilly and back to his first love, the blues.
Since forming his own band, the Kingpins, in the early 90s, Bedard has been attracting attention due to his energetic guitar playing and classic rockabilly vocals. Their debut album, Upside, was named Blues Album of the Year by CD Review in 1992. With his blonde Gibson hollow body guitar in hand Bedard and his band mates put on an energetic show that ranges from Chicago-style blues songs like Got a Mind to Give Up Livin’ to the stompie, traditional rockabilly style of Comin’ Home.
Goerge Bedard and the Kingpins will jump start a weekend that includes the Coldwater Swap Meet and Car Show along with the Classic Car Curse through downtown Coldwater and the Tibbits Classic Film Series presents, Pedal to the Metal Cinema: A Car Chase Double Feature.
Tickets for this event are $18 for reserved seating and $12 for upper balcony general admission (prices include fees) and a beer and wine cash bar will be provided. The box-office will open at 6pm and seating will begin at 6:30pm. Tickets are available online by visiting Tibbits.org or by calling 517-278-6029.