Tupelo Music Hall Announces Four New Shows

Duke Robillard and Savoy Brown are just two of the new additions.

Marc Fortier, Patch Staff

Posted Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 1:05 pm ET|Updated Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 1:06 pm ET

We have FOUR new shows to announce this week!

November 17 GRANITE STATE BLUES SOCIETY FINALS: Tupelo Music Hall hosts the 2012 Granite State Blues Society Challenge. The winners go on to represent new Hampshire at the International Blues Competition.

December 28 POPA CHUBBY: Popa Chubby, born Ted Horowitz in 1960, is a native son of The Big Apple. His parents owned a candy store in the Bronx. The young Chubby would play the jukebox endlessly listening to the hits of the day. Motown, Stax Volt, Chess and Atlantic records spun endlessly through the young boy’s head. “The defining moment came when my Dad took me to see Chuck Berry when I was 6. There’s Chuck, onstage, larger than life. I see a bulge in his pocket and ask my dad what it is. ‘That’s Chuck’s money,’ my dad said. I was sold on the spot.” Fueled by Chuck Berry and soul music Chubby took up the drums but was discouraged from making noise. At 14 he got his first guitar and never looked back. The 70′s were fertile ground with blues rock ruling the Arenas. Chubby, fueled by Led Zepplin, Johnny Winter, Jimi Hendrix, Foghat, Cream and the Rolling Stones would put in long hours with his record player learning the licks that would become his signature. In the late 70’s Popa answered an ad for a guitarist in the Village Voice and became a mainstay of the early CBGB’s Punk scene. He played, recorded, and toured with Punk godfather Richard Hell becoming an in demand session player on the New York scene. “I kept seeing the name Willie Dixon on records,” says Chubby in an interview. And indeed the spirit of Willie Dixon would be a guiding force in Chubby’s music. In 1990 The Popa Chubby band was born after a jam session with P Funk’s Bernie Worrell. Popa began playing east coast clubs and in a short time became the house band at the legendary Manny’s Car Wash in NYC where he worked with notable artists from Albert King to Odetta. Listen

February 8 SAVOY BROWN: Legendary – a blues/rock institution – true innovators – These are just a few of the ways Savoy Brown has been described over the past thirty years by music critics and fans. One of the earliest of British blues bands, Savoy Brown (with founder guitarist and longtime member Kim Simmonds at the helm) helped launch the UK blues/rock movement that paved the way for such acts as Led Zeppelin. "The music of Savoy Brown has never really got that far away from the blues", Simmonds says. "Today, I can still do a show that does straight traditional blues along with rock hits like "Tell Mama" and it all seems to fit. Everything that I have done with the band has had a blues stand point to it." Listen

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May 3 DUKE ROBILLARD: Inspired by blues legends like T-Bone Walker, Charlie Patton and Big Joe Turner, Duke's guitar work has seamlessly spanned the worlds of jazz, blues, and swing since he founded the renowned big band, Roomful of Blues, in 1967. Duke has recorded twenty acclaimed solo albums and toured the world both with his own band and also as Jimmie Vaughan's replacement in The Fabulous Thunderbirds. In addition to his own recordings, Duke has played on and/or produced albums by Bob Dylan (1997's Grammy-winning Time Out of Mind), Ruth Brown, Johnny Adams, Kim Wilson, Jay McShann, Pinetop Perkins, John Hammond, Jimmy Witherspoon, Snooky Pryor and many more. Called "one of the great players" by the legendary B.B. King, Duke is a 4 time winner for Best Guitarist at the Blues Music Awards and his live show is a masterful display of a wide variety of blues styles. Listen