BRATTLEBORO — Folk-pop icon Jonathan Edwards and his quartet will be joined by legendary blues man James Montgomery at the Latchis Theatre on Friday, Sept. 24. Headlining will be the Jonathan Edwards Quartet with Montgomery as celebrity sit-in guest. Opening the night will be James Montgomery/Bruce Marshall Duo, with special guest Lydia Warren.
Marshall will start the evening off in a duo with Montgomery. Marshall and his band have been wowing crowds all over New England, and his guitar playing has landed him opening gigs and sit ins with more than 85 national acts, including Bryan Adams, B-52s, KD Bell, Jethro Tull, Bob Dylan Band, Beach Boys, George Thorogood, Toy Caldwell and Southside Johnny, among many others.
Warren, a teenage blues singer from Boston, has already played with or opened for B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Kenny Wayne Shepard and Keb Mo, among many others.
Edwards has played around the world for over four decades in a career of delivering songs of passion, insight and humor. He began his music career growing up in Minnesota, playing by ear on his piano and guitar. In his teens and 20s, he joined the Boston folk music scene, playing with various mutations of bands and traveling all over New England.
Soon he was opening for B.B. King and the Allman Brothers Band and recorded his first album, “Jonathan,” which featured the hit cut, “Sunshine.”
“It was just at the time of the Vietnam War and Nixon. It was looking bad out there. That song meant a lot to a lot of people during that time – especially me,” Edwards said. The track got its start on a Boston radio station and quickly made its way to the top five on the national charts, earning him a gold record in 1971.
He has recorded 15 albums to date, including the award-winning children's album “Little Hands;” narrated and performed in the documentary series, “Cruising Americas' Waterways;” starred on Broadway and is currently completing a score for a major motion picture.
Montgomery has recorded six albums, with his seventh about to be released. Montgomery has toured with many major artists, including Aerosmith, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, the Allman Brothers, Steve Miller and others. He has jammed on stage with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Charlie Daniels, Bonnie Raitt, Greg Allman, Laverne Baker, Patti LaBelle and Peter Wolf, among others, including an impromptu session with Mick Jagger at New York's “Trax.”
While growing up in Detroit, he learned firsthand from masters like James Cotton, John Lee Hooker, and Junior Wells at the legendary “Chessmate.”
Tickets are $29-$39 and are on sale now at the Latchis Hotel at 800-798-6301 or online at www.brattleborotix.com.