Category: News Desk

The GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert 7 will take place on December 26 at The Middle Ages Brewing Beer Hall. With various performances from modern blues artists, the concert will also commemorate past artists that had a lasting effect on the entirety of the blues genre, including Savoy Brown, Kim Simmonds, Ann Peebles, and Skip James.

The GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert is an annual event held the day after Christmas. A series of 10 GREAT Salt City BLUES Concerts will be presented. This is concert #7, and each concert has been performed in front of a full capacity audience.

Previously held at The Palace Theatre in Syracuse, The GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert 7 will be a held at one of the Salt City’s newest venues, The Middle Ages Brewing Beer Hall— a new 8,000 square-foot area reserved for music and events on the second floor of the Middle Ages Brewing Co.

Every one of The Great Salt City BLUES Concerts is unique and never to be repeated, with a changing line-up of performers featuring some of the area’s greatest musicians. Each concert is a thematic show honoring some of our greatest Blues Artists with participating musicians chosen specifically because they are best fitted for the show.

This year, the GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert 7 will be paying a special tribute to Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown, the Blues/Rock institution formed in London, England in 1965 by band leader and guitarist, Kim Simmonds.

Savoy Brown was a big part of the British Blues boom of the 60‘s, along with Fleetwood Mac, Cream, John Mayall, and the Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds and a host of other U.K. bands that brought the Blues back to popularity in both Europe and the United States.

Savoy Brown was a huge touring concert attraction in the States after breaking out in Detroit on their first U.S. tour in 1969. They stayed based in London until the late 70’s when Kim Simmonds moved to the States where Savoy Brown’s popularity was the greatest. The late 80’s found Kim moving to the Central New York area and finally settling down in Oswego after marrying Oswego native Debbie Lyons. Together, they resided in Oswego while raising a daughter, Eve Simmonds. Kim lived in Oswego until his untimely passing on December 13th, 2022.

Kim Simmonds was a big part of the Central New York music scene and often employed many local area musicians in the ever changing line-up of Savoy Brown. These included such local legends as former Kingsnake, Pete McMahon, vocalist extraordinaire Joe Whiting, the late drummer Dave Olsen of The Robert Cray Band fame, as well as bass player Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm, the latter two still being members of Savoy Brown at the time of his passing and the rhythm section of Savoy Brown the last two decades. Grimm and Whiting will also be taking part in the GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert 7 paying tribute to their former band mate.

Savoy Brown’s legacy will continue to live on with a catalog of over 40 albums recorded, including two albums on Baldwinsville’s Blue Wave label, who also released three of Kim’s solo albums. With his hand print enshrined on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame, Kim Simmonds will always be considered one of the greatest Blues/Rock guitarists of all-time.

The GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert 7 will also be paying tribute to Memphis Soul’s great Ann Peebles, who is best known for writing and singing the classic hit song, “I Can’t Stand The Rain” made most popular by Tina Turner in 1984. Ann Peebles retired from touring after suffering a stroke in 2012. Vocalists Marcia Hagan and Donna Colton will be handling the vocals on seven of Ann’s greatest songs at the GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert 7.

On the acoustic stage, The GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert 7 will pay tribute to the Delta Bluesman Skip James, a Blues Hall of Fame artist who recorded in the 1930’s and continued to record in the Blues revival of the 60’s after being rediscovered. Skip James passed in 1969, but his songs live on, including his often covered gems, “I‘m So Glad“ (covered most famously by Cream), “Devil Got My Woman,” and “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues.” Woodstock native and New York Blues Hall of Fame artist, Elly Wininger, will be performing four of Skip James’ classics at The GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert 7 .

The GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert 7 participating musicians are:

Tas Cru

Morris Tarbell

Mark Doyle

Joe Whiting 

Mark Westers

Donna Colton

Marcia Hagan

Rolland Brunet

Dan Morison

Jeff Stockham

Rod Zajak

Garnet Grimm

Don Williams

Dave Schneider

Rob Hoston

Mira Grimm

Scott Ebner

Elly Wininger

Tickets available online at ticketweb.com. They are $30.00 advance / $40.00 at door (if available), and went on sale November 1.

For more information, visit their website or follow The GREAT Salt City BLUES Concert on Facebook.