Miners Foundry presents The Wailers on July 16

KNOW & GO
WHO: The Wailers Celebrate 30th Anniversary of “Legend”
WHEN: Wednesday, July 16, 2014, Doors 8pm, Show 9pm, All-Ages
WHERE: Miners Foundry Cultural Center, 325 Spring Street, Nevada City, CA
TICKETS: Tickets are $25.00 Advance, $30.00 Door. Tickets are available online at www.minersfoundry.org, by phone or in person at the Miners Foundry, and in person at Briar Patch Co-Op.

The Miners Foundry Cultural Center is pleased to present The Wailers in concert, for one of only two Northern California performances, Wednesday, July 16, 2014. Together with Bob Marley, the Wailers have sold over 250 million albums and have played to an estimated 24 million people across the globe

On the 30th anniversary of its release in 1984, The Wailers will perform the iconic album Legend in its entirety. Named by Time Magazine as the “Best Album of the 20th Century” and #46 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Legend is also the best-selling reggae album of all-time, with over 30 million copies sold worldwide.

Outside of their groundbreaking work with Marley, the Wailers have also played or performed with international acts such as Sting, the Fugees, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, and Alpha Blondy, as well as reggae legends such as Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, and Burning Spear. They have collaborated with contemporary artists such as Kenny Chesney, Eve, Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat.

As the greatest living exponents of Jamaica’s reggae tradition, they have release nine albums including five live albums. They were also the first reggae band to tour new territories on many occasions, including Africa and the Far East.

Nucleus formed in 1969

Their nucleus formed in 1969, when Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh recruited the Barrett brothers – bassist Aston “Family Man” and drummer Carly – from Lee Perry’s Upsetters to play on hits such as “Lively Up Yourself”, “Trenchtown Rock”, “Duppy Conqueror”, and many more. Inspired by Rastafari and their ambitions of reaching an international audience, this is the line-up that pioneered roots rock reggae, and signed to Island Records in 1971

Bunny and Peter left two years later. It was at this point that the in-demand Barrett brothers – whose rhythms also underpinned innumerable seventies’ reggae hits by other acts – assumed the title of Wailers, and backed Marley on the group’s international breakthrough album, Natty Dread.

Under Family Man’s musical leadership, they then partnered Bob Marley on the succession of hit singles and albums that made him a global icon, winner of several Lifetime Achievement awards, and Jamaica’s best-loved musical superstar. Drummer Carlton “Carlie” Barrett died in 1987, leaving his brother as the main beneficiary of the Wailers’ mantle.

Subsequent lineups have revolved around Family Man, who was recently honored by Bass Player magazine with his own Lifetime Achievement Award as one of the world’s greatest bassists. With Fams at the helm, The Wailers are heralded as one of the last great reggae institutions, history in the flesh, continuing to tour and breathe new life into their universally loved catalog of reggae’s greatest hits.

The current lineup includes the veteran keyboardist Keith Sterling, a veteran of ‘70s studio greats, the Soul Syndicate, as well as Peter Tosh’s Word Sound and Power band. He is so respected by his colleagues in The Wailers that they call him “Coach.” Fams’ young son, Aston Jr., a multi-talented musician, plays organ and is the heir apparent, helping bring the music forward to a new generation.

Filling the role of lead singer is a highly disciplined young Jamaican star on the rise, Dwayne Anglin, known as Danglin. “Drummie Zeb” excels on percussion. He is a founding member of Chicago’s Awareness Art Ensemble, and has toured with Kenny Chesney. Lead and rhythm guitar and backing vocals are handled expertly by Audley “Chizzy” Chisholm. Backing vocals are also supplied by the elegant Trinidadian Cegee Victory.

Concerts drew 90,000 people

A recent highlight for the band was being asked to join The Stone Roses’ reunion concerts last year in Manchester, England. Acknowledging the influence of Family Man’s inventiveness on the bass, the Roses were eager to pay homage to him and The Wailers in concerts that drew 90,000 people.

Their tight and historically sensitive blend was never more apparent than at the beginning of 2013 during The Wailers’ “Survival Revival” tour of North America, on which the band reproduced what many critics consider Marley’s most profound statement of his personal

philosophy, 1979’s “Survival” album. This follows other recent critically praised tours on which they have played the “Exodus” and “Uprising” albums in their entirety.

Never ones to be pigeonholed in the past, The Wailers reaffirmed their continuing relevance and versatility in modern music with a guest spot on country superstar Kenny Chesney’s hit single, “Everyone Wants to Go to Heaven,” and also appeared in a video for the song which was shot
in Jamaica. They have just rejoined him for a new single called “Spread the Love,” released in June of 2013.

Nor have they forgotten their social consciousness, currently spearheading the I Went Hungry charity, designed to use funds designated for touring bands’ lavish “riders” to benefit the World Food Program (WFP) in conjunction with the United Nations, feeding thousands of starving children around the globe.

Now well into their fifth decade, The Wailers truly are living legends who embody the nobility, conviction and progressiveness of Bob Marley and his music. Their journey is far from over as the world awaits The Wailers’ next move in their “One Love” revolution. “Our music is the magic,” says Fams “the oxygen of the people. It’s the message of roots, culture and reality, meant to spread peace and love to all.”

-Jesse Locks, Miners Foundry Cultural Center

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