On a cold winter night in late February, the blues will feel warm and close at hand in Putney.
On Saturday, Feb. 28, Next Stage Arts welcomes Corey Harris with Sunny Lowdown for an evening of acoustic blues that promises depth, groove, and soul. Doors open at 6:45 PM, with the show beginning at 7:30 PM, at 15 Kimball Hill in Putney. Tickets are available at nextstagearts.org for $22 in advance, $26 at the door, or $10 for the livestream.
Corey Harris occupies a rare space in contemporary music. A guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and bandleader, Harris has spent decades expanding the boundaries of the blues while remaining deeply rooted in its traditions. His career began as a street singer in New Orleans and has since taken him across North America, Europe, Brazil, the Caribbean, West Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
In his early twenties, Harris lived for a year in Cameroon, an experience that left a lasting imprint on his musical voice. That influence can be heard throughout his work—blues infused with reggae, soul, rock, and West African rhythms. His 1995 album Between Midnight and Day established him as a powerful interpreter of acoustic blues, while more than a dozen albums since trace his evolution into a bold and original songwriter.
Harris’s collaborations read like a map of modern music history, including performances and recordings with B.B. King, Taj Mahal, Buddy Guy, R.L. Burnside, Tracy Chapman, Wilco, Natalie Merchant, and the Dave Matthews Band. In 2003, he served as both artist and narrator for Martin Scorsese’s film Feel Like Going Home, which explored the blues’ journey from West Africa to the American South. His groundbreaking work earned him a MacArthur Fellowship (“Genius Grant”) in 2007, along with an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Bates College.
Joining Harris is Sunny Lowdown, a master of slide guitar whose sound is steeped in tradition and driven by deep grooves and slow-burning intensity. Lowdown’s career began early—at just sixteen, he played his first professional gig backing John Lee Hooker—and has since included work with blues greats such as Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, Otis Rush, R.L. Burnside, and Cedell Davis. A winner of the 2019 Vermont Blues Challenge, Lowdown is known for his raw, hypnotic approach, where tone, phrasing, and feel speak louder than flash.
The concert is co-sponsored by the Vermont Blues Society, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and advancing blues music through concerts, education, and support for Vermont-based musicians.
For blues fans, guitar lovers, and anyone drawn to music that carries history in every note, this promises to be an intimate and memorable night.
