Hey, how would you like a chance to see one of the world's greatest guitarists, one of Nashville's most prolific songwriters, and a guy that once to came to my high school—for free?
Big Al Anderson and the Balls Nightfall Concert Series at Miller Plaza Friday at 8 p.m. (Lumbar Five opens the show at 7 p.m.) Free NRBQ's blend of rock, blues, jazz, and country (and anything else that they felt like playing) has been praised across the globe by the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, Yo La Tengo, and Penn and Teller, but the band is especially beloved in the Northeast. While I was growing up in Connecticut, my sister used to go see NRBQ all the time at Toad's Place, and "Q" tunes like "Ridin' in My Car" and "Howard Johnson's Got His Hojo Working" were in regular rotation alongside "Free Bird" and "More Than a Feeling" on WPLR. The band's towering and talented guitarist during that time, "Big Al" Anderson, even came to my high school once along with some other folks to give an assembly about making responsible choices or something. (Sorry, I can't remember all the details. I was 16.) Voted as one of the "Top 100 Guitarists of the 20th Century" by Musician magazine in 1993, Al replaced Steve Ferguson as NRBQ's guitarist in 1974, and stayed with the band until 1994 when he left for an impressive career as a songwriter in Nashville, writing songs that would be recorded by Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, Etta James, Vince Gill, Leann Rimes, The Mavericks, The Allman Brothers, George Jones, Rascal Flatts, Alabama, and many, many others. Tonight, he brings his band, The Balls, and a lifetime's worth of great songs to Nightfall's season finale. Here's Al with NRBQ doing "Crazy Like a Fox" on David Sanborn's "Sunday Night" show. You can't miss him.
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