Opera House: G. Love & Special Sauce with Jontavious Willis, 3/3!

26 Feb Opera House: G. Love & Special Sauce with Jontavious Willis, 3/3!

The Sheridan Arts Foundation presents G. Love and Special Sauce live in concert at Telluride’s historic Sheridan Opera House on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, 8 p.m. to promote the release of his latest album The Juice. Tickets are $45 GA standing room; $55 reserved balcony seat. (A $5 ticketing fee always applies.) Tickets are available at www.SheridanOperaHouse.com or by calling 970.728.6363 ext.5.

“I’ve been in the game a long time, but I’ve always considered myself a student,” says G. Love,” Finishing this album with Keb Mo’ felt like graduation.”

Please scroll down to check out G. Love and Jontavious Willis in action.

Recorded in Nashville with a slew of special guests including Robert Randolph, Marcus King, and Roosevelt Collier, The Juice is indeed diploma-worthy.

Co-produced and co-written with Grammy-winning icon Keb Mo,’ it is an electrifying collection, one that tips its cap to more than a century of blues greats even as it offers its own distinctly modern pop spin on the genre, mixing programmed beats and hip-hop grooves with blistering guitar and sacred steel.

G. Love’s lyrics are both personal and political here, artfully balancing his appreciation for the simple joys in life with his obligation to speak out for justice and equality. His performances are suitably riotous and rousing to match, with infectious call-and-response hooks and funky sing-along choruses at every turn. Easy as it is to succumb to cynicism these days, the songs on The Juice refuse, insisting instead on hope and determination in the face of doubt and despair.

“I’ve always tried to make music that’s a force for positivity,” G. Love explains. “It was important to me that this album be something that could empower the folks who are out there fighting the good fight every day. I wanted to make a rallying cry for empathy and unity.”

Born Garrett Dutton in Philadelphia, PA, G. Love grew up equally enthralled with folk, blues, and rap, devouring everything from Lead Belly and Run D.M.C. to John Hammond and the Beastie Boys.

After migrating to Boston, he and his band, Special Sauce, broke out in 1994 with their gold-selling, self-titled debut, which earned widespread critical acclaim for its bold vision and adventurous production.

Over the next 25 years, G. Love would go on to release seven more similarly lauded studio albums with Special Sauce (plus four solo albums on his own), solidifying his place in music history as a genre-bending pioneer with a sound The New York Times described as “a new and urgent hybrid” and NPR called a “musical melting pot.”

G. Love’s magnetic stage presence, meanwhile, made him a fixture on festival lineups from Bonnaroo to Lollapalooza, and his relentless appetite for tour and collaboration landed him on the road and in the studio with artists as diverse as Lucinda Williams, Dave Matthews, The Avett Brothers, Jack Johnson, and DJ Logic.

“I’m more inspired right now than I’ve ever been before,” G. Love reflects. “I feel more thoughtful, seasoned, marinated, confident. I’m making the records I’ve always wanted to make.”

Jontavious Willis opens for G. Love and Special Sauce with a must-see performance.

Every generation or so, a young bluesman bursts onto the scene and sends a jolt through the blues community. Jontavious Willis may just have that effect on people.

The 24-year-old rising multi-instrumentalist released a new album, Spectacular Class, in April 2019. Through original lyrics written by Willis himself, the gifted musician delivers a timeless album that features dynamic vocals and all types of blues: Delta, Piedmont, Texas, and Gospel. His stand-out fingerpicking, flat-picking, and slide prowess are also on display.

Grammy Award-winning artists Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ played an active role in producing Spectacular Class with Taj Mahal credited as executive rroducer and Keb’ Mo’ as producer.

“That’s my Wonderboy, the Wunderkind. Jontavious is a great new voice of the 21st century in the acoustic blues.”-Taj Mahal.

The Sheridan Arts Foundation was founded in 1991 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization to preserve the historic Sheridan Opera House as an arts and cultural resource for the Telluride community, to bring quality arts and cultural events to Telluride and to provide local and national youth with access and exposure to the arts through education. The Sheridan Arts Foundation is sponsored in part by grants from the CCAASE and Colorado Creative Industries.