The Alley Tones

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PHOTO COURTESY THE ALLEY TONES

The Alley Tones

Cultivating a deep and biding respect for the legacy of the blues, The Alley Tones hail from St. Louis, a heritage blues city along with Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans. Eric A. Gavillet (vocals), Nathan Byrd (guitar), Joe Phillips (bass) and Justin Schmitt (drums) joined forces in March of 2012 with a vision and purpose “to play and preserve the blues art form” and they’ve not wavered from that original concept. Coming from varied music styles and a range of ages, the quartet found a common attraction to the universal language of the blues to be an intense and immediate unifying factor. Kicking off the connection with blues standards, the easy way the group meshed together quickly led them into other blues styles. Most notably, they discovered an affinity and ability to perform jump blues with gusto. With a good, strong metro St. Louis base, the group is now spreading into other areas bringing their undeniable blues force to wider audiences using a good strong dance groove combined with musical improvisation to do the blues right.

The Alley Tones
Saturday, Aug. 31, 7pm
Walnut Street Winery
Rochester

About The Author

Tom Irwin

Email Tom Irwin

Tom Irwin, a sixth-generation Sangamon County resident, has played his songs and music for nearly 40 years in the central Illinois area with occasional forays across the country. He's contributed to Illinois Times since 2000 by writing Now Playing, a weekly music column, as well as features stories and other articles...

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