It’s going to be an epic party Thursday, September 14th in the Moose Light Blues Tent as today Harvest announced the addition of Lettuce, The Revivalists and The Marcus King Band as one massive show to the 27th edition of Harvest in Fredericton, NB this September. These artists join previously announced headliners Colin James and Steve Earle & the Dukes, with the rest of the line-up will be released on May 11th, the same day tickets go on sale.
“Putting a show together like this for our audiences is so much fun because it’s really as well curated as any major festival show in North America this summer” said Brent Staeben, the Festival’s Programming Director. “We know the Revivalists can deliver and we’re so damned pleased to be introducing both Lettuce and the Marcus King Band to Harvest. Lettuce is a powerful band known for its incredible live shows and they’ve been on our radar for the past few years, while Marcus is a young superstar-in-the-making. Each act will play a full show and altogether in one night we can guarantee some faces will be melted.”
For more than two decades, the seven-piece Brooklyn-based juggernaut Lettuce has brought a new vitality to classic funk, matching their smooth and soulful grooves with a hip-hop-inspired urgency and mastery of beat. That sense of unity and togetherness has much to do with a camaraderie that’s only intensified over the lifespan of the band. Formed in 1992, when several band members attended a summer program at Boston’s Berklee College of Music as teenagers, Lettuce was founded on a shared love of legendary funk artists like Earth, Wind & Fire and Tower of Power. Lettuce started playing in local clubs and steadily watched their fan base expand world-wide as they’ve hit bigger and bigger stages and earned their name as a can’t-miss festival act.
The Revivalists return after an incredible year that has seen them reach of the top of the charts and build new audiences all over America. The single “Wish I Knew You” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs Chart in September 2016 and they ended the year at #3 on the charts for SiriusXM’s The Spectrum. But what’s been truly amazing is the enduring popularity of the album Men Amongst Mountains which continues to find new audiences amongst a growing group of younger fans also drawn to the manic energy and unbridled musical vitality of their sold-out live shows. When a band is already on top and yet still growing, and we can fit them into a show like this one, we knew we wanted another sweet taste of the Revivalists.
Barely 21, South Carolina’s Marcus King is poised to be one of music’s next great guitarists — a virtuosic talent capable of playing blues, rock, R&B, country, soul and more. The young singer, songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader is a protégé of musician, producer, and collaborator Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks. Haynes says of King, “Marcus is the first player I’ve heard since Derek Trucks to play with the maturity of a musician well beyond his age. He’s very much influenced by the blues, but also by jazz, rock, soul music, and any timeless genres of music. You can hear the influences, but it all comes through him in his own unique way.” King’s six-piece rock and soul outfit solidified its current, horn-enhanced lineup about a year ago, and today are touring and playing festivals from coast to coast.
The Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival is Atlantic Canada’s largest annual music festival, drawing up to 85,000 fans to the streets of Fredericton each September. The 27th annual edition of the festival this year runs September 12-17.
