MUSIC AND HUMOR SHOW TO BENEFIT EVSC ARTS PROGRAMMING, FEATURES JOHN PRINE LEAD GUITARIST JASON WILBER, NAMED TO ROLLING STONE’S “10 NEW COUNTRY ARTISTS YOU NEED TO KNOW†LIST
The EVSC Foundation is hosting a public benefit show featuring the award-winning Will Read and Sing for Food (WRASFF) troupe to raise money for EVSC’s arts programming on Friday, April 20 at 7 p.m., at Central High School Auditorium (5400 North First Ave, Evansville, IN 47710)
WRASFF offers audiences a unique mix of live music and humor essays. Since 2011, WRASFF has raised over $139,000 for 40-some charities in southern Indiana. The show earned a 2016 arts award from the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana.
Special musical guest is singer-songwriter Jason Wilber, who is the long-time lead guitarist for folk legend John Prine. Rolling Stone Magazine named Wilber one of the “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know,†after the release of his 2017 album, “Reaction Time.â€
Wilber’s TV and radio appearances include Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Colbert Report, The Grand Ole Opry, Live with Regis and Kathy Lee, CNN Entertainment Week, Mountain Stage, Austin City Limits, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Live From Here with Chris Thile.
Other WRASFF guest musicians include The Cold Stare’s front man Chris Tapp, reggae musician Zion, Shawn Needham, John Gibson & Peggy Pirro, and The Song Show’s Brick Briscoe.
Other performers and writers include humor columnist Scott Saalman (WRASFF founder and host), Kate McKinney, Leslie Hamby, Que Pasa Midwest podcast’s Paola Marizan, and local TV personality Ange Humphrey.
Mary Allen, owner of Sixth Street Soapery and Evansville Pedicab and winner of this year’s Evansville Leadership Individual Award, will read a brief story from her podcast, The Mary Movement, which highlights the good in humanity.
From Carnegie Hall to the London Palladium and throughout an endless stream of well-known venues in North America — Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.; Wolf Trap in Virginia; Massey Hall in Canada; and Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado — Wilber has backed up Prine for more than 20 years. He appears on Prine’s Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning albums.
Wilber, who lives in Bloomington, Ind., will be spending most of this spring and summer touring to promote Prine’s new album, “The Tree of Forgiveness.†In between Prine gigs, Wilber promotes his own music.
Tapp is front man for The Cold Stares, a hard-rocking, soul-lifting band formed in 2008. The two-man band has played at Piano’s in New York City, the Viper Room in Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, festivals, and recently opened for Grand Funk Railroad and Cracker at the Lincoln Amphitheatre.
Dominica West Indies native Zion, now living in Evansville, has opened for The Wailers (of Bob Marley fame) and tours inside and outside the U.S. He will be backed up by Needham.
Wilber, Tapp, Zion, Needham and Briscoe are frequent guest performers of WRASFF
Admission is a $10 donation. Tickets may be purchased at the door or by calling (812)435-0934 or online at http://evscfoundation.org/give-today/ (memo: Will Read and Sing for Food).
This will be WRASFF’s 135th show. Sponsors are Jim and Pat Thyen and Sixth Street Soapery. Evansville’s Anne Dowhie, winner of a WRASFF “Choose A Charity†drawing, selected EVSC as the recipient of donations raised during this show.
