Street Music On Paris Avenue With Jarekus Singleton

Bring a chair, a cooler and wear your favorite dancing shoes because Street Music is back on Paris Avenue in Port Royal on Saturday, June 17th, with a free, live performance by Jarekus Singleton at 6pm.

Jarekus Singleton is one of the most exciting blues guitars to come along in years…..Boundless enthusiasm.

Singleton shoots super-heated notes through the chords with an emotional directness and a musical spirit that’s all his own. – DOWNBEAT

At 35 years old, Jarekus Singleton is a musical trailblazer with a bold vision for the future of the blues. Springing from the same Mississippi soil as Charley Patton, Muddy Waters and B.B. King, Singleton’s cutting-edge sound—equally rooted in rap, rock and blues traditions—is all his own. He melds hip-hop wordplay, rock energy and R&B grooves with contemporary and traditional blues, turning audiences of all ages into devoted fans. With his untamed guitar licks and strong, soulful voice effortlessly moving from ferocious and funky to slow and steamy to smoking hot, Singleton is a fresh, electrifying bluesman bursting at the seams with talent.

Singleton’s Alligator Records debut, Refuse To Lose, features a scintillating guitar attack and
lyrically startling original songs all sung with a natural storyteller’s voice. Produced by Singleton along with Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer and recorded at PM Music in Memphis, the album is an impossible-to-ignore first steponto the world stage. With songs telling real life, streetwise (sometimes funny) stories brimming with surprising images, pop culture references, infectious rhythms and unexpected musical twists, Refuse To Lose unleashes a new wave of blues for a new generation of fans.

Jarekus Singleton has been tearing up clubs and festivals across the US and Canada and has performed twice at the world-renowned Chicago Blues Festival. With the addition of high-visibility performances including Springing The Blues Festival, Biscuits & Blues in San Francisco, The North Atlantic Blues Festival, The PA Blues Festival, The Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, Heritage Music Blues Festival, The Cincinnati Blues Festival, The Festival International du Blues, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec and many more, Singleton is on the cusp of international stardom.

Born into a family of church musicians and vocalists on July 11, 1984 in Clinton, Mississippi, Jarekus Singleton was immersed in gospel music as a child. Taught by his uncle, Jarekus began playing bass guitar at age nine in his grandfather’s church band. He later switched to lead guitar and began to sharpen his instrumental and vocal skills, falling in love with the music of all three Kings (B.B., Albert and Freddie) as well as Stevie Ray Vaughan, rappers Twista and Jay-Z, and even country artist Brad Paisley.

Singleton was named a “star on the rise” by Blues & Rhythm magazine in the UK. Guitar Center named him the 2011 King of the Blues in Mississippi. He received the Jackson Music Award for 2012 Blues Artist of the Year and for 2013 Local Artist of the Year. The Jackson Free Press named him the 2013 Best Local Blues Artist. Living Blues praised Singleton for his “emotional intensity,” saying he “blends styles and elements across genres and generations.”

Audiences at his shows run the gamut from older blues fans to younger rockers and rap aficionados, all of whom call him their own. “Blues is honest music,” says Singleton, who, with Refuse To Lose, is determined to put his own stamp on the genre. “I love the blues tradition, and have always been inspired by the masters. But I want to create something for today’s audience that is as original and new as those blues masters were when they first started making records. I want to create blues for
the 21st century.”“Jarekus Singleton is destined to be the next big name in the blues
world.” –Blues & Rhythm Magazine (UK)