October 27, 2021
Doors open at 6 pm, show starts at 7 pm
Hardywood’s Barrel Room, Ownby Lane, Richmond VA
Tickets $25 in advance / $30 at door
Sometimes the best things musically can be found in your own backyard!
Guitarist, singer and interpreter of the music we call the blues, Elizabeth Wise was born in Virginia and currently calls RVA home. But she’s traveled the world inhaling that music wherever she finds herself. Her career now spans more than a decade of performing professionally in bars, clubs, and living rooms as well as on festival stages up and down the East Coast. Listening to, learning from, and living with the music that inspires her and sharing her passion for great songs and good times, you’ll find her in solo settings with an acoustic guitar and in more raucous environs backed by a full band as she’ll have for this show.
In the words of New York musician Kenny White, “Elizabeth faithfully carries on the traditions of Elizabeth Cotton and Malvina Reynolds (with a dose of Bessie Smith, for good measure). Elizabeth Wise is a vital link who connects us to this fast fading golden era, and breathes new life into it.”
Wise has indeed traveled the world and truly lived in it, from the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains and on up the James River to the “Richmondtown” she reflects wistfully on in one of her many original compositions. She’s equally at ease in the juke joints of Memphis and folk clubs of Manhattan to the wilds of New Zealand, where she spent a year communing with her restless muse and spreading her respect for the blues. Her formative years began playing piano and singing church music; later coming of age as a fully formed folk artist steeped in traditions that trace their roots back to Appalachian hills, Kentucky bluegrass, and, of course, the blues of the Delta. As the Memphis Blues Society noted, Wise is “authentic yet refreshingly original,” and “a blueswoman at the dawn of a superb career.”
Joining Elizabeth for our show, playing standards and originals, will be an A-list collection of some of RVA’s best musicians: Rusty Farmer – Bass; Scott Milstead – Drums; Carlos Chafin – Keys; J.C. Kuhl – Sax; Toby Whitaker – Trombone; Bob Miller – Trumpet.
Get a taste of Elizabeth from a few months ago at IYE Studio.
Please note:
We want this to be a safe experience for everyone. Holding this show at Hardywood allows for attendees to be seated further apart for social distancing purposes. All guests will be asked to show proof of full COVID vaccinations or a recent negative test and wear masks until seated. We will strictly follow whatever guidance from the CDC and Virginia Department of Health exists at the time of the event.
Also, while there will be no pot-luck or BYOB, Hardywood has a large selection of great beers and delicious pizzas for sale.