Young Blues Performer Jarekus Singleton To Be At Bessie Smith Strut

  • Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Jarekus Singleton, touring in support of his Alligator Records debut, Refuse to Lose, will perform at the Bessie Smith Strut on Monday, June 13.  He will perform at the Bessie Smith Hall Stage at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available at www.riverbendfestival.com

Review for Jarekus Singleton:

Singleton 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 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, 30-year-old Jarekus Singleton's cutting-edge sound - equally rooted in rap, rock and blues traditions - is all his own. 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 step onto 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.

Singleton has been tearing up clubs and festivals across the South, and performed twice at the world-renowned Chicago Blues Festival. He has been featured at South Carolina's Lowcountry Blues Festival and Festival of Discovery as well as many other festivals in the South and clubs throughout Mississippi. 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 Cincinnati Blues Festival, and the Festival International du Blues de Tremblant, Singleton is on the cusp of international stardom. 

Born into a family of church musicians and vocalists on July 11, 1984 in Clinton, Ms., 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. In his late teens, Jarekus pursued a career in basketball, becoming a top-seeded national player in college until an injury took him back to his music full time. For a short period he performed as a rap artist, writing his own lyrics. Before long though, he began combining his rap wordsmithing with the music of his Mississippi heritage, creating a thoroughly modern, masterfully updated take on the blues. 

In 2009, he formed The Jarekus Singleton Blues Band, quickly building a reputation as a tremendously gifted musician and performer. Jarekus self-released his first CD, Heartfelt, in 2011, and fans and media quickly took notice of these brand new original songs.


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