Ravinia 2022, Issue 1

JAY BLAKESBERG (MILLER) PAVILION 7:30 PM THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2022 JIMMIE VAUGHAN † –Intermission– STEVE MILLER BAND 6:00 PM, CAROUSEL STAGE SUMMER DRIVE † Winner of the 2021 Bitter Jester Music Festival † Ravinia debut STEVE MILLER BAND Following his college years spent in near- by Wisconsin, Steve Miller took up musical residence in Chicago, but soon decamped for San Francisco, where he put together the first incarnation of the Steve Miller Band. Signing with Capitol in 1967, the group quickly got to work in the studio, releasing its debut album, Children of the Future , early the following year, closely followed by Sailor , which quick- ly rose to number 24 on the Billboard charts with the popularity of “Livin’ in the USA.” Brave New World , featuring the Paul McCart- ney–backed “My Dark Hour,” followed early in 1969, along with Your Saving Grace later that year and Number 5 in 1970, each mak- ing the top 40. After a hiatus, during which Miller recovered from a neck injury, the sing- er-songwriter reimagined his sound, shifting away from psychedelia to straight-ahead, blues-inflected rock to resounding success on the smash hit The Joker (1973), the title track of which captured the top spot on the charts. The success was no fluke; after three years spent writing and recording, the Steve Miller Band returned with Fly Like an Eagle , which produced a trio of hit singles—“Take the Money and Run,” “Rock’n Me,” and the title track—and Book of Dreams the follow- ing year, with its own three hits, “Jet Airlin- er,” “Jungle Love,” and “Swingtown.” With a greatest-hits album keeping him on the airwaves through the end of the ’70s, Miller again took time off to write, resulting in his third chart-topping hit, the title track off 1982’s Abracadabra . His 1986 album Living in the 20th Century featured the rock radio hit “I Want to Make the World Turn Around,” and at the close of the ’80s, the band resumed steady touring. After a long absence, Miller and the band returned to the studio for Bingo! (2010) and Let Your Hair Down (2011). Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. Last spring, he issued a nev- er-before-released concert recording, Steve Miller Band Live! Breaking Ground: August 3, 1977 , as well as complete video footage of the performance. Tonight the Steve Miller Band returns for its seventh season at Ravinia, where it first performed in 2006. JIMMIE VAUGHAN As a young teenager in Oak Cliff, TX, Jim- mie Vaughan was told to take guitar lessons if he really wanted to learn the instrument. But when the teacher said he was “too far gone” to learn from the lesson books, future four-time Grammy winner Vaughan wasn’t dissuaded—the blues would be his teacher for life. He had become possessed with the guitar while listening to the radio signal from Dallas. When he first heard Phil Upchurch’s “You Can’t Sit Down,” The Nightcaps’ “Wine, Wine, Wine,” and B.B. King’s many hit songs in the early 1960s, Vaughan knew he had found his music. For over half a century, it’s been his constant quest to play the blues, whether it was in early-’70s Austin bands like Storm or the Fabulous Thunderbirds, with brother Stevie Ray Vaughan on their 1990 Family Style album, or on his own releases through the ’90s and 2001. But that’s where the solo albums stopped. Nine years later, Vaughan found the urge to start recording the Great American Blues Songbook. He as- sembled the crack band and began recording a dream setlist at Top Hat and Wire Studios in Austin. Never one to back down from a great idea, Vaughan reconvened at the same studio a year later and assembled a second collection of some of his favorite songs, zeroing in on that music’s ability to light a fuse wherever it’s heard. To help celebrate the 10-year anniver- sary of the first of those Plays Blues, Ballads, and Favorites albums, The Pleasure’s All Mine was created from both album sessions and re- leased alongside a vinyl reissue of Vaughan’s 2016 trio album with Mike Flanigin, Live at C-Boy’s , which captured a set at the venerable Austin nightspot that Vaughan calls his home stage. In 2019, he collected his eighth career Grammy nomination with Baby, Please Come Home as well as a Blues Foundation Award for Best Male Artist. Since last fall he’s taken the celebration on the road with The Jimmie Vaughan Story , a special box set and book with over 200 photos covering the breadth of his career. Jimmie Vaughan is making his Ravinia debut. SUMMER DRIVE Summer Drive is a funk rock band based in Oak Park, IL. The band was born in 2016 at School of Rock Oak Park, where the five members met. Over the years, the band has become known locally for its outstanding live shows. Their funky originals take inspiration from artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour, and Jimi Hendrix. The group was named the winner of the 2021 Bitter Jester Music Festival, which earned them tonight’s Ravinia-debut performance slot on the Carousel Stage—look out for future BJMF winners in this space! RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JUNE 15 – JULY 3, 2022 36