Encore Performing Arts’ Music in the Park series features the Matt Poss Band this Friday, July 17. The group from Effingham, Ill. is a five-piece country rock band in business for over a decade.
The group is comprised of Adam Burtch on bass guitar and vocals; Rob Rennier on drums, percussion and vocals; Matt Poss on vocals, acoustic and electric guitars; Mike ‘Mac’ McDevitt on electric, acoustic and lap steel guitars and vocals; and Jeremy Adam on piano, organ, guitars, accordion and vocals.
Check out their music on their website atwww.mattposs.com and Like them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/
Though based in the Midwest, their website has them zigzagging across the states, touring Europe twice and “hitching rides on all sorts of military aircraft to entertain our troops in Saudi Arabia and ‘downrange’ Afghanistan.”
And they ‘mix it up’—there’s elements of country, bluegrass, rock and blues and even some reggae in “Sweet Spot in the Sun”. Their passionate and diverse fan base continues to grow. Jim Smart, Encore board member, is one of those and recommended the group to the Programming Committee. He commented, “The Matt Poss Band is a high energy Country Rock Band from Effingham, Ill. They combine their own original material and cover tunes into an explosive LIVE show!!!”
In the decade they’ve been together, they’ve released five full-length albums, the last two on their own label, Bonfire Records. And they’ve sold 10,000 of them—not bad in this digital age!
From their website, “The latest album of original music, Greetings, was released in October of 2013. A compilation of hardcore country covers named Bonfire Bootlegs Volume 1 was recently released in late 2014. Despite a full schedule promoting the recent albums, the band is already carving out enough time to write and record their next batch of songs, which will end up in their early 2015 effort, a tribute to the troops named Beans & Bullets. The result will be an album that encompasses the last 10 years of MPB. Seventeen songs that capture the essence of a road-worn and battle-scarred band of brothers. That’s Americana. That’s old school. That’s the Matt Poss Band.”
The Chicago Sun-Times called them show “A high-octane Americana show with the grit of a Texas roadhouse and the soul of a Southern tent revival.”
All Music in the Park concerts are in beautiful Centennial Park in the Young Amphitheater. Bring a lawn chair, your favorite beverage and a picnic to enjoy this special music in a delightful setting. If you don’t want to cook, Delta Theta Tau will once again be offering refreshments.
Ponderosa, too, is offering a box lunch opportunity that needs to be pre-ordered by calling the Encore Office at 935-4987. Choices are:
Veggie Box for $5: Veggies with dip, cheese, fruit and two cookies
Wrap for $7: Ham or turkey, broccoli salad, chips and two cookies
Chicken for $9: Two-piece fried chicken, roll, baked beans and potato salad and two cookies.
Gates open at 6:00 with the performance begin at 7:30. All tickets are $10 for adults with pre-sale available for $8.00. Children and students are free. Pre-sale tickets are available at the Encore Office, ASK. for Flowers, Wagoner’s Music Shop, Martin’s Supermarket, Pilot News, Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, Plymouth Park and Recreation Department and WTCA.
Encore is grateful to Centier Bank, Gibson Foundation and Plymouth Foundry for their support for the season.
Upcoming Encore Happenings:
Friday, July 24 – Babylon Sneakers – Young Amphitheater
Sunday, July 28 – Notre Dame Shakespeare’s Young Company presents ‘Love’s Labor’s Lost’ – River Park Square at 7 – FREE
Aysenur Kolivar from Turkey part of Arts Midwest World Fest Program – November/TBA
