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Bluesday Tuesday

KASU BLUESDAY TUESDAY AUGUST 8 AT NEWPORT COUNTRY CLUB

The next KASUBluesday Tuesday Concert at Newport Country Club will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, August 12 featuring Snap Crow Legs, a Jonesboro band that plays an interesting mix of blues-influenced musical styles.

Snap Crow Legs was formed in 2005 by several faculty and students at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.  All of its members are scientists who happen to believe that the practices of music and science reinforce each other.  The band started out performing covers of rock standards, but their repertoire has expanded to include more regional music of interest – blues, Southern rock, and Americana.  They have also posted a few original songs on reverbnation.com.

While members have come and gone over the years, the core group of  Dr. Rich Grippo (bass guitar, harmony vocals),  Dr. Tanja McKay (violin) and Dr. Greg Phillips (guitar, vocals) have been continuing members.  Unfortunately, Tanja will not be joining Snap Crow Legs for Bluesday Tuesday due to a conflict. 

Grippo and McKay are faculty members of the Department of Biological Sciences, and Phillips is a faculty member of the College of Agriculture and Technology.  The current lineup includes Shane Eason (lead guitar, vocals), who joined the band while an undergraduate student in agricultural business, and is currently pursuing a master’s of agricultural economics at the University of Tennessee – Martin.  A guest drummer for Bluesday Tuesday will be announced.

McKay also performs locally with the band Sky City.  Grippo has performed with a number of praise bands in Jonesboro and sits in with a blue-grass band in Nashville.  Phillips also performs with the band Hobbit Nirvana, most recently in Savannah, Georgia. 

Bluesday Tuesday concerts have been   presented as a community service by KASU, the Arkansas State University public radio station, on the second Tuesday of each month at Newport Country Club since April 2010. The band payments are  underwritten by ASU-Newport, C and C Distributors and Harris Ford of Newport. KASU passes the hat for tips. 

This will be the last Bluesday Tuesday concert presented by the station, due to changing financial requirements at the performance venue.  General manager Mike Doyle said, “We’ve had almost a seven-year run in Newport, going back to 2007 when concerts were presented at the Brick Room restaurant downtown until it closed. We appreciate our sponsors and Newport Country Club for making these concerts possible, and the faithful listeners and dancers who have attended and   supported these free musical events.”