Bridge Street LIVE! Free Public Concerts Begin June 2; 5 Performances Set at Second Annual Family-friendly Series
HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, Arkansas — The Second Annual Bridge Street LIVE! series of free public concerts begins June 2 in the Bridge Street Live Entertainment District in downtown Hot Springs.
“We have four great bands and a DJ scheduled to bring free family-friendly block-party entertainment to Hot Springs,” Visit Hot Springs Marketing Director Bill Solleder said. “We’ll have live music, food and drink vendors and other vendors selling T-shirts and other merchandise in a secure environment. And did I mention that the concerts are free?”
Solleder said the concerts will be staged every Thursday in June, featuring The Party Jammers on June 2; bluesman Larry McCray on June 9; country band Texas Hill on June 16; Top 40 band The Big Dam Horns on June 23, and DJ Kramer on June 30. Each evening’s activities will begin at 5 p.m. and end at 10 p.m., Solleder said.
All ages are invited to come enjoy the evening, but alcoholic beverages will be restricted to adults 21 or older. The Bridge Street LIVE! Events will be confined to an area immediately surrounding Bridge Street that does not include the west side of Central Avenue. For the Bridge Street LIVE! concerts the Hill Wheatley Plaza portion of the district will not be used nor will the area of Malvern Avenue from Convention Boulevard to Church Street.
Bridge Street LIVE! shirts and hats will be available for purchase in the vendor area. Other vendors include artists, crafters and other local businesses.
Fans are invited to bring their own folding chairs, but no coolers will be permitted. Dogs must be on a leash.
• The Party Jammers, performing June 2, describe themselves as a high-energy band, jam-packed with soul. The seven-piece ensemble performs tunes from a spectrum of genres. It consists of two vocalists and one male lead vocalist, drums, bass, guitar and keyboards.
• Arkansas native Larry McCray, performing June 9, plays scalding hot Southern blues rock. Now residing in Michigan, McCray counts among his influences B.B. King, Albert King and Freddie King. He has performed and recorded with Dickey Betts, Derek Trucks, Erick Clapton, The Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh & Friends, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Los Lobos and Jimmy Herring.
•Country band Texas Hill, performing June 16, is a new vocal trio of Craig Wayne Boyd, Adam Wakefield and Casey James. Boyd offers a voice full of gospel-tinged country smoke, Wakefield blends a rootsy bluegrass-and-Americana rasp, and James wraps it with a blue-eyed soul quality and deft blues guitar chops. Each of the individual Texas Hill members earned a national presence as contestants on TV music competitions – Boyd and Wakefield were both members of Blake Shelton’s team during different seasons of NBC’s The Voice, and James developed a following during the Simon Cowell era of FOX’s American Idol. Texas Hill's debut album, Heaven Down Here, was released in January. Sounds Like Nashville praised the project, "With its real-life-inspired lyricism and multi-genre stylistic influences – which melds soul, R&B, country, southern rock, and even some Memphis blues . . . .”
• The Big Dam Horns, performing June 23, were formed in 2012 by a group of friends from Henderson State University’s Band program. The group, which takes its name from Little Rock’s Big Dam Bridge, says it performs a high-energy horn-infused punch of jazz, blues, soul, R&B and rock n’ roll.
DJ Kramer, June 30
• DJ Kramer, performing June 30, is known for his energetic on-air personality. He has spent the better part of the last 20 years in radio, beginning his career in Hot Springs on 105.9 KLAZ. Kramer pioneered the on-air mix-show having DJs like Chaos, Big Brown, Chris K and others doing live mixes on the air. After several station moves in the late ‘90s Kramer found himself a home in New Orleans doing mornings on 104.1 KISS FM. At this point his show had begun syndication. In 2006, Kramer moved his operations to Oklahoma City where he worked afternoons at KJ103 and further refined the overall direction of his show. It was then that he began syndication of his mix-show, which is still heard every Saturday night. In 2008, Kramer took his syndicated program to the studio back in Arkansas. Currently Kramer can be heard in on over 20 stations across several markets stretching from across the U.S., Pacific Islands to the UK.
For more information call Bill Solleder at 501-321-2027.
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