Past Events › The Green Room

Memphis singer/songwriters Vicki Loveland and Van Duren return to the Green Room celebrating more than 10 years of collaboration through hundreds of live shows here and abroad. As recording artists, Vicki and Van have released 3 albums of original songs on their Edgewood Recordings imprint with the most recent, Any Such Thing, making The Memphis Flyer’s “10 Top Albums of 2021 list.” From rock & soul to power pop to orchestral to rhythm & blues to eclectic improvisation, Loveland Duren & Band conjure quite a soundscape to experience live—and the Green Room is the ultimate venue where you can surrender to it all.

Mike digs deep into the musical bag of American roots guitar, favoring the melodic Piedmont style of acoustic blues masters like Mississippi John Hurt and slide great Tampa Red. But Mike can’t be pigeonholed as a blues player, or even as a fingerstylist. He’s far too versatile for that. From bottleneck blues to vintage jazz and much more in between, Mike’s musicality, depth, and mastery of the instrument translates fluently to flattop, archtop, and resonator guitars alike.

Memphis-bred, GRAMMY-nominated, Echo Award-winning bassist/composer Stephan Crump is an active bandleader with twelve critically-acclaimed album releases in addition to numerous film scoring contributions. Known for transforming his instrument into a speaking entity of magnetic pull, his focus on creative instrumental music has led to collaborations with many of the leading lights of his generation, most notably Vijay Iyer, in whose trio and sextet Crump plays a dynamic, founding role. He can also be heard as long-standing member of Jen Chapin Trio, Ches Smith Trio, Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, Liberty Ellman Sextet, Secret Keeper (duo with Mary Halvorson), his own Rosetta Trio (with Jamie Fox, Liberty Ellman), his Rhombal quartet (with Ellery Eskelin, Adam O’Farrill, Tyshawn Sorey), as well as co-led ensembles with Kris Davis, Ingrid Laubrock, Cory Smythe, Eric McPherson, Mat Maneri, and Okkyung Lee.

The Reggae band Chinese Connection Dub Embassy was created by Omar, David, and Joseph Higgins in 2010, bringing hard-hitting originals and revamped covers that leave dance floors Irie all around. They released their first LP in 2013, The Firm Foundation, with the lead singles “Heavy Meditation” and “Tyrant”. They’ve played festivals all over such as Beale Street Music Fest, Wakarusa, Grateful Fest, W.C. Handy Fest, and they’ve opened for such artists as T-Pain, Bone Thugs & Harmony, The Wailers, The Slackers, and Mephiskapheles. After the passing of their fellow band leader/brother Omar Higgins in 2019, Joseph and David are now leading the band to continue the legacy that was built on the foundation of unity. They took a newer Dacehall & Roots Reggae approach to their 2020 project Crew Vibez.

Tim Fitzgerald is a Chicago based guitarist and bandleader. He is also author of the book 625 Alive: the Wes Montgomery BBC Concert Transcribed, which has been hailed as the “Ultimate Study of Wes Montgomery’s music” (Just Jazz Guitar Magazine) and “One of the 50 greatest guitar books of all time” (The 50 Greatest Guitar Books). He has written columns for Downbeat Magazine, Just Jazz Guitar Magazine and Chicago Jazz Magazine and performed clinics at the Frank Mantooth Jazz Festival.

Lilli Lewis has composed in every tradition that inspires her, including soul, Americana, hip hop, classical, folk, jazz, rock, gospel, blues, soul and R&B. She integrated elements of New Orleans funk while co-writing and co-producing “Mask Up” in the summer of 2020. After carving out space for herself as an African-American lesbian of size, Lewis has lent her voice to the inclusion and equity in the music industry by speaking in conferences and seminars for Americana Music Association and Folk Alliance International in her role as VP & Head of A&R at Louisiana Red Hot Records. And she’s further sharing her message in the music of her eagerly awaited “Americana” album, following 2019’s critically acclaimed “We Belong.” In all things, Lewis does her best to live by the creed she and her ensemble have become known for: Practice Radical Decency. That’s a belief system we can get behind!