By Jenn Sheridan
Sept. 19 | 6 p.m.
Whitney Peak Hotel | Reno, Nev.
$55-$125
If live music under the dazzling lights of downtown Reno sounds like a reason for a night out, get ready for Whitney Peak Hotel’s newest concert series – Live from the Arch.
The series will take place on the East ReTRAC lid adjacent to the Reno Arch, and will be the first ticketed outdoor concert series in downtown Reno. Live from the Arch begins on Sept. 19 with iconic blues legend Buddy Guy and alternative hip-hop band G. Love & Special Sauce.
Buddy Guy keeps the blues alive
A modern connection to a genre of music with roots firmly planted in American history, Buddy Guy is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and a major influence on musicians including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
“I was born to play guitar, I got the blues running through my veins,” sings the 79-year-old on his most recent release “Born to Play Guitar,” which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Blues Albums chart this July. The album showcases deliberate and technically sound guitar technique that Guy is best known for.
Though he’s forever associated with Chicago, Guy was born in Louisiana to a sharecropper’s family. His first guitar was a do-it-yourself, two-string contraption fashioned from a piece of wood and secured with his mother’s hairpins. Maybe he’s not exaggerating when he says he’s got the blues running through his veins after all.
In 1957, Guy took his guitar, a proper one this time, to Chicago where he made an impression on musicians such as Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters and began on a path that would forever impact the blues genre.
“Born to Play Guitar” follows the 2013 release of his first double-disc album “Rhythm & Blues,” which also debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Blues Album. A live recording, “Live at Legends,” will be released on Dec. 18 featuring the best performances from his residency at the Legend’s Blues Club in Chicago.
New album for G. Love & Special
Following the release of their 2014 album, “Sugar,” G. Love & Special Sauce embarked on a whirlwind of shows from coast to coast sharing the bluesy, hip-hop style the group is best known for.
“In the chemistry of a band, not just in music, but in life in general, you click with people in a special way. Musically, we’ve always had this synergy,” Garret Dutton, more commonly known as “G. Love,” told The Tahoe Weekly in a 2014 interview.
The synergy continues to grow over the years giving way to new projects. They released a six-song EP called “Sweet ‘N Blues” featuring tracks from the “Sugar” recording sessions in June before going back into the studio to record their next release, “Love Saves the Day,” which will be released on Oct. 30. It’s worth heading to Live from the Arch for a sneak peak of what’s to come on the new album.
The Whitney Peak Hotel hosts an after-party with Morris Day and the Time at Cargo following Live from the Arch. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit cargoreno.com.
