Ben Prestage in Concert! Nick and Kathy Bernardi Open

Ben’s maternal great-grandmother was the leader of an all-girls band (at a time when that was unheard-of) that toured the popular vaudeville circuit and performed with one of the most famous and highest paid stars of the 1920’s- Al Jolson. Her daughter was an accomplished boogie-woogie piano player.

On his father’s side, Ben’s grandfather played Blues and Country guitar in a Mississippi string band, when he wasn’t sharecropping cotton and sweet potatoes or cutting timber.

Prestage cut his teeth performing in Florida fish camps, biker bars and tourist traps. After a stint as busker/street performer on historic Beale Street in Memphis, TN Ben emerged as one of world’s top one-man-bands.

Ben’s own brand of Deep South Swamp Music has been featured at some of the world’s premier Blues, Jazz, Americana, and Folk festivals. Armed with self-crafted instruments made from roasting pans, alligator heads, and even a closet door Prestage creates a unique sound that has earned him numerous awards and nominations. After releasing a dozen albums, and touring across the US and more than a dozen countries, Ben Prestage continues to create music that “soars like a swamp hawk and wallows like an old bull gator.”

Find some tunes and more here:
benprestage.com

Opening the show will be our talented friends, the Bernardis! The duo of Kathy and Nick Bernardi started out as a couple over 50 years ago. Many years after moving to Southwest Florida, they got the notion to try out some open MICs, and found out he could play, and she could sing, and that it was fun. And so, the adventure began.

Florida offered them many other opportunities, including the Guitar Army in Punta Gorda, the Barberville Folk Festivals in Pierson, and The Farm stage in Brooksville. It is here they found their music family. The Bernardis offer an eclectic blend of Americana and contemporary music. Some of them are obscure songs written by well-known artists.

Door Donations:
Members/$15
General Admission/$20

Tickets are available at the door.

ACMA Listening Room doors open at 6:30 pm and concert begins at 7:00 pm