Willis Alan Ramsey w/Ray Bonneville co-presented by Twist & Shout
**Take advantage of advance ticket prices, as they go up the day of the show!** ADV: $22/$20 MEM; DOS: $24/$22 MEM
Willis Alan Ramsey, a singer/songwriter with deep Texas roots, released his first and only album, called Willis Alan Ramsey, in 1972 on Leon Russell's Shelter Records label. The recording was a critical success that included "Boy From Oklahoma," a tribute to Woody Guthrie.
Jimmy Buffett and Jerry Jeff Waker, among others, covered Ramsey's songs, but the song that became best known was a knockoff Ramsey called "Muskrat Candlelight." Released by the pop group America, it was later recorded and retitled "Muskrat Love" by The Captain and Tennille and reached the Billboard Top 10, becoming one of the most popular songs of our time. Ramsey eventually left both Shelter Records and the United States, moving to Great Britain in the 1980s to explore Celtic songwriting and instrumental traditions.
When he returned to the United States, he was reintroduced to Lyle Lovett, who had run the University of Texas coffeehouse where Ramsey played in the early 1970s. He and Lovett wrote the song, "North Dakota," heard on Lovett's 1992 album, Joshua Judges Ruth. A few years later, Shawn Colvin recorded "Satin Sheets," which helped stimulate interest in a new Ramsey recording. Lovett, who called Willis Alan Ramsey "one of the greatest records of all time," has since covered a newer Ramsey song, "Sleepwalking."
His self-titled debut recording has been re-released by Koch Records and is creating a whole new generation of fans around the world, some 37 years its original release. Ramsey is returning to touring in advance of a long-anticipated followup record. "Willis has really not toured that extensively in the past couple of decades," said Frank Riley of High Road Touring, “but there has long been excitement out there about his return." We couldn’t be happier to be working with Willis Alan Ramsey as his Denver stop!
Opening the show is the outstanding blues guitarist Ray Bonneville, who's shared bills with everyone from B.B. King to Muddy Waters, and whose song, "I Am the Big Easy," was the 2009 Folk Alliance Award Winner for Song of the Year. "Ray Bonneville may have one of the sexiest guitar styles around." — Acoustic Guitar
