Rockabilly Legend Coming to Salina

The Stiefel Theatre is bringing two more big shows to Salina.

According to the venue, Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist Matt Anderson is coming on Thursday, February 22nd. Then on Saturday, March 9th, iconic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, and three-time Grammy Award-winner Brian Setzer will bring his Rockabilly Riot to town.

About Matt Andersen

When Matt Andersen steps on stage, he brings a lifetime of music to every note he plays. His latest album, “The Big Bottle of Joy”, is all about hard-won celebration; a dozen songs infused with raw blues-rock, rollicking Americana, thoughtful folk, and ecstatic gospel.

Andersen’s stage presence is informed by decades of cutting his teeth in dusty clubs, dim-lit bars, and grand theatres all over the world, delivering soulful performances that run the gamut from intimate to wall-shaking.

In the studio, he’s always brought the same attention to detail and commitment to craft as he has to his live show, and the result – a multi-faceted and poignant body of work – has led him to amass over 28 million streams on Spotify and 26 million views on YouTube.

In addition to headlining major festivals, clubs and theatres throughout North America, Europe, and Australia, he has shared the stage and toured with Marcus King, Beth Hart, Marty Stuart, Greg Allman, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Randy Bachman, Serena Ryder, Tab Benoit, and more.

Andersen nabbed the 2013 and 2016 European Blues Awards for Best Solo/Acoustic Act, was the first ever Canadian to take home top honours in the solo category at the 2010 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, won the CIMA Road Gold award in 2015, and has won multiple Maple Blues Awards.

About Brian Setzer

Iconic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and 3-time Grammy award-winner Brian Setzer has achieved one career milestone after another. He’s sold millions of albums and is a “Musician’s Musician” credited with continually taking chances with innovative and daring musical styles.

Setzer is widely credited for taking two forgotten genres, rockabilly and swing, adding his own blend of gunpowder and rockin’ style, and completely reinventing and single-handedly resurrecting them in the process. Along the way, he has scored chart-topping hits, sold 13 million records and received the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award throughout his decorated career as founder/leader of the Stray Cats, his 19-piece Brian Setzer Orchestra, and as a solo artist.

Setzer is consistently cited as one of the world’s greatest living guitarists, and has a best-selling, extensive line of elite Gretsch signature model guitars bearing his name.

Setzer is also, fittingly, in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

On the live front, Setzer has headlined venues and festivals worldwide, including a 1983 headlining slot on the iconic US Festival in California, The Playboy Jazz Festival, a three-night, sold-out headlining run at the Hollywood Bowl with the 98-piece Philharmonic Orchestra, Woodstock ’99, and performing in front of more than 150,000 people as headliner of the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Setzer’s reach also includes films and TV, where his roles include portraying rockabilly pioneer Eddie Cochran in the 1987 film, La Bamba, Fox’s “Beverly Hills 90210,” among many others, and he is one of the few musicians to be animated in an episode of “The Simpsons” in 2002.

Setzer was personally requested to induct Chet Atkins into the 17th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Setzer had the honor of being invited in 2006 to perform at the White House for the President of the United States. Also in 2006, he was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame with the Stray Cats.

In 2014, Setzer received the distinct honor of being asked by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. to donate a replica of his original 1959 Gretsch 6120 “Stray Cat” guitar, joining an elite collection of iconic treasures at the museum.

Tickets for both shows go on sale this Friday.