The Rev. Jimmie Bratcher To Perform at Popular Texas Blues Concert Series on August 15
Harlingen, TN (July 29, 2009) – Gifted bluesman, the Rev. Jimmie Bratcher, will be the headline performer at the Blues on the Hill concert series in Harlingen, Tex. on August 15, 2009. Sponsored by KMBH Radio, Blues on the Hill plays host to fans from all over the Rio Grande Valley who gather to hear top national and international blues performers. Bratcher will perform songs from his upcoming CD, The Electric Rev, which will release on August 11, 2009 on Ain’t Skeert Tunes.
“I’ve been spinning the Rev. Jimmie Bratcher on the radio for about a year now…what hooked me was the stingin’ full-bodied guitar riffs, his very souful voice and the songwriting elements that give a positive message about life in general,” comments Chris Maley, Program Manager at KMBH Radio and Entertainment Coordinator of the Blues on the Hill concert series.
Pastor, evangelist, author, singer, songwriter and guitarist, “The Rev” preaches in churches every Sunday, but on Saturday nights you’ll find him sharing his amazing testimony and blistering guitar licks onstage in blues clubs and at music festivals, prisons and even biker rallies.
Bratcher’s brand of the blues has been embraced by the Christian market and the mainstream blues industry alike, allowing him to play at both Christian music festivals such as Creation East, Creation West Coast and Rock the Light, and at blues festivals such as Simply the Blues Festival and Boxcar Full of Blues. He has appeared at venues along with Christian artists including Mercy Me, Newsboys and Third Day, and with blues greats including Grammy winner and NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award winner David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Blues Music Award winners Zac Harmon and Otis Taylor, and Livin’ Blues Gold Award winner Hubert Sumlin, one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”
According to Blues Revue Magazine, Bratcher’s upcoming release, The Electric Rev, “…erupts with a blast of righteously down-home funk. It’s as if Ray Charles has been reincarnated in the body of a character from a Woody Allen movie.”
Produced by legendary Grammy Award-winning producer Jim Gaines (Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Journey) and Nashville’s Mike O’Neil, The Electric Rev showcases performances that are both intimate and raw. From the New Orleans street march of “Green Bananas” to the Sunday morning sound of “Pray for Me,” The Electric Rev speaks the language of the blues with a spirit that touches the heart and soul. The CD’s opening cut, “Call On Me,” urges those struggling in their lives and marriages to call on Jesus, letting them know that He is there with them through their darkest hour, all over a sweet gospel groove. “When the Blues Come” and “One Rock” express Bratcher’s love and respect for the blues, while the dobro-driven songs “Elijah’s Road” and “How Far Down” come straight from the soul of a man who knows just how far down the bottom is.
Bratcher, who serves as the bandleader and frequent commentator for the new Sky Angel/TBN TV show “Love, Marriage and Stinking Thinking,” is driven by the desire to point as many people as possible to the reality of the love that God has for them. “The blues is my most effective way to communicate,” says Bratcher.
Jimmie Bratcher’s The Electric Rev will be available on Ain’t Skeert Tunes on August 11, 2009. For more information on Jimmie Bratcher and his new album, The Electric Rev, visit www.jimmiebratcher.com.
