Blues, Roots, and Hoots Festival at DCA November 3-5

November 3: Joey Alexander Trio, November 4: Lizz Wright and Bobby Rush, November 5: “Stay Prayed Up” Screening & Spiritual Helpline G

Fish Creek, Wis. (October 26, 2023) – Door Community Auditorium (DCA) will present its first-ever Blues, Roots, and Hoots Festival on the DCA Main Stage from Friday, November 3 through Sunday, November 5. The weekend will include performances by Joey Alexander Trio (November 3), Lizz Wright and Bobby Rush (November 4), and a “Stay Prayed Up” Screening & Spiritual Helpline Gospel Revue and Performance Hosted by Phil Cook & The Union (November 5).

November 3: Joey Alexander Trio

Joey Alexander Trio will perform Friday, November 3, at 7 p.m. A condensed student matinee performance will take place earlier in the day.

Born in Bali, Indonesia, pianist, bandleader, and composer Joey Alexander has been performing professionally since 2013, when (at ten years old) he was invited by Wynton Marsalis to perform at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala. Alexander subsequently moved to New York City and released his debut album, My Favorite Things. Since then, Alexander has netted three Grammy nominations. Over the course of his astonishing career, Alexander has performed with Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding at the Obama White House, for President Bill Clinton at the Arthur Ashe Learning Center Gala, at the Grand Ole Opry, the Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall and at major jazz festivals and night clubs around the world.

NPR called Alexander “dazzling, impossibly inventive . . . graceful.”

Tickets range from $25-45, or $10 for students 18 and under. A limited number of free tickets are available to Door County students participating in the arts.

November 4: Lizz Wright and Bobby Rush

Lizz Wright and Bobby Rush will perform in a double bill on Saturday, November 4, at 7 p.m.

With a luxuriant voice redolent of the red soil that sustained her growing up in Georgia, Lizz Wright sanctifies every song she sings. While the highly acclaimed vocalist first gained attention delivering Swing Era standards associated with Billie Holiday, she’s continued in recent years as a singer/songwriter whose music eludes definition. The Guardian has called her music “spellbinding jazz of soulful intimacy.”

Two-time Grammy winning Blues Hall of Famer Bobby Rush is one of the preeminent bluesmen in the world, one of the last living links to the music’s glorious past, and an inspiration for its future stars. Americana Highways calls Rush “a bluesman on the top of his game.” In Rush’s own words: “Blues is the root of all music; it’s the mother of all music. If you don’t like the blues, you probably don’t like your mama.”

Tickets range from $35-58, or $10 for students 18 and under. A limited number of free tickets are available to Door County students participating in the arts.

November 5: “Stay Prayed Up” Screening & Spiritual Helpline Gospel Revue and Performance Hosted by Phil Cook & The Union

On Sunday, November 5, at 7 p.m., DCA will present this tent revival disguised as a movie screening. “Stay Prayed Up” is a fast-paced, foot-thumping documentary that follows Lena Mae “Mother” Perry and The Branchettes as they prepare to record their first fully live album (a hallmark in the canon of Black gospel groups) with producer Phil Cook, a white Wisconsin-born gospel enthusiast and musical polyglot who’s half of Perry’s age. Through shared prayer, laughter, hardships and praise, this “church gospel noisy crew” demonstrates that music, like faith, ain’t nothing without some fire inside. After the free screening of “Stay Prayed Up,” Phil Cook and The Union will bring the film’s gospel music to life on the DCA stage with the Phil Cook Spiritual Helpline Gospel Revue.

The New York Times called “Stay Prayed Up” “inspiring in the ways of both shaking the rafters and invoking peace in the valley.”

This is a free event, made possible with support from supporting sponsor The Cramer Family Fund.

The Blues, Roots, and Hoots Festival is made possible in part by grant funding from the Community Investment Fund, a program of Destination Door County and Door County Community Foundation.

The student matinee and free tickets for Door County students participating in the arts is made possible with support from Passport Program sponsors including Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant & Butik, Carrington Pub, Peninsula Pulse, Matt and Karla Sagorac, The Dörr Hotel, Wisconsin Public Radio, Chris & Willow Alexander, Grasse’s Grill, The Red Putter, the Rinkleff Family, and Wood Rabbit Acupuncture.

DCA is located at 3926 Highway 42 in Fish Creek. The box office is open Monday-Friday, 12-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in person, on the phone at (920) 868-2728, or online at www.dcauditorium.org.