Ally Venable and Solomon Hicks

Texas blues-rock singer/songwriter and guitarist extraordinaire, Ally Venable, entertains wherever she goes. With her signature glitter dresses and black knee-high boots, Venable comes off the ropes swinging, dazzling crowds on tour or throughout the festival circuit. "Venable pulls off a stunner of gritty and/or sultry blues-rock tunes embellished with lots of tasty guitar solos." - Guitar Player Magazine.

A Kilgore, Texas native, Ally began singing at church at four and picked up the guitar at age 12. By 13, she started her own band and through her early influence of Stevie Ray Vaughan, captured the passion and yearning for more in the blues genre. Early releases No Glass Shoes (2016) and Puppet Show (2018) started her fanbase, charting radio play, and several East Texas Music Awards. It was 2019’s #2 Billboard Blues charting Texas Honey and rocking sets on Ruf’s European Blues Caravan tour that propelled her internationally. “Ally is the future of blues and the crossover music of American roots-rock.” - Mike Zito.

In what silenced many musicians during the pandemic, Venable now in her 20s, released another Blues Billboard charting album, Heart of Fire (2021), which challenged her to write not only about love but the unguarded honesty of feeling pain. ”On this album,I really wanted to create a tone of overcoming your struggles and persevering through them,” she explains. Mentor and featured artist on this album, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, lends his guitar skills on XM Bluesville’s charted song, “Bring on the Pain.” In 2022, Guitar World Magazine named Ally #2 on the top 15 Young Guns Making the Gibson Les Paul Cool Again, and she received the Road Warrior award from the Independent Blues Music Awards. Along with Ally’s own tour domestically and in Europe, her band has supported Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepherd throughout the US, as well as Colin James in Canada. She has performed as a featured artist on the Experience Hendrix Show at the ACL Live at Moody Theater in Austin, Texas.

https://allyvenableband.com(opens in a new tab)

Solomon Hicks, aka King Solomon Hicks, the 28-year-old guitar phenom from New York City [Guitarist, Vocalist, and Composer] invested in music from a very young age and started playing guitar at six years old. Growing up in Harlem he was constantly surrounded by music. Solomon witnessed performances that made a significant impact on his ambitions as a musician and he says: “When you’re around good musicians, it gives you that spark. Being around those types of musicians also taught me to NOT be the fastest guitar player. I wanted to be the one who knew the most riffs and drew on a lot of knowledge so I could play anything and with anyone."

Solomon won the 2021 Blues Music Awards for Best Emerging Artist for his 2020 CD release, Harlem on Provogue Records. The set, produced/recorded by multiple Grammy Award winner Kirk Yano (Miles Davis, Public Enemy, Mariah Carey), showcases Hicks as a writer, player and interpreter.

He was WXPN’s “Artist To Watch” for August 2020, His original song “421 SouthMain” made the Top 20 Blues Songs of 2020 on Spotify, and the song “What the Devil Loves” still gets spins on “Sirrus Bluesville” Radio. He has performed on KISS Kruise V, Joe Bonamassa’s Blues Alive at Sea [2017 & 2019]. He's shared stages with Buddy Guy, Samantha Fish, Tony Bennett, Jeff Beck, Ringo Starr, Jimmie Vaughn, Beth Hart, Mavis Staples, Robert Cray, Eric Gales, Norman Nardini, and many others. He is a member of the Blues Foundation in Memphis.

Solomon has been judged by the IBCs in Memphis [International Blues Challenge] as being a supporter of young Musicians and The Blues Foundation. He paid his own success forward by teaching music for the Children's Aid Society, working with the Harlem Arts Alliance and the New York City Jazzmobile.(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)

(opens in a new tab)https://www.kingsolomonhicks.com(opens in a new tab)