With a legendary career spanning five decades, KANSAS has firmly established itself as one of America’s iconic classic rock bands. This "garage band" from Topeka released their debut album in 1974 after being discovered by Wally Gold, who worked for Don Kirshner, and have gone on to sell more than 30 million albums worldwide.

Composing a catalogue that includes sixteen studio albums and five live albums, KANSAS has produced eight gold albums, three sextuple-Platinum albums (Leftoverture, Point of Know Return, Best of KANSAS), one platinum live album (Two for the Show), one quadruple-Platinum single ‘Carry On Wayward Son,’ and another triple-Platinum single ‘Dust in the Wind.’ KANSAS appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the ‘70's and ‘80's and played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. ‘Carry On Wayward Son’ continues to be one of the top five most played songs on classic rock radio, and ‘Dust In the Wind’ has been played on the radio more than three million times! 

The summer of 2020 marked the release of “The Absence of Presence,” KANSAS’s sixteenth studio album, which debuted at #10 on Billboard’s Top Current Albums chart.  The wide-ranging progressive rock album, released by InsideOut Music, follows-up 2016’s “The Prelude Implicit,” which debuted at #14 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart.  

Throughout 2016-2022, the band celebrated the anniversaries of multi-Platinum breakout albums “Leftoverture” and “Point of Know Return” with anniversary tours for both albums. Both tours were commemorated with live album releases “Leftoverture Live & Beyond” (2017) & “Point of Know Return Live & Beyond” (2021).

The band is currently comprised of original drummer Phil Ehart, bassist/vocalist Billy Greer, vocalist/keyboardist Ronnie Platt, keyboardist/vocalist Tom Brislin, violinist/guitarist Joe Deninzon, and original guitarist Richard Williams. With no signs of slowing down, KANSAS continues to perform in front of large and enthusiastic audiences.

Along with constant touring, KANSAS continues to remain a fixture of Classic Rock radio and popular culture. The band continues to reach a whole new audience through their unmistakable presence in various commercials, live sports broadcasts, popular video games Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and Grand Theft Auto; the band’s documentary film “KANSAS: Miracles Out of Nowhere,” and a guest appearance on The CW’s television show ‘Walker.’ The band’s songs have also been included in various television shows such as ‘Supernatural,’ ‘Reacher,’ ‘All Elite Wrestling,’ ‘South Park,’ ‘The Office,’ and ‘The Simpsons;’ as well as blockbuster films including ‘Old School,’ ‘The Suicide Squad,’ ‘Anchorman,’ ‘Pitch Perfect,’ and ‘Happy Gilmore.’ 


For worldwide booking contact Keith Naisbitt at APA at knaisbitt@apa-agency.com

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The Mannakings are an up and coming (currently) two piece London based band that formed in 2010. The band includes Theo Sowerbutts (Vocals and Guitar) and Troy Sowerbutts (Drums).
Lyrics written by Theo Sowerbutts
Instrumentals written by The Mannakings
Influences: The Doors, Joy Division, Neil Young, The Cure, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Velvet Underground, Jefferson Airplane, The Strokes

“Freedom is another word,” so the song went back in an easier and less costly time, “for nothing left to lose.” Freedom—the kind that Tedeschi Trucks Band has created for themselves since their inception in 2010—has come at a much higher price and required a deeper sense of dedication. It’s the kind of freedom that has allowed them to keep a band that has grown to more than a dozen musicians and crew on the road for five years, garnering an ever-increasing international audience, while developing a musical identity that has yielded original, award-winning recordings. 

Let Me Get By is the third and latest studio album by the TTB, featuring ten new, original songs that together stand as a testament to the hard work, independent spirit, and now full-on commitment of the husband-and-wife team of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, plus the musicians and music professionals who are part of the band’s ongoing journey. The album’s artwork—a Mongolian golden eagle caught moments after flying from its master’s glove—and even the album title, reflect the sense of total dedication that serves as the driving wheel of TTB.

“’Let Me Get By’ actually refers to a lot of things,” says Trucks, “like the band becoming more self-reliant than ever before—writing our own songs and producing our own music in our own studio. It’s about moving on to a new recording label with a deal that gives us more freedom, and personally, I found myself with more time to focus on TTB after the Allman Brothers played their final shows this past year. 

“It definitely took time for us to get here. I think the connections we have in this band and among the crew and extended family is the real reason why. I look around the stage every night and am just in awe of the situation—the music’s amazing and road-tested and we all really like each other. That’s what I hear in the music on this new album—this feeling that we’re now putting 100% of what we have into this band, not going back to anything else, not having anywhere else to go.”

The TTB journey began on April 1, 2010 with their first gig at the Savannah Music Festival, and led to the recording and release of their Grammy-winning debut album Revelator in 2011, and Made Up Mind two years later. During their five-year rise, the group toured incessantly, raising their profile and being handpicked to play with the likes of Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and Santana; to appear on television shows hosted by Jay Leno, Conan, and on the premiere of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show; and hosting special all-star musical salutes themselves, including Bonnaroo’s Superjam in 2014 (with Chaka Khan, Anthony Hamilton, Taj Mahal, and others), and Lock’n Festival’s Tribute to Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen in 2015 (with Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, and many other original members.) 

What began as an eight-piece group has now expanded to an onstage lineup of twelve musicians—a lineup that has remained unusually consistent. In 2015, for the fifth straight year, they were on the road for more than 200 days, and sold more tickets than ever before. Swamp Raga, the recording studio that Trucks and Tedeschi built from scratch next to their house, has been expanded and updated to the point that no other facilities are required. Bobby Tis, the band’s longtime, on-the-road monitor engineer has become their full-time studio engineer; Trucks himself now serves as sole producer. All tracks on Let Me Get By, to be released on January 29, 2016, are credited to Trucks, with three songs co-produced by guitarist and longtime collaborator Doyle Bramhall II.

“Derek hears everything from a big picture stance,” says his wife and band co-leader, singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. “Not just track by track but the album as a whole. What needs to be added, when a song is done, and he really knows how to get the best out of each player. On this album I feel like I was personally produced with more direction than I ever have. He instinctively knew when I could sing a better take, and would have a suggestion or two, and that really brought the best out of me.”

Let Me Get By is the culmination of an exceptionally busy year for TTB. The music on the album in fact, as guitarist and bandleader Trucks remembers, was born during tour rehearsals in their hometown of Jacksonville, Florida in January with an impromptu idea played by the band’s keyboardist. “The song ‘Let Me Get By” started at sound check one day, Kofi [Burbridge] playing that riff and then we took it into the studio and [singer] Mike Mattison and Sue went upstairs and the lyrics just poured out. It's a bunch of different true stories meshed into one.”

Like the group’s other recordings, Let Me Get By benefits from a number of musical elements that have become TTB trademarks: their deep sense of American roots music: rock, blues, soul, and especially gospel; Their balance of easy-flowing song structures and soaring, improvisational sections; Tedeschi’s spiritually charged vocals, and Trucks’ wide range of guitar tones, slide and picked, from back-alley, distorted rawness to Indian sitar-like sinuousness. 

There are a number of characteristics that differentiate the music on this new album. One is a clearer, more mature musical identity that comes through a generous array of musical moods and feels. Tedeschi credits it to the inside familiarity among the group’s members: “the album didn’t come from any outside influence. This is the first time it’s all in-house, so I feel it's really a good look at the actual band in action, how we communicate together.” Trucks agrees, adding that “the band is in a better place than it's ever been that way. When everybody would be in the room anyone could just throw out ideas and everybody’d be willing to listen. You have to really trust each other and not be afraid of getting your feelings hurt. That’s more how it was at the beginning but now it’s a fun process, with everyone contributing.”

Another growth ring is a sense of expansion to TTB’s sonic signature. There’s an increased focus on Tedeschi’s powerful guitar playing (especially on “Don’t Know What It Means,” in which she solos powerfully before her husband’s guitar statement. As well, the album features the first lead vocals on a TTB album by Mike Mattison (on “Crying Over You” and “Right On Time”), whose mastery as a lyricist and songwriter has always been a central part of the TTB sound.

For Trucks, Let Me Get By is concrete evidence that the band is on the right track, and that more singular music will continue to flow from the expansive yet tightly connected musical family TTB has become. “There’s a lot of sacrifice that goes into a band like this and the fact that everybody’s on board musically, hearts and minds, makes it very humbling. There are nights on stage when I think I don’t know if it’s ever been more fun to be in a band and be on the road and be alive than it is right now with a group like this. For me, that’s the joy and the thankfulness that comes across in Let Me Get By. 

“Susan and I take that seriously and at the same time, Susan started a kind of joke about it. After shows, she started to say to everyone, ‘Thanks for letting me be in your band’ and we’d all laugh. Now we all say it.”

One of music’s true originals Van Morrison’s unique and inspirational musical legacy is rooted in postwar Belfast.

“It took life for us to get to this point – Everybody was so free.
From the first notes, it sounded like an explosion of sound; we went where the songs took us with a singularity of purpose.
We came in to make music as grown-ups, to make music as men.”
– Raul Malo, lead singer of The Mavericks

The Mavericks are back. The country-steeped garage band with a Cuban American lead singer that had emerged from Miami in 1989 with their sultry debut that was equal parts innocence, intensity, and vintage influences has reunited in 2012 after an eight-year hiatus.  Time has a way of melting when you’re busy living life – and two decades have passed since their polyrhythmic brand of post-modern country has given the world “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down,” “Here Comes The Rain,” and “Dance The Night Away.”

With their new album, time melts once again, and the band that defied definitions, blurred genres, and made everybody feel good is back. The “most interesting band in the world” has captured the infectious energy and robust sound from their live shows on their new Valory Music release In Time. Songs like “Dance In The Moonlight,” the Orbison-esque “Born To Be Blue,” the horn-punctuated retro noir “Back In Your Arms Again,” and the Tejano-esque “All Over Again” show that the Mavericks have once again found the way to make genre-defying soul music.

For Raul Malo, the lead singer with the rich supple voice that’s second to only Roy Orbison in its ability to convey lonesomeness, desire, and vivre; drummer Paul Deakin and multi-instrumentalist Robert Reynolds; as well as longtime collaborator keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden and seasoned guitarist Eddie Perez, life has become richer in terms of experience, playing acumen, and a sense of their own musicality. It has also deepened the connection between them in a way that heightens the singular chemistry that made the Grammy-winning band one of the most exciting live acts in any musical genre.

“Maybe the space has given us a sense not of how it can happen, but what can happen when we come together,” says Deakin, who has spent the years apart balancing master-level carpentry with touring with David Mead and Jason White. “Just being there, and experiencing it, you don’t think about it. But there is definitely something when you get Raul, Robert, Eddie, Jerry Dale, and I in a room together that’s magical."

“The way this record happened really fostered the passion, the urgency and the hyper-listening of being in tune with each other. It’s a way of being in tune we don’t have with anyone else.” 

This is ironic, since other than a disjointed album eight years ago, the Mavericks had gone their separate ways. Through happenstance, serendipity, and a collective convergence of the cosmos, the band members found themselves entertaining the notion of some live shows for major festivals; then the idea of recording emerged.

Eight years had passed; they’d barely spoken, hadn’t been in the same room, hadn’t given the band more than a passing thought.

But the Mavericks have never been conventional. Indeed, with the passage of time, their legend has grown – and wherever the individual members went, the question of reuniting seemed to grow exponentially.

“I’d always dismissed the people who asked (about The Mavericks) as just holding on to the past,” laughs Malo. “A moment in their lives, some notion that was more fantasy than fact. But the years passed, I kept making music and they never died – those questions.” Malo, the man who feared re-treading what had once been began to rethink whether there was more music to be made.

“It’s funny,” says Perez, who has made music with Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters, Dwight Yoakam, Miranda Lambert, George Straight, Lee Ann Womack, and Raul as a solo artist, “it was a maybe to some touring dates, and then what was a few shows turned into, ‘Hey, maybe let’s make a record.’ It just snow-balled, because I think everyone of us lives to make music, and together, we all know it’s like nothing else.”

The time apart has also strengthened everyone’s musicality.

“I expected everybody to play their asses off,” Malo confesses. “That they’d step in like men and make music. And they did. ”

What Malo doesn’t say is that the band did zero pre-production. He was on tour in Europe. Other band members had commitments. Everybody simply showed up and allowed things to happen.

Harvesting a sea of influences – from Dean Martin to the Sir Douglas Quintet, from Hank Williams and  Ray Price to tangos, polkas, and Ravel’s “Bolero” – this album  is as bold as it was exciting to record. Or, as Perez laughs, “It’s so many genres… if you had to call it something, I guess it would have to be ‘inclusive’.”

“I think it took 30 seconds,” Malo says of the band’s inherent chemistry. “We started playing, and it just happened. It was that explosion of sounds! There’s this beautiful simplicity to this, because when we play together, we know each other so well.”

“There was a sense anything could go wrong at any moment,” Deakin concurs. “So there was this immediacy – and this notion of really being ‘in’ it. Raul didn’t let us hear the songs on purpose, so we were all really listening, really paying attention because we didn’t know what was going to happen."

Paul Deakin outlines the band’s album history: “Crying Shame was our first real recording session in Nashville with major producers, but it remained the ‘raw us’,” said Deakin. “Music for All Occasions was recorded in the basement of Sony Publishing, and Trampoline was a massive live production.  In Time feels really, really good. Like when we were making music in the warehouse back in Hialeah (FL). In the end, we went all the way back: we’re like a garage band behind that voice.” 

For all the polish and sophistication, sold out shows at the UK’s Royal Albert Hall, cultural blurring and tours of South America and Europe, United States and Canada, The Mavericks are, indeed, a post-punk band with deep retro-fittings from Miami’s indie scene. That existing beyond the lines is why the lush ‘50s stroll of  “That’s Not My Name” is as comfortable as the jukin’ “As Long As There’s Lovin’ Tonight,” the stoic tenderness of “In Another’s Arms,” or the epic build-and-recede “Call Me When You Get To Heaven,” featuring the legendary McCrary Sisters, which went down in one take.

“I see this as a record everyone’s invited to,” Malo explains. “It’s a mix of different rhythms, different places and times. From rednecks to Cubans, Mexicans to gringos to WASPs – you can imagine this band pulling into a country festival and playing ‘Dance In The Moonlight’” – and everybody dances. It’s taking people to new places, but knowing it’s all one world.”

“We constantly struggle with the definition of mainstream,” explains Reynolds. “There were moments obviously when we were ‘in’ it, but it’s more the mainstream embracing us from where we exist on the musical fringes. But rather than being something we’re not, we’ve always stayed true – and by being square pegs, we also probably reflect America, because America’s roots are a melting pot.”

Reynolds continues, “listen to Raul’s writing: that strength and passion! He paints a larger universe. Big love, big loss, big joy – and party, live! It’s exciting musically, but it’s tricky because it can feel joyous, but sometimes it’s actually this really big pain.”

“Raul’s ability to write a simple lyric,” Deakin states, “reflects the mass of humanity, even though it’s one man. When you add his voice, and that sense of melody, it moves people.”

On the new album, “Amsterdam Moon” celebrates the sensual jolt of being alive. Even the Spaghetti Western-inspired “Come Unto Me” ripples with drama, as Malo’s voice grows bolder and more epic in its bravado.

Keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden, who started with the band in '93, says, “The new music results in a magic that happens when we play together. You don’t recognize that our work was labored over. No, instead, we make it look like it’s music that we just started playing.” McFadden believes In Time will be applauded by old fans and will likely attract a new audience as well. “We made a great record, and there are plenty of folks who will discover this music and vibe for the first time.”

“This is a very masculine record,” Malo says. “There’s a little bravado in there, I’ll say that. It’s the bullfighter with the flower in his mouth, but it’s also about men… and women… and how different we are, but how much we want and desire each other.”

Getting back to being what they are underscores everything about The Mavericks’ return to form – the ferocity of their playing, the singularity of their intent – and yes, the copious sense of exuberance that infuses every note of the album. 

“Our relentless pursuit of fun and our selfish notion of pleasing ourselves has always driven us,” Deakin concedes. “But pleasing ourselves creatively has also always worked for us, creating an immediacy that makes us true to the songs. We don’t create for a niche or a genre, but to capture the spirit – and that’s always been our strong point.”

“When we were the new kids, there was this excitement,” Reynolds continues. “Maybe even a naiveté that came off as brash, but we were always sincere. We were never trendy, because we weren’t chasing anything. Maybe we were rebels because we were different… But I think people realize now, this is who we are, what we do. It’s not hipster, it’s who we are.”

“The fans have always understood us,” says Raul.  “We made them feel good – and that was something then, as now I think, people wanted. Life is so serious; even for a moment, let’s forget and enjoy!”

“One of the best parts of our relationship with our new label Valory Music is that Scott (Borchetta, Big Machine Label Group CEO) understands what makes us what we are. He was there when we were happening, and he was very supportive! No one at the label wanted to put handcuffs on us. They just wanted a Mavericks record… and I think we gave them one.”


Mickey Hart is best known for his nearly three decades as an integral part of an extraordinary expedition into the soul and spirit of music, disguised as the rock and roll band the Grateful Dead. As half of the percussion tandem known as the Rhythm Devils, Mickey and Bill Kreutzmann transcended the conventions of rock drumming. Their extended polyrhythmic excursions were highlights of Grateful Dead shows, introducing the band's audience to an ever-growing arsenal of percussion instruments from around the world. Exposure to these exotic sounds fueled Mickey's desire to learn about the various cultures that produced them.

His tireless study of the world's music led Mickey to many great teachers and collaborators, including his partners in Planet Drum. Planet Drum's self-titled album not only hit #1 on the Billboard World Music Chart, remaining there for 26 weeks, it also received the Grammy for Best World Music Album in 1991-- the first Grammy ever awarded in this category. Planet Drum is one of twenty-nine recordings released on Mickey's the WORLD series on Rykodisc. The WORLD offers a wide variety of music from virtually every corner of the globe with releases like Voices of the Rainforest from Papua New Guinea and Living Art, Sounding Spirit: The Bali Sessions. In 2002, Mickey established The Endangered Music Fund to return royalty payments from many of these recordings to the indigenous people that produced them, and to further the preservation of sounds and music from around the globe.  

Mickey's experiences have paved the way for unique opportunities beyond the music industry. He composed a major drum production performed by an assembly of 100 percussionists for the opening ceremony of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. Additionally, Mickey has composed scores, soundtracks and themes for movies and television including Apocalypse Now, Gang Related, Hearts of Darkness, The Twilight Zone, the 1987 score to The AmericaÍs Cup: The Walter Cronkite Report, Vietnam: A Television History, and The Next Step. In 1994 Mickey was inducted with The Grateful Dead into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Mickey has written four books documenting his lifelong fascination with the history and mythology of music. These include Drumming at the Edge of Magic, Planet Drum, Spirit into Sound: The Magic of Music, and Songcatchers: In Search of the WorldÍs Music.

Long a social activist, Mickey appeared in August, 1991 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging, speaking on the healing value of drumming and rhythm on afflictions associated with aging. Since joining the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at Beth Abraham Hospital in 2000, Mickey is continuing his investigation into the connection between healing and rhythm, and the neural bases of rhythm.

In 1999, Mickey was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress where he heads the sub-committee on the digitization and preservation of the Center's vast collections. In October of 2000, the Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center conferred an honorary doctorate of humane letters upon Mickey for his work in advancing the preservation of aural archives.

Enjoy a tune! Some samples of RatDog Live.

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