Bluesday Tuesday

On the second Tuesday night of each month, KASU presents the "Bluesday Tuesday" concert series at the Newport Country Club, 703 Walker Drive in Newport.  Shows begin at 7:00 p.m. 

The concerts feature primarily blues musicians from our region, but you can expect to hear not only Delta blues but some rockabilly, old-time rock and roll, and classic country music.

There is no membership fee, but KASU will "pass the hat," collecting money to pay the musicians.  The Bluesday Tuesday concert series is made possible thanks to support from ASU-Newport and C-and-C Distributors.

For more information, contact KASU Station Manager Mike Doyle at 870-972-3486 or mdoyle@astate.edu.

Upcoming concerts include:

KASU’s next Bluesday Tuesday concert in Newport will feature Rockin’ Luke Stroud, a flamboyant rockabilly piano player and vocalist, at Newport Country Club ballroom on February 21 at 7:00 p.m.  Please note that this month's concert is on the third Tuesday of the month rather than the usual second Tuesday due to Valentine's Day.

Born in Newport, Ark., Stroud taught himself to play piano after he was inspired by the music he heard on a Jerry Lee Lewis cassette his father brought home when Luke was 9. He pantomimed on a broken piano for years until his parents bought him one that worked in March 1994.

Five months later Rockin’ Luke Stroud made his first public appearance, performing a 17-minute medley of Lewis’ songs at the Watermelon Festival in his hometown of Cave City, Ark.  Stroud has been a regular performer at that festival and dozens of others in Northeast Arkansas for many years.

Stroud performs many songs from the heyday of early rock ’n’ roll including numbers by Sun recording alumni Elvis Presley and Sonny Burgess as well as country star Hank Williams Sr. His explosive presentation of songs includes Jerry Lee Lewis hits such as “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and lesser known Lewis numbers such as “Hadacol Boogie.” Other influences include those of Billy Lee Riley, Chuck Berry and Ricky Nelson.

Stroud has been featured as part of the “Lost in the ’50s” shows produced around Arkansas by Melody Ranch Productions and he recorded his first album titled “Me & My Piano” in the late ’90s.

He performed on the historic stage of the Louisiana Hayride at Shreveport, La., in 2008 and has opened shows for Mickey Gilley, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap and Sonny Burgess & the Pacers. Stroud has performed at more than a dozen festivals in northeast Arkansas.  Most recently, he has been a sit-in guest performer at Blues City Cafe on Beale Street in Memphis.

Bluesday Tuesday concerts at the Newport Country Club are open to the public at no admission charge, courtesy of ASU-Newport and Newport’s C and C Distributors. KASU passes the hat to pay the band.  KASU is the public broadcasting service of Arkansas State University, broadcasting from the Jonesboro campus on 91.9 FM and streaming live at KASU.org.  

 For more information about KASU’s monthly music events in Jonesboro, Newport and Paragould, contact station manager Mike Doyle at 870-972-3486.