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Description
Billboard #1. New England’s Best Blues Act. And now — a new EP 🎶
GA-20’s Cryin’ & Pleadin’ is climbing charts, achieving #1 BB King’s Bluesville and Rack of Blues 📈
Get ready for a night of raw, electrified blues and soul-drenched storytelling.
On Saturday, September 20, GA-20 brings their vintage grit and modern swagger to Rockefeller’s, joined by local roots torchbearer Steve Gilbert.
Both artists channel the spirit of traditional American music, from juke joint grooves to back-porch ballads, blending sharp musicianship with high-octane energy. This is more than a concert, it’s a transportive, analog-rich experience that honors the past while igniting the present.
As part of Illscape Studios' ongoing commitment to sustainability, we work with local organizations to encourage ridesharing and public transportation, and we actively work to reduce single-use plastic at every event.
No refunds. No cash at door.
About Steve Gilbert (7 pm):
Steve Gilbert is a fervent advocate of blues music. His musical voyage began with early guitar lessons, setting the stage for a rich educational journey through Houston and Austin’s vibrant music scenes in the 1970s and 1980s. His passion for music led him to Los Angeles, where he formed The Scraps, a band celebrated for its dynamic alternative roots performances. After returning to Houston in the late 1990s, Steve helped establish the H-Town Jukes, reviving the classic blues sound that resonated throughout the Gulf Coast. Today, Steve continues capturing the essence of traditional blues through live performances and recorded works. Leading a dynamic band, Steve’s musical offerings promise to bring old-school gutbucket originals and obscure blues covers to every event.
About GA-20 (8 pm):
Since 2018, GA-20 has been at the forefront of a traditional Blues revival. The dynamic throwback trio have long been disciples of the place where traditional Blues, Country and Rock ‘n’ Roll intersect. “We make records that we would want to listen to,” says guitarist Matthew Stubbs. “It’s our take on the song-based traditional electric Blues we love.” Stubbs, along with guitarist & vocalist Cody Nilsen and drummer Josh Kiggans, strives to bring traditional Blues to the front lines of the modern roots music scene. “The focus for us has always been on the story, the melody, and on creating a mood,” Stubbs continues. “Playing live as much as we do, we’re finding more and more that people are discovering how cool it all is. Traditional Country and Soul have had these massive recent revivals. We want to be part of doing that for traditional Blues music.”
GA-20 has drawn inspiration for their old-school sounds from the music they love from artists such as Otis Rush, J.B. Lenoir, Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells, Hound Dog Taylor, Earl Hooker, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson and so many others. Performing with what feels like reckless abandon, GA-20 brings a timeless immediacy to every song they play with a sound that continues to grow and evolve. The band uses vintage instruments and amps to produce their authentic sound, and favours traditional recording techniques, like recording live off the floor, together in one room, to help recreate that energy and sonic connection.
In their short history, GA-20 have been 3x #1 Billboard Blues chart toppers, 4x Boston Music Award winners for Best Blues Act, and have received multiple wins and nominations at the Blues Music Awards, Blues Blast Awards, New England Blues Awards, and have ascended streaming and radio charts at home and internationally. Medium.com has appropriately declared, “This is the kind of music that travels through time while taking from the era where it was born and turning it into something fresh. Dirty and raw…timeless and modern.”
Now, the chart-topping power trio forges ahead into the last days of 2024 and into 2025 with Cryin’ & Pleadin’, the first single from their upcoming EP, VOLUME 2, and with a renewed commitment to their mission. Recorded at Rare Signals studio in Cambridge MA, and produced by Stubbs, the highly-anticipated EP showcases the best of GA-20’s Blues chops and gutsy approach.
VOLUME 2 is a natural continuation of their most recent release, the full-length live LP, Live In Loveland, which debuted at #2 on the Billboard Blues chart. Live In Loveland highlights a mix of band originals and vintage covers, from early electric Blues and honky-tonk Country to proto Rock ‘n’ Roll. The album was recorded direct-to-tape at Plaid Room Records in Loveland, Ohio, home of the famous Colemine Records, and was nominated for a 2023 Blues Blast Award.
2022’s Crackdown, which landed at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart & #1 on ITunes Blues Chart, found the band expanding their Blues songwriting to include greater Country and Rock n Roll influences. They were rewarded with features on the covers of both Guitar Player & Vintage Guitar Magazine. Rolling Stone coined the album “100% Blues….A pure marvel and delight.”
With GA-20’s sophomore 2021 album, Try It…You Might Like It! GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor, the band resurrected and reinvented the raw and dirty blues music of the late six-fingered slide guitar Chicago blues legend, Hound Dog Taylor. Released in partnership between Colemine Records and iconic blues label Alligator Records, the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart as well as #1 radio charting in the UK and Australia, and it was nominated for a 2022 Blues Music Award. Songs from the record received airplay on over 350 radio stations worldwide. Critics from home and abroad heralded the coming of a new wave of blues for the next generation of blues fans.
The namesake EP, LIVE: VOLUME 1, was the first taste of the band’s live sound for those not lucky enough to experience their live performance. Released in late 2020, the searing collection debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues chart.
LIVE: VOLUME 1 was close on the heels of GA-20’s landmark debut album Lonely Soul, the 2019 Billboard #2 charting introduction that caught everyone’s attention, including acclaimed Soul/R&B label Colemine Records, and signalled a movement to watch.
GA-20 is the musical brainchild of Matthew Stubbs, a 16-year veteran of legendary blues master Charlie Musselwhite’s touring band. Matt elevated his early love of Blues music with the hard-won experience and tutelage of Musselwhite and a host of Blues icons, including James Cotton and John Hammond. He formed the band in Boston in early 2018 and quickly drew a devoted following. With the help of their subsequent relentless tour schedule, GA-20 have thrilled both Blues lovers and many fans who had never heard traditional Blues. “We’re proud to bring this sound to a new audience,” says Stubbs. “When people hear it, they get what we’re doing and they’re into it. It’s very important to us to make a personal connection,” he continues. “Blues is meant to be played live. It’s about telling stories. We love making records but performing live is even more important to us.” Accompanying Stubbs in this pursuit are the vocal and guitar powerhouse, Cody Nilsen, and drummer Joshua Kiggans. Both Cody and Josh have acclaimed histories in Boston as sought-after session players and sidemen with dynamic range both instrumentally and vocally. Their extensive backgrounds in traditional American music, including Blues, Country and Rock n Roll, bring a palpable dimension to GA-20’s already exhilarating approach to traditional Blues.
Since its inception, the accolades continue to roll in for GA-20. American Songwriter says the band plays “rough and tumble, relentless blues” with “maximum intensity rocking.” UK tastemaker magazine MOJO says GA-20 makes “a joyful noise,” and the Guardian UK writes, “If you care to know how a rowdy 1950s Chicago juke joint sounded, GA-20 are here to help. They keep things simple and fierce…scything, growling riffs, driving grooves, blistering boogies and defiant vocals”. Now heading into 2025 and beyond, the band looks forward to retaining their reputation as one of the hardest-working bands on the scene, with a slew of new songwriting and inspired releases, and a relentless tour schedule.
Date & Time
Sat, Sep 20, 2025 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Venue Details
Rockefeller’s
3620 Washington AvenueHouston, Texas 77007
