The Wailers
Friday, September 17 – 8pm
Avalon Theatre, Easton MD
$45
Box Office: 410.822.7299
www.avalontheatre.com
www.wailers.com
According to Wikipedia, the Rastafarian term Irie refers to “positive emotions or feelings, or anything that is good…referring to high emotions and peaceful vibrations.” Used in a sentence: “Everyting is irie mon.”
Everything should be extremely irie in Easton on the evening of Friday, September 17th as the world-renowned Wailers of Bob Marley fame bring their legendary reggae music to the Avalon Theatre. Tickets are $45 and available at the Avalon Box Office (410.822.7299), as well as the venue’s web site (avalontheatre.com).
Together with Bob Marley, the Wailers have sold in excess of 250 million albums worldwide. Their name is instantly recognizable and synonymous with reggae music worldwide. In England alone they’ve notched up over twenty chart hits and remain the greatest living exponents of Jamaica’s reggae tradition. They’ve performed for an estimated 24 million people across the globe, including territories that had never experienced live reggae music.
Their nucleus formed in 1969, when Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh recruited the Barrett brothers – bassist Aston “Family Man” and drummer Carly – to play on hits such as “Lively Up Yourself”, “Trenchtown Rock”, and others. Inspired by their ambitions of reaching an international audience, the line-up signed to Island Records in 1971 only to steadily and almost single-handedly pioneer theroots rock reggae genre.
After some personnel changes where members embarked on solo reggae careers, the in-demand Barrett brothers – whose rhythms were also underpinning innumerable seventies’ reggae hits by other acts – assumed the title of Wailers, and backed Marley on the group’s international breakthrough album, Natty Dread. Under Family Man’s musical leadership, they then partnered Bob Marley on the succession of hit singles and albums that made him a global icon, winner of several Lifetime Achievement awards, and Jamaica’s best-loved musical superstar.
The anchor of the band is Aston “Family Man” Barrett, who was known as Marley’s most trusted lieutenant. Brother and drummer Carlton “Carlie” Barrett died in 1987, leaving “Family Man” as the main beneficiary of the Wailers’ mantle. The authenticity he brings to the Wailers’ sound is indisputable, yet today’s line-up combines old school know-how with lead vocals from one of Jamaica’s most exciting new singers – Koolant.
Like Marley, Koolant spent his formative years in the Jamaican countryside. Local fame beckoned but it’s Koolant’s dynamic performances with the Wailers that have reaped most acclaim to date.
“It’s been a wonderful experience, singing with the Wailers because so many of Bob Marley’s songs are still relevant to what’s happening right now. They are of the times,” he continues. “Bob Marley was a prophet, and it’s a honor to be part of that. I put my whole self into spreading that message, and it can only help my own development as an artist and as a songwriter.”
Interestingly enough, “Family Man” has ties with Easton – family ties, that is. Several of his children attend school on the Mid Shore, making the band’s Avalon appearance very special for the bassist.
As enthusiastic audiences have already discovered, each current Wailer brings his and her own personal expression to Marley’s songs, revitalizing them for young and old alike – which is why there’s a great deal more to the Wailers than simply reliving the past. The band continues to enthrall music fans of all backgrounds, young and old.
The Avalon’s dance floor will be open for this concert, which makes perfect sense given the Wailers history of making music that makes people want to move, and feel a little irie, if just for a couple of hours.