Jon Pousette-Dart with Jim Chapdelaine - Acoustic Duo
Saturday, May 23rd • Doors @ 6:00PM • Show @ 7:00PM
Advance: $35.00 - Door Price: $40.00
Guthrie Center members receive 10% off on up to 2 tickets. Use your promo code at checkout!
Beer, Wine, and Lite fare available for purchase
Jon Pousette-Dart captained the Pousette-Dart Band through four albums for Capitol Records between 1976 and 1980, a run that acquainted a generation with his formidable gifts as a singer, songwriter, arranger, guitarist and all-around musical adventurer. During this time, the Pousette-Dart Band became one of the busiest touring groups in the U. S., working with such acts as the Byrds, Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat, Taj Mahal, Orleans, James Taylor, Yes, the J. Geils Band, Eddie Money, Peter Frampton, Journey, Santana, Billy Joel, and many others.
“When things got scary – as the seventies petered out and the eighties skulked in,” Pousette-Dart muses, “while folks were trying to figure out how they ever got stuck in the position of having to choose between Donna Summer and Johnny Rotten, the original Pousette-Dart Band did what any halfway moral, responsible band would do – we took a break.” Pousette-Dart, himself, however, kept on trucking.
Born in New York City, New York, Pousette-Dart began playing the guitar when he was seven. At 13, he joined a band called “Tony & The Tigers” that included two of comedian Soupy Sales’ sons, and longtime childhood friend Jonathan Meredith. During the breaking-in period, he performed with the group on such high-profile network shows as Hullabaloo and To Tell The Truth. They also played in concerts with the elder Sales, at Steel Pier, Atlantic City with the Animals and Palisades Park, N.J. with Bobby Sherman.
In 1973, he formed the Pousette-Dart Band with John Troy, his college mate from the University of Pacific, and a new recruit, John Curtis. Initially, the band played college gigs. But in 1975, legendary promotion man Al Coury signed the group to Capitol. By this time, Pousette-Dart was being managed by music mogul Don Law. The first album, Pousette-Dart Band, was released in 1976, followed by Amnesia (1977), Pousette-Dart Band 3 (1979) and Never Enough (1980). Although the band worked the pop music arena, three of its Capitol albums were cut in Nashville under award-winning producer Norbert Putnam.
The scattered joy in producing moments of pure musical ecstasy, intermingled with financial panic and steady diet of sleepless nights in Holiday Inn’s crisscrossing America’s heartland. Or in this case, leading to two kindred souls who by fate and good fortune discovered they could weave musical tapestry that spoke to all those that heard without a word being said between them.
After the band closed up shop in 1981, Pousette-Dart moved back to New York, where he established himself during the following decade as a top writer, slide guitarist and singer for recording sessions and television work. The Pousette-Dart Band reunited in 1991 for a series of dates. Jon was invited to Nashville at this time, by A&R man John Condon of Asylum Records. Pousette-Dart teamed with some of Nashville’s top songwriters, among them Gary Burr, Darrell Scott, Al Anderson, Kostas, Fred Knobloch, Jaime Kyle, Gary Nicholson, Sally Barris and numerous other notable songwriters. In 1997, he recorded the solo album Ready To Fly. He subsequently retitled the collection Put Down Your Gun to support the Anti-Handgun Coalition.
Pousette-Dart extended his musical reach through 1998 to 1999 by producing 5 episodes for the History Channel, titled “Gunfighters of the West”. He also appeared with Jesse Winchester on his sessions at Bearsville Theatre inWoodstock, singing with Valerie Carter, and an all-star band featuring John Sebastion, Jim Horn, Victor Krauss, and many others. In the late 1990’s, “The Best of Pousette-Dart Band" was released, and in the early 2000’s Jon turned in solo albums, “Sample This”, “Heart & Soul”, “Anti-Gravity”, and “Talk”. He has followed thru up to the present releasing many single video releases all streaming thru major portals including his website.
While he continued doing dates with the Pousette-Dart Band, Jon continues touring throughout the United States, and Europe, working as an acoustic Duo with longtime collaborator Jim Chapdelaine, bringing the long traveled musical path back to an intimate acoustic setting where it all began. Make sure to check out the latest dates and music/ videos / photos / and archives at www.pousette-dart.com. A lot of ground there to cover spanning the many decades of music.
