Big Country was originally formed in 1981 by guitar playing founder members Stuart Adamson and Bruce Watson both native of the band’s hometown Dunfermline in Scotland.

Initially driven by a shared vision of widescreen guitar melody, harmony and lyric, the classic Big Country sound was further enhanced later that summer by the arrival of drummer Mark Brzezicki and bass player Tony Butler. This is the Big Country that (with producer Steve Lillywhite), recorded the classic debut album ‘The Crossing’ in 1983.

The band broke massively worldwide with the release of the album’s classic singles ‘Fields Of Fire’, ‘Chance’ and signature song ‘In A Big Country’, which went on to become massive worldwide hits, selling over 2 million copies and driving ‘The Crossing’ to 3 prestigious Grammy nominations in the USA.

Largely sidelined by the 2001 suicide of frontman Stuart Adamson, Big Country drafted Mike Peters of The Alarm to take over as lead singer. Original members Tony Butler (bass, vocals), Mark Brzezicki (drums, vocals) and Bruce Watson (guitar, vocals) will be joined by Peters and additional guitarist Jamie Watson.

Peters says:

“I first met Stuart on stage at a U2 concert in Hammersmith Palais back in 1983. Bono introduced us to his audience as being ‘part of the the new breed’ and Stuart was literally passed up onto the stage by the fans and I shook his hand as I handed him a guitar — an unforgettable entrance. The last time I saw him was also on stage with Big Country at Glasgow Barrowlands for the last night of the Final Fling tour in 2000, when we sang Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ together. When Bruce Watson called and asked me to sing for Big Country, it was something I didn’t need to think twice about. I’m looking forward to meeting all the fans again and playing a part in keeping the spirit of Stuart Adamson alive and celebrating the music of a band I have loved from near and afar for the whole of my adult life.”

Hosting the show is Richard Blade, legendary DJ and Sirius/XM host on 1st Wave.

Helping To Support 

California Family Life Center: California Family Life Center’s mission is to provide safety, comfort and healing to children suffering abuse and abandonment; to teach love and trust; to instill self-esteem, values and hope for the future – and in so doing, assist children trapped in hopelessness and despair become compassionate and contributing members of the community.

The Fixx are an English New Wave band formed in London in 1979. Their biggest hits include “One Thing Leads to Another,” “Saved by Zero,” and “Deeper and Deeper,” which was featured on the soundtrack of Streets of Fire.

The early to mid 80’s was marked by several Top Ten Billboard hits for The Fixx. Curnin recalls the band’s “MTV Days” with great fondness – how he felt he could have been singing “Ham and Eggs” instead of “One Thing Leads to Another” because the groove was so strong, how girls would throw underwear onstage while they played “Red Skies,” a song about the aftermath of a nuclear fall out and how “Saved by Zero,” a song about accepting emptiness, still resonates today. Curnin calls the way the band’s music has been internationally embraced the greatest gift. Referring to this as “the Mary Poppins Effect” where a ‘spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,’ Curnin feels the music’s accessibility allows for his lyrical expression on some heady topics. “The melodies that Jamie comes up with are incredible. He is always creating bits and pieces, then I come in and get a feeling for a word, or an emotion, and it starts to take shape. We get something we can play as a group. Then, it just takes off like it has wings. Rupert is almost like a mad scientist, wherein I can describe where I am going visually with my words and he paints the sound. Dan has amazing chord knowledge and is able to play around my voice in ways that makes it sound rife with emotion. And Adam just isn’t a convoluted drummer. He’s very careful and laid back, which is big part of our sound.”

With Beautiful Friction, their new release, all eleven tracks connect across a theme. “Unlike my solo albums, which focus on my own peccadilloes, the songs written for The Fixx take on the problems of the world. If you look back at our work, there’s a universal application to it. In writing Beautiful Friction, we speak to people who have woken up to the fact that while there was a period of easy money and easy credit, it’s now come and bitten us on the backside. I think, as you get wiser, you begin to realize less is more, and how happiness itself is your real currency.”

Learn more at www.thefixx.com

Helping to Support Hospice of the Valleys: Hospice of the Valleys has been offering loving care to people with life-threatening illnesses, support to their families and service to the community in a spirit of enriching lives since 1982. As the only non-profit hospice headquartered in the Murrieta/Temecula area, we understand that coping with terminal illness presents many challenges – physical and emotional – to the patient and the family. Our caring, experienced team of professionals and volunteers is prepared to meet those challenges and believes that no one, regardless of illness, age or ability to pay, should die alone or in pain.

Like Squirrel Nut Zippers and the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy revived big-band music for the ’90s and beyond. BBVD concentrated on the swinging days of the ’40s and ’50s, borrowing some of the Rat Pack lingo in addition to the zoot suits that cloaked each bandmate. Formed in Los Angeles in 1992, the group built up a following with regular gigs on the local lounge circuit, playing to Gen-Xers enamored with the kitschy charm of the cocktail nation. This burgeoning lounge scene was captured in the hit 1996 indie comedy film Swingers, which featured a song by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on the soundtrack as well as an onscreen cameo by the band. By the end of 1997, the band had self-released two albums — Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and What’chu Want for Christmas — which were local hits and led to a major-label contract with Capitol Records.

In February 1998, Capitol released the group’s major-label debut, Americana Deluxe (also known as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, although the album was different from the band’s self-released debut). This Beautiful Life followed one year later. By the time the band came together for a follow-up, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy had sold over three million albums, performed at Super Bowl XXXIII with Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan, and had their music used in over 60 film and TV trailers. The swing revival had considerably died down, however, thus returning Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to their original status as an underground band.

The group’s fifth album, Save My Soul, appeared in 2003, five years after their Interscope debut. Inspired by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Save My Soul found the band expanding its sound to include elements of the Big Easy’s jazz, swamp funk, and Cajun traditions. A live CD/DVD and holiday-themed album appeared in 2004. In 2009, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy released How Big Can You Get?: The Music of Cab Calloway, which found the band digging even deeper into a hardcore jazz and swing sound. The band stuck with the more swing and jazz-oriented approach after signing with the Savoy Jazz label and releasing Rattle Them Bones in 2012. -from itunes

Helping to support The Unforgettables Foundation.

For many families, the anguish and heartbreak of a child’s death is accompanied by the additional burden of financial incapacity. The simple truth is that many families are unable to afford a dignified, respectful burial for their beloved child.

The Unforgettables Foundation provides financial assistance to those families with limited resources to help offset the costs of final arrangements.

Currently, the Foundation’s help is granted to families throughout Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange Counties with plans to expand. Requests for aid come from hospitals, social service agencies, and families themselves. Since the creation of the Foundation in 2001, over 3500 families have been assisted in more than 80 cities in Southern California.

Macy Gray first burst onto the music scene with her debut album On How Life Is and the massive hit single “I Try” both of which went number 1 all over the world. The album went on to sell 7 million copies worldwide with Gray winning a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. Macy Gray has gone on to sell more than 15,000,000 albums worldwide and has been nominated for 5 Grammy Awards and 6 MTV Video Music Awards. She has collaborated on stage and in the recording studio with some of music’s greatest artists including Justin Timberlake, Common, Outkast, Rick Rubin, Carlos Santana, Erykah Badu, Fergie, will.i.am, John Frusciante (of Red Hot Chili Peppers), Nas, Mos Def and Natalie Cole, among many others. She has also appeared in numerous films including Training Day, Spider Man, Idlewild and the award winning HBO Film Lackawanna Blues.