KENYON HALL PRESENTS
Wes Weddell & Del Rey
Saturday, April 19th 2025
Doors: 7:00pm / Show: 7:30pm
All Ages
Seated
$15 General Admission / $10 Senior/Student
For the past two-and-a-half decades, Wes Weddell has worked multiple shifts in the engine room of Seattle’s roots music scene as frontman, sideman, writer, teacher, and community-builder. “Always heartfelt and well-constructed” (Seattle Weekly), listeners have come to expect Weddell’s regionally rooted songs to “speak for themselves” (No Depression). Yet performed live—solo or with his band behind him—the melodic stories deepen further against the backdrop of the multi-instrumentalist’s relatable presence and quick wit. In 2010, Weddell began working with The Bushwick Book Club Seattle, an expanding collective of songwriters who each compose new music inspired by literature to share in monthly showcases focused around specific books. Songs from this catalog appear on his latest release, Somewhere in the Middle (2019), and comprise the entirety of the full-band showpiece Nobody’s Flag (2015).
Del Rey started playing guitar when she was four. At the age of thirteen, Del was introduced to the world of traditional acoustic music, when a friend and she stumbled into a concert at Folk Arts Rare Records in San Diego. About 20 people were sitting on the floor under the record bins listening to a kid named Tom Waits play his original songs.
Lou Curtiss, proprietor of Folk Arts and artistic director of the San Diego Folk Festival suggested she quit wasting her time playing “Stairway to Heaven” and listen to some Memphis Minnie. He put her on stage with Sam Chatmon when she was fourteen, and introduced her to Lydia Mendoza and Howard Armstrong. Lou gave Del recordings that still influence everything she does on solo acoustic guitar. She soaked up country blues, stride piano, classic jazz and hillbilly boogie. It was a musical education hanging around the record shop.
Thirty years later, Del became fascinated with the ukulele, playing the same kind of complicated rhythmic blues and ragtime on four strings as on six. She expects a lot out of the little instrument.
“Del Rey, who plays a syncopated style of guitar based on prewar blues and barrelhouse piano traditions, is one of the best fingerpickers of this or any generation. “ Ian Zack, Acoustic Guitar
“Whilst known for her amazing instrumental skills … it should not be overlooked that she always provides a very entertaining show, full of variety, drama and humour.” Blues In Britain