Nashville blues/Americana duo The Deltaz return to Fitzgerald's Berwyn Dec. 9

The Deltaz, the Nashville-based blues and Americana music duo, returns to Fitzgerald's Sidebar in Berwyn for one night only on Dec. 9, at 9 p.m.

Brothers Ted (guitar, vocals) and John (drums, vocals, harmonica) Siegel of The Deltaz recently won the Blues Duo competition in Nashville and will soon be competing in the International Blues Challenge finals in Memphis.

The duo has recently played the Juke Joint Fest with Watermelon Slim in Clarksdale, Mississippi, The Bukka White Festival in Aberdeen, Mississippi as well as shared a bill with The Black Keys at the Franklin Tennessee Pilgrimage Festival. In recent years The Deltaz have opened for The White Buffalo, Lukas Nelson, Margo Price and Band of Heathens.

The Deltaz played sold out shows last spring throughout Germany, Netherlands and Belgium and will return to wow European audiences again in 2024.

The Deltaz tune, "Wild Mustang," is featured in a film directed by Edward James Olmos, "The Devil Has a Name," recorded as a duet with vocal rock legend Bonnie Bramlett (Eric Clapton, Leon Russell).

Raised in the Southern California hills, the Siegel brothers have family roots in Chicago going back to a great aunt who played piano in silent film nickelodeons in the early 1900s. The brothers spent summers in Chicago with their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who would take the two for Italian beef sandwiches & deep dish pizza and tell them stories of old Chicago and neighborhoods once filled with the sound of "Delta" blue Chicago transplants, Muddy Water and Howlin Wolf.

Taking up guitar and drums respectively, Ted and John, developed an interest in blues music and its Chicago roots. They visited the Chess record building on one visit, heard blues on Halsted on another and eventually made their way to Rosa's to see guitar great Melvin Taylor, a friend of their cousin.

As teenagers, the brothers made the trip to "the Crossroads" at Clarksdale, Mississippi, hearing blue greats Charlie Musselwhite and Ruth Brown at the Sunflower Blues Festival, then made the "migration" by train to Chicago during which they decided to take the name "The Deltaz" to honor their love of roots blues and fulfill their connection to Chicago.

Using a unique combination of instrumentation, The Deltaz have their own special sound. John plays harmonica while simultaneously playing drums, washboard and other percussion. Ted has developed a reputation throughout Music City as a virtuoso slide guitarist both on vintage acoustic resonator guitar and electric slide with his own special sound. Combining vocals in the blues idiom, the brothers add "blood harmony" to many of their songs allowing audiences of all ages, tastes and regions to see, hear and feel the connection these two brothers have on stage. The result: uproarious shows with audiences on their feet clapping, singing and shouting along with The Deltaz!

The Deltaz have always kept the blues the centerpiece of the Americana music they make with depictions of southern life and culture in songs like "Buttermilk Pie," "Close To Me" and "Little Miss Betty." Tunes about growing up like, "Creek bed," as well as love songs such as "I Went Away Too Much" and "That Night" fill the bill with beautiful vocalizations and romantic themes. In addition, The Deltaz cover everything from country classics to the great Gershwin ballad "Summertime" in their own wonderful way.

Now based in Nashville, The Deltaz have found their place in the great country music capital embracing the new Americana music scene. The lineage of country, rock and especially blues, is what The Deltaz draw on and why they always love coming to play in Chicago, a town with a great blues heritage.

The Deltaz are thrilled to return to play at 'Fitzgeralds' where "we can really make the music we love in a town that means so much to us" said guitarist Ted Siegel.

Deltaz drummer/harmonica player, John Siegel adds, "The Deltaz are pleased to be playing at Fitzgeralds, a venue that supports the authentic American art form through roots music and heritage BBQ"

Ted sums up The Deltaz feeling that "Chicago is a blues town and Nashville is the country music capital, put them together and you have The Deltaz."

Come catch the excitement of The Deltaz, one night at Fitzgerald's Sidebar in Berwyn, IL Dec. 9, 2023!