Hometown bluesman opens Aurora’s Blues on the Fox

Submitted by Aurora Historical Society

Bradley Keven Green will be the opening act Friday, June 15, at the musical event of the summer, Blues on the Fox. A bluesman with a 20-year Aurora tradition of performance, he will take the main stage at 5:30 p.m. Green composed and recorded the album “Songs for Aurora” last winter as a tribute to his hometown upon the occasion of the city’s 175th anniversary. When the Aurora Historical Society got its first listen, they swept him up as the unofficial “Voice of Aurora’s Demisemiseptcentennial” and have been using his blues-inflected compositions as the soundtrack to the city celebrations ever since.

“The work he has done this year is a musical time capsule of Aurora in 2012,” said society president Mary Clark Ormond. “He has taken Aurora’s heritage as a blues town and enriched it with his own personal experiences and local history. He has a command of every possible musical style, too, so his work has the same kind of diversity, musically, as Aurora has as a city. He’s not just a guitar virtuoso, he is a songwriter with stories to tell.”

Green, backed up by his sons Dylan and Clinton on drums and bass and daughter Brittney on oboe, will also be heard this summer at the Fourth of July parade, picnic and fireworks concert, as well as at the Farmers Market, Downtown Alive and other festivals. He is currently back in the studio and contemplating a new album with the working title “Blues for Aurora.” The album “Songs for Aurora” is available at the Aurora Historical Society gift shop. More information is at aurorahistory.net.

Blues on the Fox will be held at North River Street Park at New York and River Streets, just west of the Hollywood Casino. Admission is $5 per day.