Banjo-driven Jonas Friddle and the Majority play the ECC Arts Center Club Feb. 13
The eight piece, Chicago-based band Jonas Friddle and the Majority will perform on Saturday, Feb. 13 at the Elgin Community College Arts Center. The performance will begin at 7 p.m. in the ECC Arts Center's Club located in the Building H SecondSpace Theatre, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.
Jonas Friddle and the Majority is an eight-piece band that makes a big sound with its lineup of banjo, horns, strings, drums, keys, and electric guitar. The band boasts strong ties to Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music and draws its eclectic indie folk/rock sound from the deep well of American Roots music. Erica Elam of the Chicago Reader calls the band's sound "at once huge and intimate … Their enthusiasm is infectious. I was grinning like an idiot and bouncing along before I realized what was happening to me."
Band leader and banjo player Jonas Friddle hails from North Carolina and began writing songs at age 10 when his dad bought him a guitar at a yard sale. It wasn't until later that he discovered the powerful rhythms and melodies of his native Appalachia. While in college, Friddle studied and mastered songs of the American old-time and bluegrass traditions, and traded in the guitar for a fiddle and banjo. Friddle eventually found a home in the Windy City at the Old Town School of Folk Music where he formed Jonas Friddle and the Majority. Friddle's banjo driven compositions received the "Song of the Year" award from the John Lennon Songwriting Competition in 2012, first place in the Great American Song Contest, and a nomination for "Album of the Year" in the Independent Music Awards.
Tickets to Jonas Friddle and the Majority are $25.
The band will be performing in the ECC Arts Center Club which transforms the SecondSpace Theatre into an intimate candlelit cabaret. A three-course, preshow dinner prepared by ECC's award-winning Culinary Arts and Hospitality program can be purchased for an additional $29. Dinners must be ordered on or before Monday, Feb. 8.
The Valentine's Day-themed menu for Feb. 13 includes tomato bisque with puff pastry garnish, petite beef filet accompanied by herb and roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a fresh vegetable, and chocolate mousse cheesecake for dessert. Wine and beer are sold separately by the glass.
Tickets for all performances in the ECC Arts Center are available online at tickets.elgin.edu or at the ECC Arts Center box office. Box office hours are noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. To purchase tickets by phone, call (847) 622-0300. All major credit cards are accepted.