Oakwood Homes Presents Free July 4th Concert at Banning Lewis Ranch Featuring Lionel Young Band

Colorado Springs, CO, June 27, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Oakwood Homes presents International Blues Challenge Winne, The Lionel Young Band, at Banning Lewis Ranch on July 4th from 6:30-8 p.m.

Lionel Young is a high-energy performer with a bent for the blues. His Lionel Young Band has won numerous awards including the prestigious International Blues Challenge (IBC) band competition in 2011. Young won the same distinction in the solo-duo category in 2008, making him the first double champion in the history of the IBC. Since the 2011 win, Young has toured the world, often traveling in the footsteps of jazz greats, such as Billie Holiday.

Now the quintessential blues man, Young was classically trained on the violin. Born in Rochester, N.Y., he began taking violin lessons at the age of six with Anastasia Jempelis at the Eastman School of Music. Young was a member of the Pittsburgh Opera-Ballet Orchestra and the National Repertory Orchestra, which commissioned him to play bluegrass and blues for their summer festival and on a tour of Japan, Taiwan, and Korea during the 1988 Summer Olympics Music Festival. This led to his distinctive brand of blues on the electric violin. Young’s show features original pieces as well as interpretations of blues classics by Willie Dixon, Leadbelly and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Concerts feature the strength and passion of Young’s playing, as well as his smooth and unique blues vocals.

Throughout his career, Young has won numerous awards including: The Young Artist Award (Pittsburgh Symphony); The Concerto Contest (Carnegie-Mellon); The Passamenic Award (Branchwood String Quartet); and the award for the Best Blues Band in Westword’s Best of Denver. He’s also won a position with The Denver Chamber Orchestra and premiered a solo piece by William Hill.

Young has had the honor of working with many luminaries of the music world, including Count Basie, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Paige/Robert Plant, Doc Severenson, Linda Ronstadt, Living Color, Billy Taylor, Woodie Herman, Stanley Turrentine, Homesick James, Homer Brown, Hamlet Bluiett, Chief Bae, and Johnny Long.

The Summer Concert Series is presented and sponsored by Oakwood Homes as a contribution to the community. Additional concert information is available online, including directions to the venue at http://www.skylineusa.com/banning_concert_series.asp

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