MiZ celebrates Bob Dylan’s 76th birthday with free ‘Blood on the Tracks’ show on May 27
From a press release:
To celebrate Bob Dylan’s 76th birthday this week, Scranton-born folk rock singer/songwriter Mike Mizwinski, known simply as MiZ, will play one of his most celebrated albums, “Blood on the Tracks,” in its entirety for free on Saturday, May 27 at the River Street Jazz Cafe in Plains.
Doors at the Jazz Cafe (667 N. River St., Plains) open at 7 p.m., and the 21+ show starts at 9 p.m.
One of Dylan’s best-selling studio albums, “Blood on the Tracks” reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts upon its release in 1975 and went double-platinum. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015 and came in at No. 16 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list.
MiZ is a soulful rock/Americana artist who is known as a skillful and well-rounded master of both acoustic and electric guitar. His sound is directly impacted by the coal mining region of Pennsylvania, and his songs evoke the rustic tones and imagery you would expect from the region and its cultural heritage. The singer, songwriter, and guitarist gives his name to his band and his solo work, and it is his heart and soul – poured into the words and his guitar – that drives it all forward.
Use the term “singer/songwriter” loosely here, as a MiZ show can feature fast, intricate instrumental guitar compositions, foot-stomping bluegrass, soulful ballads, creative covers, and a melting pot of different styles, textures, flavors, and feels that make up his catalog (over four albums worth) of self-penned songs. He has maintained a freshness, a vibe, that keeps fans coming back for more.
MiZ has opened for America, The Wallflowers, Derek Trucks Band, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Blues Traveler, Shawn Colvin, Lyle Lovett, Leon Russell, Railroad Earth, and many more. Since 2010, he has played in cities all over the world, spanning from Berlin, Germany to Canada to Los Angeles to Austin, Texas to New York City and everywhere in between. He has even played onstage with artists such as America, Umphrey’s McGee, Donna Jean Godchaux, members of The Band, Ratdog, moe., Particle, String Cheese Incident, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Jackie Greene, Marc Ford, and more. He is now endorsing Framus/Warwick guitars and won the Tri-State Indie Acoustic Artist of the Year award two years in a row in 2011 and 2012.
Bob Dylan’s career has lasted the better part of 50 years now. That’s pretty remarkable. What is more impressive is that Dylan has remained not only active for almost all of that period, but controversial. He has never gotten by on sentimentality or nostalgia. He has never repeated his successes. For better or for worse, Dylan has always pushed his work ahead.
Bob Dylan is as great an artist as America has produced. But he’d be the first to tell you that he is part of a long line, one link in an endless chain. You can follow his influence backward or forward according to your own inclination. Or you can spend a long time just listening to Dylan’s five decades of contributions. Wherever you go into it, and whatever you get out of it, your time will be well spent.
Dylan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and he would have landed there based on his work in the 1960s alone, when he wrote and recorded some of the most enduring and groundbreaking material in musical history. Though his ’60s songbook includes classics like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” and “I Want You,” he hasn’t stopped writing and recording critically acclaimed material, and he is constantly mining his archives to release previously unreleased material.
See photos of MiZ’s CD release show for his album “Parking Meters” at the Jazz Cafe with Jung Bergo back in 2015 here.
Photo by Keith Perks/1120 Studios
