Four-Hour Jambrella CountryFest Kickin’ It Saturday at Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds
Continuing its string of multiple-artist concert nights throughout the Quad-Cities since late February, Jambrella Productions brings its CountryFest from 7 p.m. to midnight, Saturday July 10 at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, 2815 W. Locust St, Doors open at 7 with music starting at 8 p.m.
Angela Meyer is a Q-C country singer/songwriter, whose new album “Legions & Legends” is released July 9.
Presented by Realty ONE Group: Opening Doors, Diane Lestor Fairway Mortgage Loan Corporation, and WQUD 107.7 Vintage Radio, the fest headliner is Texas country artist Tanner Usrey. The complete lineup will be:
“He is phenomenal; I don’t know how we got him, to be honest,” Moncada (Jambrella founder and organizer) said last month. “He’s tremendous.”
A singer/songwriter from Prosper, Tex., Usrey’s sound and style have been strengthened by years of touring Texas and the surrounding states, according to his bio at https://tannerusreymusic.com/bio. Usrey began his career in 2013 with his brother Tim as “The Usrey Brothers,” before releasing his solo debut in 2017.
Following the success of his solo project, Tanner has performed at many notable venues and festivals, sharing the stage with some of Texas Country’s top acts such as Stoney Larue, Casey Donahew, Cody Canada, Randall King, Brandon Rhyder, Walt Wilkins, and many more.
“Tanner continues to gain steam in the Texas Country Scene, bringing heartfelt lyrics that tell stories that people can relate to,” his bio says. “Mixing these lyrics with his southern rock vibe, powerful voice, and stage presence makes him a force to be reckoned with.” He released his first EP titled “Medicine Man” in October of 2019.
Moncada and Jambrella have been loading the Quad-Cities with several live-music events every week for months.
CountryFest will start at 7 p.m. Saturday at Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, Davenport.
“The community has taken us in amazingly. We’re continuing to do more and more events — almost like mini festivals called Jambrella Jams,” he said. “We’ll take multiple professional artists to a venue or a bar or whatever, and we produce a show three to five hours long and we’ll have professional artists just constantly rotated through,” he said. On June 19, they had 14 Q-C artists perform at Drunken Barrels in East Moline. On Aug. 7, there will be 15 artists at Whiskey Stop, East Moline, and Aug. 28 at Drunken Barrels will have 22 artists.
“We’re doing lots of different productions, including a lot of artists,” Moncada said. Every one of them since May 1, they have hired and paid artists up front to play, between 20 and 30 minutes, rather than simply play for tips or donations. “We’ve been flourishing again. The need for what we’re trying to do isn’t as great as it used to be. Now, the community is open and we’re working.”
“I myself have been booked; I don’t have a Friday or Saturday available until October,” he said. “So it’s
Michael Moncada is founder of Jambrella Productions, to help local musicians.
tremendous – from where we were February 12th until now is great.”
Jambrella has done many festivals, jams, grand opening events, and customer appreciation events, Moncada said. “We’re producing all kinds of shows in the community, that are benefitting not only local musicians but the businesses. That was the whole point when we started this thing.”
He’s been based in the Q-C since June 2019, after playing eight states throughout the Midwest regularly, and ended up sticking around.
Moncada didn’t have any idea how big the local music scene was before moving here. “I was pleasantly surprised and welcomed in by everyone,” he said. “Through Covid, I watched all the people I had just recently met the year before struggling through that year. Watching all my friends and people around me, I decided to try to do this.”
He hasn’t had any issues with bands sharing a gig with several others, and playing limited time.
“We’d have some bands play for 30 minutes and make the same they would in a three-hour gig,” Moncada said. “We’ve been able to work with venues that see what we’re doing and give us a chance to show them, and we show them and they want to book more because they see how great it was, and how much business we brought to them. The more we produce, I feel like the majority of artists have been behind me on this since we started Feb. 26th and it’s just grown.”
