Bruce Innes has been playing in and around Sun Valley for over 10 years, and loves nothing more than performing at the nexStage Theatre in Ketchum, especially with his long-time friend and singing sensation Jilla Web. Innes and Web will perform a special show at the nexStage Theatre on Thursday, Jan. 3, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and available at the nexStage Theatre and the Sunburst Guitar Gallery in Ketchum.
Innes and Web performed last April to help raise money to save the nexStage Theatre, and now the duo is back to help the nexStage raise money for adult and children's theater-education programs.
"We did a benefit concert last spring that was quite successful," Innes said. "We will try again. Jilla is an absolute heart stopper of a singer."
Web is the daughter of Henry James of the Henry James Orchestra and has followed in her father's footsteps in the music world, not only as an accomplished singer but also in an expanded career in voice-over talent and coaching. Web keeps offices in Las Vegas, Nev., and Nashville, Tenn. She is constantly performing, and both she and Innes plan to do more performances together on the East Coast in the upcoming months.
"We rehearse like fanatics before our shows, but we started working together 20 some years ago," Innes said. "All the songs will be different and new with no repeat performances."
Innes has only recently released a CD--"Nothin But the Blues"--and will perform several songs from it. The CD took Innes a year to produce. "Nothin But the Blues" features traditional blues as well as contemporary blues songs.
"There are two contemporary blues songs that I wrote and it's all done in a Mississippi Blues style on an acoustic guitar," Innes said.
Joining Innes and Web will be valley resident Jeff Rew, who at one time worked with Elvis Presley. Rew will play upright bass.
"He's a great Jazz bassist, and it will be wonderful to hear him with Jilla," Innes said. "Gary Carlson will also play electric bass. He played guitar for Mason Williams. There will be a couple of other guest surprises— we'll bring them all out."
At an Innes and Web show, the audience commonly contains several notable and accomplished musicians and songwriters, and this performance will likely be no exception. Innes' career spans several decades and includes time-honored songs such as "One Tin Soldier" and "Mr. Monday," which he wrote with the producing team of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter as part of the group The Original Caste.
"I moved here 10 years ago and had sung here in the 70s and had hit records," Innes said. "Sun Valley would fly me in for concerts, and after the kids graduated I thought it was a good place to live."
Innes prefers the intimacy of the nexStage Theatre as opposed to huge concert halls, which is why he believes so strongly in supporting the theater and is so grateful that nexStage will remain as part of Ketchum's future.
Jilla Web?s dynamic voice dazzled the audience while performing a special fund raising concert to save the nexStage Theatre. Photo by David N. Seelig
