Cyril Durant comes back to Bulloch County on March 1 to headline the second edition of the Rising Creek Musical Series at the Emma Kelly Theater.
Rising Creek spotlights local and area musicians and gives them a chance to shine on the main stage of the Averitt Center for the Arts. A collaboration between the Averitt Center for the Arts and BHarvey Music, the inaugural concert of the Rising Creek Music Series was held in September 2018 and featured the J. Alan Brown Band, ThunderGypsy and Micahlan Boney. The second event on March 1 spotlights Durant, Trevor Clendenin, The Pinebox Dwellers and Street Clothes.
General admission tickets are $10 and can be purchased by visiting the Averitt Center’s Main Gallery from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., by calling 912-212-2787 or online at www.averittcenterforthearts.org/performances-events.
Durant was born and raised in Bulloch County, grew up in the Nevils community and is a 2004 graduate of Southeast Bulloch High School. From an early age, he was musically inclined and knew that he wanted to be a singer/songwriter.
“I was in both the band and chorus in high school,” he said. “I started playing in bands during my senior year and having been doing it ever since.”
A classically-trained singer, Durant earned both Bachelor’s and Masters of Music degrees in Vocal Performance from Georgia Southern University. He is probably best known as one of the members of Those Cats, a wildly-popular soul/funk ensemble based out of Statesboro.
“I was the front man and played keyboards,” he said modestly.
He and his wife Jillian, who is also a singer and their young son Ezra James live in Savannah. Durant has most recently performed with Wood and Steel and fronts the trio Prime Real Estate. He is also working solo gigs playing guitar, piano and ukulele to hone his own personal style of roots/soul music. Drawing inspiration from rock-n-roll and soul, he pulls in the depth of emotion felt in early blues and country to create a sound all his own.
“Last year, I saw on social media where Brandi was putting this Series together but I didn’t have time to submit anything,” he said. “I definitely wanted to get in on this one and I was very pleased that I was chosen. I’m really happy to be a part of it.”
Trevor Clendenin is a Savannah-based musician who made the rounds in this area with his band Mostly Goodspell before striking out on his own. He also has been writing and performing from Colorado to the Bahamas for years. His Americana Rock style feels like a jam session between The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers. Whether with a band or solo, Clendenin’s music will speak to a Southern Soul.
The Pinebox Dwellers from Waycross have a Swampedelic sound that is a musical trip to the front porch of an old house deep in the Okefenokee Swamp. Winner of the 2018 ‘Band of the Year’ at the Georgia Country Awards in Macon this past November, their original songs reflect how being raised in a small swamp-town has shaped their love for family, life and music.
Street Clothes is a Savannah-based dance rock band that’s been playing the area since 2014. Though they’ve seen some evolution in their line up, they give fantastic shows with a throwback glam-pop tunes. They’ll be closing out the concert with their high-energy sound. The release of their 2017 album Superautomatica brought songs like “Debbie Harry” and “Sticky Feelings,” and gave their fans more of what they’ve come to love from the band. They’ll be closing out the concert with their high energy sound.