WEST PLAINS, Mo. – An indie band that blends blues, jazz and traditional elements of the Ozarks will take the West Plains Civic Center stage at 7 p.m. Jan. 21. Bella Donna, a five-member band that layers sophisticated vocals with guitar, mandolin, bass, horn and drums, will be the first performance of the year offered by Missouri State University-West Plains’ University/Community Programs (U/CP) Department.
General admission tickets are $8 each and available now through the civic center box office, 110 St. Louis St., or by phone at 417-256-8087. Missouri State-West Plains students with a BearPass ID will be admitted free.
Music critic Ettie Berneking, in a review of the band’s first album, “Untitled” for 417 Magazine, contends that “songs on this album skip back and forth between slow, melodramatic tunes and more toe-tapping jigs with a bit of Tom Waits mixed with Ella Fitzgerald and Norah Jones,” adding it has “a dash of jazz, a hint of blues and a touch of vaudeville.”
According to the band’s website, www.belladonnaband.com, Bella Donna is influenced by the Ozarks, including “the creak of tree limbs in the winter, and the summer sounds of cicadas. The traditional music that flows through the hills and hollows of the area the group was raised in helped them form their sound called Ozark Jazz.”
Bella Donna has been busy playing shows throughout the Midwest and parts of the east and west coasts over the past six years. They currently are recording their second full-length album, which will be available in early 2017.
Band members Liz Carney (vocals, guitar), Matt Guinn (lead guitar), Mike Williamson (bass, cornet), B.J. Lowrance (drums) and Jeremy Chapman (mandolin) comprise Bella Donna.
For more information about the Jan. 21 performance, call 417-255-7966 or visit the U/CP Department’s website.