Punk and blues harmonica artist Jason Ricci, also known as “Moon Cat,” will be performing at the Player’s Pub tonight, according to a press release.
The Maine native splits his living between Bloomington and New Orleans and plays here twice per year, said Joe Estivill, the booker for the pub.
“When he’s on a Midwest tour, he tries to come through here first and sort of give his band a warm-up and see everybody in town,” Estivil said.
“Moon Cat” was Ricci’s street name he used in Nashville and New Orleans to avoid police detection. Although he has multiple felonies, according to his website, he is one of the top ten harmonica players in the world, Estivil said.
Ricci was a featured performer on Johnny Winter’s Grammy award-winning album “Step Back,” received a Blues Music Award in 2010 and has been nominated for several others, and was a featured performer with Zac Brown at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
Ricci is an activist for LGBT rights and mental health and addiction awareness, having dealt with addiction himself, according to his website.
“It is not an overstatement that this young, white, queer, skateboarding, punk-rock-loving, multiple-convicted-felony-having Moon Cat from Maine is currently changing the world through music and education,” his website biography said.
Maia Rabenold
