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Opera House to present My Sweet Patootie in concert

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House will present the high-energy Southern Ontario rockabilly, swing band, My Sweet Patootie, in concert on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

My Sweet Patootie is an acoustic roots group from rural Ontario bringing twisting vocal harmonies, monstrous finger-style guitar, fiddle, percussion and abundant charisma together in one perfect package.

Complete with tall tales and corny jokes, My Sweet Patootie delivers a modern-day Music Hall show that Driftwood Magazine describes as “two parts exemplary musicianship, one part vaudeville comedy.”

Terry Young, Sandra Swannell and Bradford Nowak are skilled performers using a ditzy-like-a-fox approach to their craft. Their upbeat show is a carnival ride with good-time finger-snapping tunes and carefully placed heartfelt ballads.

Their vintage-style songwriting is rooted in folk and Americana but heavily influenced by the likes of Chet Atkins, Les Paul & Mary Ford and the Andrews Sisters. Throw in a penchant for light-hearted satire and their love of artists like Patsy Cline and Hank Williams and you get a sound that Young likes to call “Green Acres for the New Millennium.”

Young and Swannell started My Sweet Patootie in 2007 as a duo. They are both Canadian Folk Music Award winners with classical music backgrounds. Nowak joined them in 2012.

The trio has performed hundreds of shows including in theatres and at festivals in Ontario and the US Eastern Seaboard as far as Virginia, and three Midwest US and Canadian tours including Manitoba and British Colombia. They’ve been featured on Rich Warren’s nationally-syndicated WFMT “Folkstage” live-to-air concert in Chicago, in two performances on WVBR’s “Bound for Glory” in Ithaca, and are regular guests on BBC Radio.

In 2014, the group will be guest artists with the Georgian Bay Symphony, perform at the Mariposa Folk Festival and launch their fourth month-long tour of England and Scotland.

Tickets to My Sweet Patootie are $15 ($13 Opera House Members) and may be purchased in person at the Opera House Box Office or by phone at 679-1891, Tuesday through Friday, 1-5 p.m. They also may be purchased online any time at www.fredopera.org.

This performance is made possible, in part, with support from the United Arts Appeal of Chautauqua County. Opera House media partners are WDOE-AM and Kix Country 96-FM radio, in Dunkirk.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House is a member-supported not-for-profit organization located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. A complete schedule of Opera House events is available at www.fredopera.org.

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