Jerry Shirley

The last time that any member of the original Humble Pie set foot on Ludlow Avenue in Cincinnati was in November 1969, when that then-fledgling British hard-blues-rock band was touring the U.S. for the first time. And when the band played that year at the famed but short-lived Cincinnati ‘underground’ music venue, The Ludlow Garage, they did a two-night stand as one of two opening bands for The Kinks.

The classic late-‘60s blues-rock band Humble Pie held their first rehearsal – back in mid-January 1969 – at the family home of their then-newly-recruited, 17-year-old drummer Jerry Shirley. The four shaggy-headed musicians – three of whom had to sneak into the neighborhood and house in disguise, due to their local celebrity – squeezed their amps and Shirley’s small drum kit into his parents’ living room. Very domestic, very humble! But more important, a turning point in rock music history.

The current incarnation of Humble Pie will stage a short tour of America this September. All shows go on-sale this Friday. Staged as JERRY SHIRLEY PRESENTS: HUMBLE PIE LEGACY – 50 YEARS OF SMOKIN,’ the excursion is a celebration of one of the greatest touring bands to ever perform internationally. Band leader and guitarist Dave “Bucket” Colwell, bassist Ivan Bodley, drummer Bobby Marks and vocalist / guitarist Jim Stapley were handpicked by Jerry Shirley to carry on the band’s legacy.

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