Celebrate the summer with great live music

The Seaside Summer Concert Series every Wednesday hosts popular acts from across the southeast, and beyond, in the Seaside Amphitheater. Many of the artists featured this summer have never performed in Seaside or anywhere along the Florida Gulf Coast, so don’t miss your chance to experience these amazing musicians. Below are the bands scheduled to perform in Seaside during the month of July. The concerts will be held at the Seaside Amphitheater 7 p.m. on Wednesdays
July 7: Reed Waddle – Since moving from his gulf coast hometown in Destin to Boston after Labor Day of 2009 Reed has had a series of career changing milestones. In 2009, Reed won the prestigious New York Songwriters Circle Grand Prize Winner, which helped launch careers of artists like Norah Jones, Jessie Harris, Gavin DeGraw and Kate Voegele, (One Tree Hill). One month earlier, he was a co-winner in the Mountain Stage NewSong Competition in Charleston, West Virginia, competing with thousands of songwriters from the US and Canada. Reed is nothing short of a strikingly unique singer songwriter. His soulful songs rage from deep within creating an instant bond. Reed’s music marries youthful pop sensibilities with a classic rock roots. The uncommon denominator that sets him apart is his voice; rich and meaty yet smooth…and all his own.

July 14: Jacob Jeffries Band – Jacob Groten is a vegetarian, has broken fourteen bones and, most importantly, has managed to cull a musical range that walks the line from John Lennon to Freddy Mercury, with inflections of Jeff Buckley vocal perfection, Tom Petty jive and the mere joy of the rock n’ roll musical. Though Groten had played on albums for Latin Grammy award winner Obie Bermudez, his biggest break came when the young musician signed on with Warner Chappell publishing. His band, the Jacob Jeffries Band, started making waves in South Florida, but has recently rolled its rhythm over state lines. This past January, the band played the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW in Austin, Texas. A Miami Herald article on the Jacob Jefferies Band’s recent release said that their EP is “bursting with hook-filled melodies and dramatic, instantly likable vocals, which foretells a bright future for the piano-popster.”

July 21: Mem Shannon & The Membership – Guitarist, singer and songwriter Mem Shannon is one of the young lions of blues who believes in expanding the parameters of the genre. Mem and his band, The Membership, are from New Orleans and while their music is rooted in the blues, it’s soaked to the bone in Big Easy syncopation, dripping and oozing with funk. In fact, most things about Shannon are exceptional: the way he write songs, the way he sings them, and the way he presents them. He’s a rock & roll kid who played in a variety of cover bands in high school in his native New Orleans, but he always had a healthy appreciation for blues and gospel music. They’ve been a staple at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for the past 15 years and Mem has won countless “Best Of” awards for Louisiana music and national blues – including being recognized as Offbeat Magazine’s Blues Band of the Year.

July 28: Ryan Kinder – Featured in The Birmingham News as one of the Alabama’s “new and upcoming stars,” Ryan Kinder’s sound is one that’s hard to pin down. His music has been influenced strongly by the blues, but also shows hints of pop, as well as the lyrical content of folk and southern soul. His original songs are written straight from the heart and include skillful acoustics with rich lyrics that sound like a musical snapshot brought to life in song. His musical style is influenced by an eclectic range of artists such as Eric Clapton, Marc Broussard, John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Stevie Wonder.