“He can make a piano knit a pair of socks.” Johnny Maddox, Ragtime legend

All-Americana Piano Fireworks – from one of the world’s foremost pianists and historians of vintage American popular music – as ‘Four-Time World Champion Old-Time Piano Player’ Adam Swanson makes his debut on the Lincoln Hall Steinway in Foxburg on Sunday, July 14 at 2 PM.

Be amazed by his performances of the Great American Song Book, Blues, Boogie-Woogie, Ragtime AND – celebrating its 100th Anniversary – Adam will play his version of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
With four solo albums & appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and around the world in Hungary, Switzerland and Australia, Adam’s virtuosity, vast repertoire and program commentary will dazzle! As the ONLY Four-Time World Champion Old-Time Piano Player, Adam’s virtuoso piano pyrotechnics transports audiences back in time while keeping them on the edge of their seats.

A brilliant pianist who loves to entertain audiences, award-winning pianist Adam Swanson will take the audience on a tour through early American popular music.
From Ragtime and early jazz piano to the blues of W. C. Handy, to the Great American Song Book, Boogie Woogie, the Broadway show music of George Gershwin and a special Gershwin jazz piano medley, join him for a historical tour through American music – as “he can make a piano knit a pair of socks”, per legendary Ragtime pianist Johnny Maddox.

ARCA is grateful for the very generous donation of ARCA Board members Karen and Dan Mortland sponsoring the debut concert of Adam Swanson. Karen also is the Red Brick Gallery Cooperative Artist whose exhibit ‘Mothers and Daughters’ – featuring a hundred years of art from four generations of women in her family – has its opening Red Brick Gallery reception following Adam Swanson’s Lincoln Hall concert.

Tickets – Adults $25 Members $20 Students $5. Call to Reserve: 724-659-3153 or buy online at alleghenyriverstone.org.

He has a huge repertoire which he really displays during medleys of waltzes, World War I songs, tunes from Texas, and numbers from the 1950s, all of which could be used for “name that tune” contests. Swanson comes up with fresh variations of “Maple Leaf Rag,” “Bill Bailey,” a rollicking “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie,” and “St. Louis Blues,” revives such forgotten numbers as “Cotton Bolls,” “X.L. Rag,” and “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” and performs a version of “Frankie and Johnny” that musically acts out the story.

Ragtime and early jazz purists are not the main audience for this batch of honky-tonk piano, but those who like good-time music that is filled with both nostalgia and surprising moments will enjoy Adam Swanson’s spirited solo outing.