Blues on the side: A gospel singer as a child, Jontavious Willis made a life-changing discovery around age 14 when he came across a YouTube video of Muddy Waters’ “Hoochie Coochie Man.” The Georgia native became an instant fan, and began his mastery of the Delta, Piedmont, and Texas blues, honing his chops as a fingerpicker, flatpicker, and slide player. Now a college student, Willis picks up gigs with major blues dudes such as Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal between sociology classes at Columbia University. Mahal called him, “a great new voice of the 21st century in the acoustic blues.”
ARTS Pick: Jontavious Willis
Jontavious Willis peforms on Sunday at Fry’s Spring Beach Club. Publicity image.
![Amber Zion (top), seen here in Deaf West Theatre’s production of My Sister in This House, is in town to push the boundaries of opera during a VHO workshop. She has performed music since she was a child, but this will be her first opera performance. Opera singers “have so much more emotions in their voice,” she says, and “[as deaf actors], I think we will be able to bring that out through our beautiful ASL.” courtesy of VHO.](https://www.c-ville.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Amber-Zion-My-Sister-in-the-House-320x170.jpg)
