America’s Got Talent finalist will perform in February

Mandy Harvey, an American jazz and pop singer and songwriter who gained popularity after performing on America’s Got Talent, will open the Covington Arts Council’s 2019 season on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Harvey has an invisible disability. Harvey lost her residual hearing in 2006-2007 at age 18 due to a connective tissue disorder that affected her nerves while she was a vocal music education major at Colorado State University. She left the program and pursued several career options, including education, but returned to music in 2008. She quickly became a regular performer at various venues and has released three albums thus far.

She finished fourth in the 12th season of America’s Got Talent.

A reviewer for the Los Angeles Times wrote, “From the first note, Many Harvey tames her audience into stunned appreciation as she glides pitch-perfect from breathy jazz standard to growling blues. At show’s end, the audience is on its feet. Some know the secret. Harvey has not heard any of it – not the applause, not the talent of the musicians who shared the stage, not her own incredible voice.”

She also is a motivational speaker, who delivers a universal message, “Hope. Dream. Believe. No matter what.”

Steve Dorff

In March, the CAC will present Steve Dorff’s, the songwriter who penned “I Wrote That One Too … A life in songwriting from Willie to Whitney.” Dorff will perform many of his best-love hits, sharing the stories behind them, and signing copies of his book afterward.

His career spans five decades and includes more than 20 Top 10 pop and country hits.  His work has been performed by numerous artists, including Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Blake Shelton, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, Ray Charles, Anne Murray, Whitney Houston, George Strait, Dolly Parton, Judy Collins, Cher, Dusty Springfield, Ringo Starr, and Garth Brooks. He has scored for television shows, including Growing Pains, Major Dad, Murder She Wrote, Reba, and several films, including Any Which Way but Loose for which he penned the titular song.

His Andalusia performance is set for Saturday, March 23.

Nashville Legacy

On April 4, the CAC will present Nashville Legacy, featuring Jason Coleman, Floyd’s grandson, and Meagan Taylor, Chet’s niece.

Floyd Cramer’s unique “slip note” piano style was an essential part of countless country, pop, and rock hits in the 1950s and ‘60s and is widely regarded as the standard for country piano. Chet Atkins’ innovative thumb-and-two-finger guitar style led him to become known as one of the world’s preeminent guitar virtuosos, and many of the records he produced for RCA have become classics.

Coleman and Taylor bring new life to the “Nashville Sound”pioneered by their legendary forerunners by playing songs like Floyd’s “Last Date” on piano and Chet’s “Freight Train” on guitar, as well as by singing the music of Patsy Cline, the Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley, all of whose careers were impacted by Floyd and Chet.

7 Bridges

The 2019 season ends on Friday, May 17, when CAC will host 7 Bridges, the ultimate Eagles tribute band, this year’s “audience choice.”

“We thought it was a little too soon to have them again, but they were first and second place in our audience choice ballots,” CAC

Executive Director Paula Harr said. “There was no question about it.”

7 Bridges recreates the Eagles concert experience from the band’s most prolific period. The band features Jason Manning as Glenn Frey, Keith Thomas as Don Henley, Bryan Graves as Randy Meisner/Timonty B. Schmit, Rob Evans as Joe Walsh, Blake Hall as guitar wizard Don Felder, and Vernon Roop as Joe Vitale.

Rolling Stone Magazine called them, “the greatest Eagles tribute band on earth.”

All performances are at 7 p.m. in the Dixon Center for the Performing Arts on the Andalusia campus of LBW Community College.

Season tickets for all performances are now available at Harold’s Furniture in Andalusia and are $55 each for adults, or $30 for students. Family packages, which include tickets for two adults and two students, are $125.

Individual performance tickets are available at Harold’s and at The Star-News, and are $15 in advance. Individual tickets are  $18 at the door and $12 for children.