PHOTO BY CHARLA HARVEY: Bob Marley’s Wailers will be in Greenfield, MA Sunday 3/3/19 right before embarking on a 14 night tour in England during the month of March.
There are not a lot of large touring acts on the road during the winter months in North America. Even the mightiest of road warriors- Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead would take off for the winter. But there is one band from the discipleship of 1970’s rock that out tours them all.
Bob Marley’s Wailers.
“We are like one of the only bands that tours in the winter. A lot bands will not tour in the winter. But the Wailers are for the people so we want to keep the people warm,” Wailer’s drummer Aston Barrett Jr. recently told The Black Star News.
Mr. Barrett Jr. has toured with the Wailers since 2009. His father, bass player Aston “Family Man” Barrett- who is currently leader of the band and an original Wailer- was Bob Marley’s most trusted adviser during the 1970’s and was standing right next to Bob when the 1976 assassination attempt unfolded.
Right before Bob Marley died in the spring of 1981, Family Man made a vow to Bob that he would continue the Wailers mission until his last breath. It was a promise he never wavered from and his Jamaican work-hard-and-fast ethic has kept the fire of Bob Marley’s Rastafarian vision lit for the last thirty-eight years.
So, after a full 10 years on the road, does Barrett Jr. view life on the road positively or negatively?
“It’s both. I enjoy it and it’s tough,” Barrett Jr. said.
The Wailers are not just some oldies band. They are a bright, burning torch honoring the legacy, vision and spirit of one of music’s greatest pioneers, Bob Marely and the Rastafarian way of life.
The Wailers are about to embark on some of their favorite touring dates: Massachusetts and then the United Kingdom.
On Sunday, March 3rd, the Wailers will be on stage at 8PM in Greenfield, Massachusetts at the Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center. Bob Marley and the Wailers first American performance was in the Bay State on July 11, 1973, so there has always been a special bond between the Wailers and New England.
The same goes for “Old” England where the Wailers will be flying to next for a fourteen night tour. Jamaica and the UK now have formed a unique kinship since the colonial era ended in 1961 and the Wailers now represent an ecumenical bridge between both nations and their peoples. So if you are in England any time during the month of March be sure to check the Wailers out.
