Sena Ehrhardt Band Back in Sioux Falls

Since their 2011 debut, the Sena Ehrhardt Band have been making their mark on the national blues scene picking up several award nominations including two Blues Blast nominations this year including Rising Star and Best Song. Friday night (August 2) was their fourth appearance in Sioux Falls and in that time, the Rochester, Minnesota-based band has become like family.

I still remember receiving their Blind Pig Records debut "Leave The Light On" two years ago and hearing this incredible voice come out of the speakers. From soft and sultry to brassy and powerful, Sena's vocals gave me chills from the start. When accompanied by the fantastic guitar work of her father Ed, I was sold before even finding out that they're from my home state of Minnesota.

A few months later, Sena made her Sioux Falls debut at Old Skoolz. The band, including the smoking, funky rhythm section of Tim Hasler on drums and Steve 'Dancin' Hansen on bass helped bring the CD to life while Sena's stage presence made it seem like they were a long-time veteran band.

But starting with that night and continuing through today we've gotten to know them not only as musicians, but as people, and as friends. As fantastic of a band as they are, they're even better people. They appreciate every fan and are genuinely moved by every applause and every person who comes to a show or wants a picture. They remember nights not that long in the past, playing to a crowd of three (yes, 3) in Austin, Minnesota. They work hard at perfecting their craft, but they're not so serious that they can't continue to have fun on stage and off (if you follow the band or band members on Facebook, you'll see a lot of the fun they have on the road together)

The band made their Sioux Falls debut as a quintet last night with the addition of rising blues guitar star Cole Allen (who will be performing at Downtown Riverfest on August 17th) The show featured many songs from their new release "All In", including "Dreamin' or Dyin'" which is nominated for Song of the Year at the Blues Blast Awards, plus smoking covers of Albert King, Albert Collins, and Freddie King. It's truly a treat to see this band perform and despite their success, to find them as genuine as they were the first night we met. Yeah, I'm a fan of the band and happy to call them 'family'.

The Sena Ehrhardt Band will kick off the 2013-14 Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society fall & winter concert series October 12. Tickets for the entire five show series are available now. Individual show tickets will be available beginning September 13 here.

If you've missed their shows at Old Skoolz or the main stage at JazzFest 2012, do yourself a favor and get to the show in October. If you love guitar driven blues with one of the best female voices to come around in a long time, you won't be disappointed.

Here's a couple of videos from Friday's show courtesy of Rich Szameit