April Mae & The June Bugs at Foster's Military Lounge

Jazz Bridge presents their “Second Thursdays Neighborhood Concerts Series-Jazz at Foster’s Military Lodge,” 351 Charleston Rd, Willingboro, NJ 08046. This concert, eighth in the series, features blues singer April Mae & The June Bugs on Thursday, May 12. Showtime is 7:30-9:00 p.m. and tickets are $10 general admission/$5 for students, and are only available at the door. For more info call: 856-858-8914, 215-517-8337 or visit online at jazzbridge.org/events/neighborhood-concerts.
April Mae was born into a family of musicians. Her father, Phil Iorio, played in a local band, The Three Holidays, later becoming The Renegades When her mother, local beauty pageant queen Mary Alice daSilva joined as lead singer, she was captivated , at an early age, by the spirit she found in singing. "It lifts the spirits; it's healing," she said....

read more

Jazz Bridge presents their “Second Thursdays Neighborhood Concerts Series-Jazz at Foster’s Military Lodge,” 351 Charleston Rd, Willingboro, NJ 08046. This concert, eighth in the series, features blues singer April Mae & The June Bugs on Thursday, May 12. Showtime is 7:30-9:00 p.m. and tickets are $10 general admission/$5 for students, and are only available at the door. For more info call: 856-858-8914, 215-517-8337 or visit online at jazzbridge.org/events/neighborhood-concerts.
April Mae was born into a family of musicians. Her father, Phil Iorio, played in a local band, The Three Holidays, later becoming The Renegades When her mother, local beauty pageant queen Mary Alice daSilva joined as lead singer, she was captivated , at an early age, by the spirit she found in singing. "It lifts the spirits; it's healing," she said.
Founded in 2010, the April Mae & The June Bugs trio has entertained crowds at festivals and clubs in North Carolina, Louisiana, West Virginia, Tennessee, and wherever else they can plunge into the American roots music they love.
Traveling to shows in a vintage school bus they refurbished and renamed, it has been converted to run on vegetable oil! “The Boogie Bus” sleeps three and has room for their many instruments and the supply of filtered vegetable oil, which is used an alternate fuel. "Our aim is to be as green as possible," said Mae.
On their travels they’ve performed with many musicians including Pete Seeger, J.M. Van Eaton, Eric Frey of the Red Stick Ramblers, and New Orleans’ Washboard Chaz. The group has performed as a supporting act with Imelda May, Theresa Anderson, Cyril Neville, Luke Winslow King, Gina Sicilia, Justin Johnson and Ben Prestage, among others.
"With a sound built on cigar-box guitar, slap bass and washboard, no trio is more fun taking familiar roots genres and twisting them around Mae's elbow-gloved, gold capped fingers." — Mary Armstrong, Philadelphia City Paper
“April Mae & The June Bugs delve into the spirit of American music.” – Burlington County Times.
“She’s doing stuff that nobody else is doing. She kind of has this acoustic thing and just a flair for off-the-wall sound that’s really fresh right now,” said Lon Mickelson, a blues promoter who launched Blues Women International. Mae’s song ‘Some Iz Good’ released by the label, enjoyed placement on the Roots Radio / Blues Chart.
April Mae & The June Bugs’ CD, “It’s All About the Boogie,” received auspicious reviews in Philadelphia City Paper, Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine, Blues Festival Guide Magazine, and Blue Suede News. Belgium’s Rootstime Magazine called it a "sultry melting pot.”
In 2013 the blues community responded with a “Best Blues/Roots Release Nomination” from Blues411 Jimi Awards, and April Mae and Catfish represented the Lehigh Valley Blues Network to compete during the world’s largest gathering of blues artists in Memphis, as International Blues Challenge Quarter-Finalists. Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine awarded female voice accolades to both April Mae, and Maria Muldaur.
After a live radio performance on WWOZ, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage radio station, DJ Hazel, The Delta Rambler observed, "They have a reverence for the old and a fresh new look to the future.... a lot of fun!”
Jazz Bridge, an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to assisting Greater Philadelphia Metro area jazz and blues musicians and vocalists in times of crisis, sponsors these neighborhood concerts throughout the region to keep the sound of Philadelphia alive.

show less