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“When I was 17, I went back to see if I could talk with him,” Brawner said. He thought we did a great job and was pleased with the show.”īrawner attended several of Ray Charles’ concerts. “He came backstage, gave us his OK and took pictures with us,” Brawner said. attended a recent performance of the show in California. “Since the fall, we’ve been working pretty steadily,” he said.īrawner’s Palladium performance marks the first time he has brought the show to central Indiana.īrawner said the purpose is to keep Charles’ music alive. “I’m going to Europe in the summer to do some blues festivals, just me and some Italian musicians I’ll be working with,” he said.īrawner said many of his shows were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “He was a big influence on my music growing up,” Brawner said.īrawner said the Charles concerts consume most of his schedule.

Like Charles, Brawner is a Georgia native. “Even in my own music, people say they can hear a little Ray Charles in everything I can do,” said Brawner, who usually played a couple of Ray Charles songs in his own concerts. “It’s a big orchestra sound,” Brawner said.īrawner started working on the Charles concerts in 2014. “The arrangements are very close to Ray’s arrangements,” said Brawner, who performs monologues to detail Charles’ journey.īrawner said trumpet player Roger Ingram, who will play in the Palladium performance, played with Charles for five years. March 25 at the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel.īrawner, a popular pianist-vocalist, will lead the 11-piece orchestra and three vocalists, similar to the Raelettes who sang with Charles, in performing some of Charles’ biggest hits. I stay into character the whole show.”īrawner will perform “Ray On My Mind: The Ray Charles Story” at 8 p.m. “I call it a hybrid theater-concert piece where we actually play Ray’s music and tell the story,” Brawner said. COVID-19 protocols will be enforced for the safety of all in attendance.Kenny Brawner regards his show as something more than a tribute to Ray Charles. I also didn’t know how later in life it would impact the music that I have and continue to make today and the amazing effect of meeting and working with Ray both in and out of the studio, and …Hallelujah I still love it so…”ĭon Derbigny, Kevin Rouse and Artris Leftage of First Fridays in association with Ray Charles Jr. Ellis Hall (Courtesy photo)Įllis shared, “At eight-years-old, I recognized the genius of Ray Charles although I didn’t know what to call it. President Valerie Ervin and the Ray Charles Foundation will receive an award as well.Įllis Hall, a Ray Charles protégé who was once signed to Charles’ record label, has recorded over 26 hit albums and is an exceptionally talented songwriter and singer. In addition, special recognition will be presented on behalf of Americans lost on 9/11 as well as acknowledgement of all lives that have survived the tragedies and pandemic worldwide. Also, two longtime members of the Ray Charles Band will perform – musician and arranger Louis Van Taylor and world renown saxophonist Rickey Woodard. “Performing the music of the legendary Ray Charles is great anytime! September is also my Dad’s birth month,” said Ray Charles Jr. The event will also celebrate Ray Charles Jr., producer of the Academy award-winning biopic, “Ray.” The epic evening includes a five star dinner and a salute to Ray Charles, the Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer.