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Sat, 28 Nov, 2026 at 08:00 pm UTC-05:00

Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez Love is in the Air: A Celebration of Roots-Rockin' Romance

  • The Kate - Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center · Old Saybrook
The Kate - Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center Publisher / Host The Kate - Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center
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Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez Love is in the Air: A Celebration of Roots-Rockin' Romance
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With special guests The Sin Sisters
This queen of blue-eyed rock n’ soul, who grew up loving equally the sweetness of a Memphis horn line and the raunch of an electric guitar riff, whether played by Muddy Waters, Keith Richards, or Pop Staples, teased her blonde hair into a beehive in honor of Ronnie Spector and never looked back, picking up a guitar and forging a career as a songwriter in the process. She’s the current, long-time vocalist with the Saturday Night Live Band who sang at SNL50, SNL40 and SNL25 (the SNL 40 anniversary post-show concert also featured her star turn onstage with Jimmy Fallon, Elvis Costello and the B-52s), whose latest CD, The Deep End, was honored on five national Top Ten lists and features special guests/duet partners Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, and Marshall Crenshaw, plus Levon Helm, GE Smith, Andy York, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, Catherine Russell, Big Al Anderson, and others.Ohlman topped the Alternate Root.com’s Readers’ Poll as top Americana vocalist, joining other winners Paul Thorn, The Mavericks and Rodney Crowell.
She has recently appeared on critically-acclaimed albums with Dion Dimucci (two duets on “Girlfriends”, his Billboard Blues Chart topper) and on tributes to Wilson Pickett (“I Believe I’ll Run On,” with Jimmy Hall, Steve Cropper and others) and Matt ‘Guitar Murphy (“Blues Brother” with Cropper, Curtis Salgado and many others). Her latest, “The Grown-Up Thing”, will be released in 2027.
Ohlman’s legendary voice and stage presence (she's known as "The Beehive Queen" for her towering blonde hairdo) have also been featured at the AMA Conference in Nashville; The Royal Academy at Ghent, Belgium; The PBS series "Music City Roots" with Bonnie Bramlett, Sarah Potenza and the McCrary Sisters; the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival's Tribute To David Bowie; on numerous guest vocal shots on the HBO series "Vinyl" that feature a duet with Elvis Costello; "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" (guest shot with Black 47); the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Concert in Cleveland (filmed by HBO); the Carnegie Hall tribute to the Rolling Stones; the ongoing series of Little Kids Rock galas in NYC (taking the stage with Bruce Springsteen, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Steve Miller, Graham Nash, Bill Medley, Bonnie Raitt, Keb Mo, Tom Morello and others); and the WC Handy Festival in Muscle Shoals, Alabama (she was the special guest of the Blind Boys Of Alabama and soul queen Candi Staton, and helmed a sold-out tribute to legendary producer Jerry Wexler; she has been the festival's Grand Marshall and co-billed with iconic guitarist Travis Wammack); Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary bash at The Garden (with George Harrison, Chrissie Hynde, and others); the 2009 and 2013 Obama Inaugural Galas in Washington, D.C.; The Lincoln Center "American Songbook" series with Sting, Lou Reed and Van Dyke Parks; and the Central Park Summerstage Tribute To Janis Joplin (where she fronted both Big Brother & The Holding Company and the Kozmic Blues Band).
Ohlman is an inductee into the National Blues Hall of Fame of American Heritage International. She appears on Grammy nominee's A Tribute To Howlin' Wolf (with Taj Mahal and Lucinda Williams) and Charlie Musselwhite's One Night In America (with Marty Stuart); sings the theme song for NBC's 30 Rock; worked on a musical with the late Cy Coleman (who compared her sense of timing to Peggy Lee's); duets live with friends like the aforementioned Miss Spector (she was honored to emcee Ronnie Spectors’ Celebration of Life in NYC in May 2022), the late Mac Rebennack (two private evening of duets she calls "absolute highlights"), Americana stalwart Paul Thorn, Bonnie Bramlett (who has become a longtime friend), Muscle Shoals legends Donnie Fritts and John Paul White of the Civil Wars, and New Orleans mainstays The Subdudes (she joins The 'Dudes, BB King, Irma Thomas, Richard Thompson and others on Get You A Healin' to benefit the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic and has guest-hosted five editions of "Down On The Bayou" during successive Jazz & Heritage Fests with Widespread Panic's JoJo Hermann, again to benefit The Clinic); worked often with the late blues giants Hubert Sumlin and Eddie Kirkland; collaborated on critically-acclaimed tracks with Marshall Crenshaw (Labour Of Love: The Music of Nick Lowe), Big Al Anderson (Pawn Shop Guitars), and Ian Hunter (When I'm President and Shrunken Heads); edited legendary Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham's autobiography 2Stoned and appears also on Oldham's historic 2013 release "Andrew Loog Oldham and Friends Sing The Rolling Stones Songbook Vol. 2"). A musicologist of note, Ohlman is a cover-story-writing contributor to Elmore Magazine, and worked with Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder & others on the Rhythm & Blues Foundation Awards.
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The Kate - Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main Street,Old Saybrook,CT,United States

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