A veteran of the Indiana music scene, Rusty Bladen has played nearly every club, theatre, bar , tavern, and hole-in-the-wall dive in Indiana to build his career. Bladen powers the crowd at his shows with an atmosphere of party songs, sing-alongs and a whole lot of audience participation. A college favorite, Rusty has cultivated an extremely loyal Midwestern fan base for his band and his solo performances.
Rusty's solo show is a high energy, freewheeling tour-de-force of Bladen originals, songs from the radio, and some excellent hippie country-rock tunes. The band show is an exhibition of what five guys holding onto the same roots rock and roll rope can pull an audience into. The band shows are fun, rockin' and loud. The solo shows are fun, rockin' and almost as loud.
Rusty plays 150 shows a year, both solo and with his band, Rusty Bladen and the Bar Room Heroes.
As a writer, in addition to recording his own music, Bladen has penned the award-winning theme song for the WQMF morning show in Louisville, and had his original music featured in a commercial documentary video on Indiana basketball legend Steve Alford.
DISCOGRAPHY:
Selling more than 15,000 copies of his original CD's, Ride That River, Everything for Everybody, Rockin Your Houseparty, Are You Happy Now? and Live Acoustic at the Hoosier Theater, Bladen ranks as one of the best selling independent artists in the state. He released his most recent CD, "Feels Like Christmas", in 2007.