Kelly Bowlin & The Beale Street Players
On a bone-chilling January morning in 2010, keyboardist Brockett Parsons stood in line in New York City with hundreds of other hopefuls waiting to audition for the gig of a lifetime: a coveted spot in Lady Gaga’s band for the world tour of her hit album, The Fame Monster.
Less than three weeks later, after making the cut — handpicked by Gaga herself — Parsons found himself jamming on onstage with the superstar in Manchester, England, where she kicked off her show-stopping Monster Ball World Tour. His life has never been the same.
Since that winning audition, Parsons has performed the Super Bowl halftime show with Gaga, rocked out with her on SNL and the Grammy Awards, pounded the keys on a few songs from her hit movie, A Star Is Born — and somehow found the time to invent the world’s first circular electronic keyboard, the PianoArc.
After snapping up millions of views and more than 150,000 followers for playing his one-of-a-kind keyboard on Instagram, Parsons is dropping his very first solo album, The Brockettship, on Modern Icon/Ropeadope Records, featuring 15 original songs that fuse jazz, hip hop, new wave, rock, and pop.
His long, dues-paying path to success – including being chosen for Diddy’s touring band on the MTV reality show Making His Band — he tells PEOPLE, “has been amazing.”
“How did you land your biggest break as Lady Gaga’s keyboardist, a job you’ve had for nearly a decade?” Two very big auditions in a short period of time changed my life. Diddy’s show definitely got the ball rolling. That warmed me up for the Gaga gig, essentially. We never ended up touring with Diddy. That was OK because three months later, in January 2010, there was an open call to audition to be in the band for Lady Gaga’s world tour. There were hundreds of people at that audition. It was really intense but for some reason I felt really comfortable. Her vibe was incredible. I got the gig and we toured for about a year-and-a-half, all over the world with the Monster Ball Tour.
Since that time, I’ve played four world tours with her, and almost every TV show you could imagine — Saturday Night Live, Kimmel, Fallon, Oprah, the American Music Awards, Grammys, the Super Bowl, and Madison Square Garden six times.
Brocket also designed and built the world’s first circular keyboard controller, the “Brockettship”, used by him on the Lady Gaga The Born This Way Ball 2012-2013 and the 2013-2014 ArtPop tours. The PianoArc “Brockettship” has performed in across the world, starting in Seoul, South Korea in May 2012...
Brocket will be appearing with Kelly Bowlin and The Beale Street Players, Friday July 9th at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, jamming with them for their entire set.
https://www.facebook.com/brockett.parsons
Kelly Bowlin describes the music as “Ugly Country,” think Wayland Jennings meets the Stones, with Steve Earle sitting in.
The band has performed extensively on the West Coast with a short, 3- show stint opening for Dwight Yoakam in San Diego, Ventura, and the historic Crystal Ballroom in Portland Oregon. Other shows have included opening for acts as diverse as Buddy Guy, Cracker, Soul Asylum, Albert Lee, Kansas, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joe Ely, Junior Brown, and The Beat Farmers.
You can expect ripping guitars, mandolins, pounding drums and bass on songs that are “heartfelt, grounded and real,” The Music Connection (2003)
“We love playing the Coach House, like gathering with old friends. We’re all coming out of the Pandemic with strong emotions, it’s been far too long since we’ve set foot on stage, and we’re ready to burn down the house, doing what we love to do, saying what we need to say. Come join us friends, MUSIC IS BACK, and we’re ready to give you our heart and soul.”
"Stunning originals, accessible and intelligent," Robert Kinsler, OC Register
"Wonderfully noisy! A richly textured mix of rock, folk, country and bluegrass that sounds a little like the Band, Steve Earle, Ralph Stanley and even the Stones." - John Roos, OC Weekly
"Heartfelt Grounded and Real!" - Editor, The Music Connection
"We're not used to opening bands rocking like that, these guys rocked!" - Buddy Blue, San Diego Tribune
"A powerful collection.. on the way to the radio." - Editor, Country Music Magazine
“Blazing Skills on Guitar and Mandolin,” Robert Kinsler, OC Register
“The Kelly Bowlin wowed the crowd with a tight set, spiked with elements of ugly-country and rock swimming in swing and style. The award-winning band likely won over many converts there for the headliner simply by their graciousness and superb musicianship.” Vintage Rock Magazine
AWARDS
2004 Orange County Music Award for Best Classic Rock
2005 Riverside County Music Award for Best Americana
2006 Southern California Music Award for Best Roots Rock
Anthony Cullins aka "The Fallbrook Kid," a young musical prodigy whose guitar playing ability is years beyond his age. Anthony's musical influences include R&B, funk, rock and blues, prominently displayed in his eclectic improvisational style, ranging from Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to George Benson and Wah Wah Watson with dozens of influences in between.
He's had the opportunity to share the stage and jam with a wide array of notable musicians including Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Greg Douglass (former guitarist with the Steve Miller Band), blues harmonica great, James Harman, guitarist Laura Chavez, (voted by Guitar Player Magazine as one of the top 50 women guitarists in the world), former Ike Turner bassist, Kevin Cooper and first call session guitarists, Gino Matteo and Stevie Salas to name a few.
Above all that, his guitar prowess speaks for itself no matter who is joining him on stage as duly noted by Boogie Magazine: "Anthony has guitar skills reminiscent of young guitarists Joe Bonamassa and Jonny Lang." This comparison came to fruition in May, 2018, when he took first place at the Dallas International Guitar Show's "Young Guns" showcase, featuring a host of 20 year olds and under guitar slingers from around the world. "It was such an amazing experience, I enjoyed every second of this humbling moment." His dad and manager, Kenny Cullins, couldn't be happier: "I got teared up and was full of joy and pride as they drug Anthony away to several photo shoots, I just smiled and thought to myself how happy I am for my boy and that all of the hard work is paying off." In addition, Anthony was recently selected as "Best Youth Original" at the 2016 Temecula Valley Music Awards and was honored to be included in Bradley Zink's best selling Amazon book, "Band Together," highlighting an assortment of Southern California's youths that are the future of Music and Performing Arts, featuring Anthony and his band, The Fallbrook Vigilantes.
The future is bright as Anthony ponders his upcoming strategy post high school graduation in 2019. "It would be a dream come true to attend the Berklee School Of Music in Boston, but for now my goal is to play more festivals and generate a new musical idea every day."
In the meantime, thanks again for visiting and please feel free to check out Anthony's upcoming events, videos and press features for a full and complete in depth look and listen to this future guitar hero.