A while back I wrote about a Manteca based singer named Travis Vick and the impact that he has been having on our local music scene. At the tender age of 18, Vick already has over eight years of experience singing and playing various instruments including the piano, guitar, accordion, banjo, bass, mandolin, harmonica, ukulele, trombone, clarinet and drums.

Pack up the entire family for a night of music this upcoming Friday evening. The music will start playing at 8:00 at Deva Cafe at 1202 J Street in Downtown Modesto. For only $5.00 per person, you will have the chance to hear music by a variriety of area artists including Vick, Silver Darling, Chris Doud and Adam Bishop. Consider getting there early for dinner, a great class of wine or a cold beer. This will be a great way to end a 100 degree Modesto summer day.

This is not a show to be missed. Every time that I hear Vick play, I better understand why he receives high praise from a variety of sources. Download.com for instance had this to say about him: "Sufjan Stevens hasn't yet released a California installment in his States Project series, but Vick's debut EP, "Player Piano," tides us over nicely. The heartfelt set is part Stevens (wispy folk-pop), part Ferraby Lionheart (the LA baroque), and part Dirty Projectors (a reedy experimentalism)."

You may not recognize some of the names of artists and bands mentioned in that quote, but I can tell you that they are some of the biggest names in Indie music today.

To hear more of Vick's music, see his MySpace profile at: http://www.myspace.com/travisvickmusic [1]. While you are there, consider throwing $5.00 his way by purchasing the EP, Player Piano. Player Piano in my opinion is a great sample of what is yet to come by this rising star.