The King Hat Review

The King Hat Review (KHR) is a multi-media stage musical extravaganza that tells the amazing story of American popular music and traces it's origins and history from where and when it all started: in the blues and folk-blues that emanated from porches, bayou docks and juke joints in the Deep South. With the help of a hand full of crazy pioneer DJs it spread all over the U.S. and the world, and has become the music we know and love today. Original American music, Blues, Rhythm & Blues, jazz, Rock & Roll & Hip Hop. The huge production consists of an amazing band, singers, dancers and video artists; as well as a multi-media production with giant projection screens, stunning sets, special stage effects and hot choreography, that all come together to take the audience on the historical journey of American popular music, the artists, their songs and the personal stories of how the DJs of each era discovered them and introduced them to the world.

"Whenever I hear that music, that soulful, raw sound, I head that way," says KHR creator/executive producer, Bobby Bragg. "It's roots music and it started on the porches, the bayou and the juke joints in the south. It's the beginning of original American music." The King Hats is the name of Bragg's band he started in 1996 with guitarist and co-founder John Lee Williamson. "We grew up with this music," said Williamson, who co-wrote and produced "The King Hat Review." "It's really in our blood." Williamson said he remembers hearing roots music for the first time. "I was 9 years old and listening to AM radio to a DJ named Brother Henderson," he said. "He played this raw gospel song called Christian Automobile by the Dixie Hummingbirds. I remember thinking, 'what is this?'"

Watch a video of the King Hat Review project here:

The King Hat Review has secured a major Los Angeles booking agency for their national tour and have a 2-week debut scheduled at a top venue in L.A. at the end of rehearsals. Also planned: A special donors "Gala Red Carpet Night" during KHR's two-week debut.

King Hat Review has enlisted the Kickstarter program to help enable them to rehearse the show, build the sets and special effects, and prepare for their debut. "We got the idea to do this project about five years ago and started writing it about two years ago," explains Bragg. "It's all written and designed and now we are ready to make it happen. All of the performers are seasoned professionals who have shared the stage and recording studios with the biggest names in music. It's an amazing cast of singers, musicians and dancers, special effects and video artists."

The show begins with a huge on-stage movie screen as a featurette tells the story of an archeological dig in the future where an old chest is unearthed and artifacts from the past are discovered. As the 'switch' is turned on, to an old Victrola from the dig, Robert Johnson's song 'Crossroads" begins to play and the audience is launched back in time to the beginning of the era that gave the world this fantastic music, and the journey begins.

If you like our idea, please don't just donate - we ask that you also let people know about it by directing them to our Kickstarter project page, Facebook page, or Twitter, or email friends and family you think might be interested, anything you can do to help spread the word.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1485623643/the-king-hat-review-the-american-music-story