originally published: 12/11/2025

Photo by Michael Sparks Keegan

(TUCKERTON, NJ) -- Rhode Island-based horn-driven blues, jump, swing and soul band Roomful of Blues will celebrate the release of their new Alligator Records album, Steppin' Out!, with a live performance at the Lizzie Rose Music Room in Tuckerton on Sunday, January 18, 2026. Showtime is 7:30pm.

With the new album, Roomful of Blues introduces the soulful, emotive, full-throated vocalist D.D. Bastos. With D.D., the band is celebrating an historic milestone. For the first time in their history, Roomful of Blues have recorded an album featuring a female vocalist.

Roomful of Blues, according to DownBeat magazine, "are in a class by themselves." On record and on stage, the band--first formed in 1967 and led by master guitarist Chris Vachon for over three decades--delivers a toe-tapping mix of jump, swing, blues and proto rock 'n' roll. USA Today says they play "high voltage, swinging jump blues and R&B."

With longtime tenor and alto sax player Rich Lataille leading the horn section since 1970, Roomful of Blues' impeccable musicianship has earned them five GRAMMY Award nominations and seven Blues Music Awards. Twice, the prestigious DownBeat International Critics' Poll has selected them as Best Blues Band. And now, even after 19 previous releases and thousands of live shows, Roomful of Blues, one of the premiere blues ensembles in the world, continue to break new ground.

Tickets are $70 and available for purchase online. The Lizzie Rose Music Room is located at 217 E. Main Street in Tuckerton, New Jersey. Free parking is available.

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Produced by Chris Vachon, Steppin' Out! features 14 rollicking, house-rocking performances. Bastos' and the musicians' emotional connection to the material is palpable from the first note to the last. The album opens with the supercharged, guitar and horn-storming cover of Billy "The Kid" Emerson's Satisfied. The track list includes timeless reinterpretations of mostly obscure songs originally recorded by legends including Big Mama Thornton (You Don't Move Me No More), Big Maybelle (I've Got A Feeling and Tell Me Who), Etta James (Good Rocking Daddy), and Buddy & Ella Johnson (Why Don't Cha Stop It). Jimmy McCracklin's Steppin' Up In Class, Tiny Bradshaw's Well Oh Well, Z.Z. Hill's You Were Wrong and Smiley Lewis' Dirty People, like all the songs on the album, are unearthed treasures.

The current lineup of Roomful of Blues features guitarist and bandleader Chris Vachon, who first joined in 1990 and has been leading the group since 1998. The band has maintained its instantly identifiable sound through great musicianship and a stellar horn section--featuring tenor and alto saxophonist Rich Lataille, who first joined in 1970. Lataille's masterful playing can evoke either the fat-toned, honking sax of the glory days of early rock or the cool elegance of big band swing jazz. Along with Vachon, Lataille, and lead vocalist D.D. Bastos, Roomful of Blues features the talents of keyboardist Jeff Ceasrine, bassist John Turner, drummer Mike Coffey, baritone and tenor sax player Craig Thomas and trumpeter Christopher Pratt.

Joyous and rambunctious, Roomful of Blues is a band built to deliver the goods night after night. Their winning combination of horn-driven jump, swing, blues, rock 'n' roll, R&B and soul remains their calling card, as does their ability to fill the dance floor. "We always keep things fresh, and we keep the excitement level high," says Vachon. "Playing this music is an immense amount of fun for us. And it's just as much fun for our audience." Now, with Bastos and her richly expressive, swaggering vocals leading the charge, the band is captivating audiences old and new everywhere they perform. With Steppin' Out!, Roomful of Blues remain a defining musical force in the blues world, with their sound rooted in tradition, but their sights reaching far into the future.

The Lizzie Rose Music Room is a Non-Profit organization in the State Of New Jersey established in 2014 to bring live music to Tuckerton, surrounding Ocean County and beyond. The Lizzie Rose Music Room is a “Listening Room”, not a bar or restaurant. It presents a variety of music featuring Blues, Jazz, Bluegrass, Country, Rock,Soul, Singer/Songwriters and much more.