Bluesman and the PDX Hustle Band will perform May 17 at the Chehalem Cultural Center

Americana and blues guitarist Ben Rice will return to his native home in mid-May for a performance at the Chehalem Cultural Center.

Rice and his PDX Hustle band will perform at 7 p.m. May 17 in the cultural center’s newly-renovated La Joie Theatre. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and tickets are $35 for adults, $25 for those younger than 30 years old, $15 for students possessing proper ID and $5 for anyone with an Oregon Trail Card.

To purchase tickets, visit chehalemculturalcenter.thundertix.com/events/244101.

The concert will see Rice provide lead vocals and guitar, with Pat McDougall on piano, organ and vocals; John Wolcott on bass and vocals; Adam Carlson on drums; Pete Petersen on saxophone; and John Dover on trumpet.

“Ben Rice and the PDX Hustle deliver an exciting performance that will have you grooving along with the band from the first rumble of the organ to the final horn sting of the night,” a release from the cultural center said. “Ben Rice takes his original Americana and blues sound to the next level with his six-piece horn band composed of the best musical talent Portland has to offer.”

For more information on Rice and the band, visit BenRiceHustle.com.

A lifetime performing

Rice, a graduate of Newberg High School, has developed a playing style that has earned him the moniker “blues ninja,” the release said, adding that it is “evidenced in his vocal chops and songcraft as well as his guitar playing.”

Over the last two decades Rice has built on a foundation of traditional blues to add soul, R&B, folk and country influences to his repertoire.

Those influences came early as he wore out his father’s records, including an eclectic selection that ran the gamut from Steely Dan to Bob Marley, from the Marshall Tucker Band to his mother’s Al Green, Barry White and George Benson vinyl.

“Soon all his allowance money was going toward exploratory thrift store finds: blues compilations featuring Mississippi John Hurt, Bukka White, Mississippi Fred McDowell and cassette tapes of more contemporary artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray, all played until they wore out,” the release continued.

Rice mixed all of the genres together to emerge with a guitar style that some have described as fearless, inventive and powerful.

“My goal is to reach people in a way that they need to be reached,“ Rice said in the release, “to say things they may not get to say or hear things they may not normally get to hear.”

Rice developed his singing voice much later, leaning on vocals in order to express the story behind the music.

“I try to write songs that hold weight and meaning, but my songs mean whatever they need to for whoever hears them,” he said. “I want people to enjoy my music on their own terms.”

His personal musical journey now tightly honed, Rice then added band mates who were proficient on horns, piano/organ and providing vocal harmonies to become The PDX Hustle band. The addition has proven popular with audiences throughout the Northwest.