The next event in the Roser Church Concert Series will feature the Trevor Bystrom Trio in concert, with doors to the sanctuary opening at 4:30 p.m. for the show that will start at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28.
There will be a free-will offering.
Bystrom’s love of music and conservationist spirit was fostered from a young age. He was born and raised on Anna Maria Island by a musical family and grew up attending music festivals all around Florida. By 16, he had written a handful of original songs and began performing in local venues, while also releasing a few live, and self produced albums with the help of the Couch Music Education Foundation.
In 2016, he attended a five-week summer program at Berklee College of Music, where he joined the World Music ensemble, and started to lay the bricks for a path to Caribbean- and Afro-influenced music.
By next summer, Bystrom had opened a recording studio on the island and started producing a few artists, as well as working on his self-produced 10 song album, “Water.”
His album was influenced by Paul Simon, Rusted Root, Xavier Rudd and a few others. Once completed, “Water” received the BOMB award for best album in Manatee County and he went on the road, touring in the northeast.
He has started recording a new album, a big project stretching the boundaries of his past music, bringing out Latin, reggae and calypso styles.
He called on Pedro Arevalo, a Berkley grad and international touring musician, to help produce the album with him. Drummer James Hershey found Benny Maldonado, a next-level Latin Grammy nominated percussionist out of Tampa. He took on the Bystrom band like it was his own along with his wife, an incredible harmonist and solid auxiliary percussionist.
But the project suddenly halted with the arrival of covid in 2020.
With no shows to play Trevor’s passion projects blossomed and he began to record a six-song EP, “Mawanga & Bystrom.” For the next year Bystrom and Peter Mawanga worked endlessly to create this album remotely from studios more than 8,000 miles apart.
They produced an album that fuses American and Malawian culture into an adventurous, inventive and deeply moving testament to our shared humanity.
The album was released weeks before the arrival of Trevor’s first son, “Waylor.” prompting him to stay more locally based. Meanwhile, travel restrictions, higher costs and so many uncertainties, touring with Mawanga became unfeasible.
Currently, Bystrom is busy performing around Florida for festivals, parties and a variety of venues.
He has a big studio project in the works. Along with live album recordings in production.
For more information on Bystrom, visit trevorbystrom.com.
Upcoming on the Roser concert calendar:
Paddy O’Furniture of Tampa/St. Pete will perform traditional Irish music at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25. They will have you clapping and singing along. Doors open at 4:30 PM. A free-will offering will be taken.
The band features Bob Powers, bass, vocals; Matt Mayes, fiddle, vocals; Kerry O’Reilly, guitar, vocals; McLean Baran, banjo, bagpipes; and Andy Crippen, mandolin, bouzouki.
For more information about the band, go online to paddyofurnitureband.com.
The Humdingers, a national award-winning barbershop quartet that includes tight four-part harmony, soft shoe tap dancing, comedic bits and antique musical chimes will perform in the sanctuary starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 18.
This group gives you everything but the kitchen sink! Based in Orlando, they are a traditional-style barbershop quartet, singing turn-of-the-century barbershop tunes in Central Florida for more than 30 years and collectively bringing to the stage decades of barbershop and a cappella singing experience.
Roser Church is at 512 Pine Avenue, Anna Maria.
For more information, call 941-778-0414.
— Bev Hunsberger, Roser communications specialist