Aki Kumar Band and Hank Shreve Band

On Friday, July 21, The Community Center for the performing arts proudly welcomes Aki Kumar & Hank Shreve Band to the WOW Hall.

The Harmonica Workshop will take place at 5:30pm. Show starts at 7:30pm!

Tickets go on sale Friday April 7th at 10am. 

Aki Kumar

Aki Kumar left his native home in Mumbai, India for the United States with the intention of working as a software engineer. Then he discovered the sounds of the blues, and his life changed dramatically. 



One of the hardest working artists on the music scene today, this San Jose-based musician has successfully blended elements of Indian music into his musical and visual presentation, making for a multi-cultural mash-up that sounds like no one else, yet never loses touch with the inspiration it draws from the blues. He has made multiple appearances at The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, has been featured on PRI “The World,” and has toured in Russia, Scandinavia and South America.

Kumar's Little Village Foundation releases Aki Goes To Bollywood (2016) and Hindi Man Blues (2018) are considered ground-breaking albums that have garnered international critical acclaim. In 2020, Kumar made major news with the world-wide launch of his album Dilruba on Sony Music India. Kumar kicked off 2021 with the release of an uplifting reggae-infused single "Zindagi" (Life).

Hank Shreve Band

Hank Shreve began playing harmonica at the age of 8 and has established himself as a major harmonica talent on the blues scene in the Pacific Northwest. Between the age of 8 - 18, he became proficient on other instruments such as Drums, Keyboards, Guitar, Dobro , Lap-Steel and Vocals, ​

Hank won the Northwest Harmonica Championship in 2008 and CBA’s Muddy Award for Best Harmonica in 2009 and 2013. Hank has performed at the Toronto Jazz Festival and the Cognac Blues Passions in France with Karen Lovely, and Seattle’s Bumper Shoot with Magic Dick and Lee Oskar.  In November 2018, Hank participated in the Jason Ricci/Winslow Yerxa Harmonica Collective, in New Orleans, with John Nemeth and Rick Estrin.​

Hank has shared the stage with delta-blues legend Honeyboy Edwards, Smash Mouth, Merle Haggard, Norton Buffalo, Gregg Rolie, Marcia Ball, Sista Monica Parker, Amy Clawson & Pam Tillis, Terry Robb, Magic Dick, Lee Oskar, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Karen Lovely, Deanna Bogart, Roger Fisher (from Heart), Curtis Salgado, DK Stewart, Lloyd Jones, Paul deLay and many other well-known national and international acts.  ​

Hank and his band, (The Hank Shreve Band) have performed at numerous notable venues/events such as The Waterfront Blues Festival, Big Sky Blues Festival, Fourth At The Fort Festival, Willamette Blues/Brews Festival, Eugene Celebration, Oregon State Fair, Highway 99 Blues Club (Seattle), Jazzbones (Tacoma), Sasquatch Brewfest (Eugene)....The Hank Shreve Band has won the CBA's Muddy Award for Best New Act 2012, and Best Regional Act 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2018.

Apart from being one of Eugene, Oregon's  respected and well-known musicians, Hank is an official Artist-In-Residency at Music Masters in South Eugene where he teaches music with a curriculum that includes Harmonica, Drums, Guitar, Lap-Steel and Piano.