The Handsome Jack Band bass player will do just that on Friday when Handsome Jack as well as Canyon Lights perform as part of the Roots Rising concert series at the Struthers Library Theater. The show begins at 8 p.m. and is sponsored by the Warren Concert Association. Canyon Lights performs rock and roll music while Handsome Jack blends classic rock, swamp rock and blues.

The Handsome Jack Band, originating from Lockport, N..Y is back at the Struthers Library Theater for its second time. The band’s name comes from a high school teacher who gave the band the name during a high school talent show. After a debut album in 2014, five albums have followed for the Handsome Jack Band. The title track for Barnburner, the band’s most recent album, was featured on a local PBS station for an episode about the Erie Canal.

With a similar sound and feel to Canyon Lights, blues roots oriented, bass player Joe Verdonselli said during an interview, “We’re doing like a big run of shows with those guys, because it’s just like the same kind of vibe as us.”

The band has been on seven European tours, as well as all over the U.S. and Canada.

Canyon Lights produced their debut album, Breathe Easy, in August 2025. Several singles are out now, including the James Gang cover “Walk Away.”

When asked what he’d be doing if it weren’t for the band, Verdonselli said that he’d probably be at a boring job but he’d never considered it because all he has ever wanted to do is make music.

Influenced by the sounds of the 1960s and 1970s classic rock, Verdonselli said his father would play them in his work garage. Blues music from musicians like BB King and Muddy Waters on the radio was another inspiration. Bands like Led Zeppelin and Humble Pie led him to digging deeper, wondering who influenced each other.

“So my dad probably got me started with that kind of music, and then I just got obsessed with it, probably the same for all the other guys, we just always liked, you know, the 60s, 70s classic stuff,” he said.

The name Canyon Lights for the band came from the early morning sunrises they experienced during their travels through Utah, Arizona and California. The band is a rock power trio that blends throwback rock and roll with swampy Americana, heavy blues, and 1970s-inspired guitar rock. Founded by former GA-20 members Pat Faherty and Tim Carman, the band grew out of years spent touring together across the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Born and raised in Boston, Faherty considers himself a language tutor instead of a music teacher because he is very focused and sensitive as to why most people can’t play music and how sound gets processed. He said he builds ears up to be able to process sound. Faherty plays guitar and vocals and said that Canyon Lights is a project rooted in raw rock and roll with honest song writing and the freedom to move beyond any one genre or scene

Faherty said this is the first time in Warren as Canyon Lights as he and Carman left the band called GA-20 in 2024. They’ve taken a continuation of GA-20 from 1950 and 1960s electric Chicago blues sounds into late 1960 and 1970s rock sound influencing their rock style with a new take on where rock can go due to their experience in blues. They write their own songs yet play covers from bands like Thin Lizzy, James Gang and The Groundhogs. Their debut album was all originals with old blues songs and rearrangements taken from 1960s musicians, taking blues melodies and applying them to their songs.

“(It’s a) new take on the old take of rock and roll,” said Faherty. “Our edge is that it’s being used by giving it space and used as a backup to vocals, giving a slightly different vibe.”

Faherty said Canyon Lights produces a wide array of sounds using three vocal harmonies and instrumentation. Harrison Fodey has been filling in for Tim Carman on everything and Troy Mercy on bass and back up vocalist on this run.

“Our group is a literal power trio in the vein of James Gang,” said Faherty confidently. “We’re not the typical three-chord rock band.”