Kidd CincinnatiShare

“Call me … Kidd Cincinnati, or the Kidd.”

Born the son of a carpenter and an elementary school teacher, Roger Gentry was raised and lived more than half of his life in the “Queen City”: Cincinnati, Ohio. He remembers listening to an eclectic mix of music around the family home. From Elvis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry to Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, B.B. King, The Beatles, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix, he was immersed in a rich musical environment. This wide exposure led to a taste for more.

His parents originally offered to buy him a guitar after denying his request to play drums during junior high school, but fate stepped in around 1970 when a high school friend, Otis, shared with Roger the fundamentals of harmonica and the world of the blues.

He began his musical journey as a roadie and then went on to join suburban Cincinnati bands of the day such as Beouwulf, Sinbad & Fat Chance. With them, he sang and played harmonica throughout the northern Cincinnati valley for several years.

Now fast forward to the new Michigan-style millennium and a return to the basics for many folks, including Roger.  Similar to his parents’ time, job losses, foreclosures, corporate bankruptcy, a grown family and an empty nest, grandchildren and a weak economy have become the breeding ground for a new expression of his music. The creative bug has bitten again and Roger likes that feeling a whole lot. As many re-evaluate and re-invent themselves, Roger includes himself in that mix. That young man who left its streets long ago has returned in a sense, to that Ohio city, now proudly calling himself Kidd Cincinnati.

Kidd Cincinnati will be joined by Joe Glossop on bass, guitar and vocals; Wayne Antonio on drums and vocals; and Greg Staam on guitar and vocals.