Nick Distefano & Bobby Lebel Band

Sportsmen's Tavern

Saturday March 12 @ 8 pm

Nick Distefano & Bobby Lebel Band

$20 adv. $25 dos

Nick Distefano grew up in Hamburg N.Y. a little town outside

Buffalo and knew what he wanted to do from the age of three.

Being a multi-instrumentalist who’s comfortable on drums, bass

keyboard, guitar or percussion his life revolved around music;

whether it was playing live in bands or the luxury of a recording

studio, it was the only real connection he felt to the outside

world.

Playing and singing in various bands he had a stroke of luck with a

band called “The Road” who signed a 2 album deal with Kama Sutra

Records. The band had some mild success with a cover of the

Zombies hit “She’s not There” Their second album produced by

Stan Vincent of “Ooh Ooh Child” fame, got the band out of the

local bar scene and into fronting national acts. The band dissolved

and Nick realized that relocating to a “music industry town” was

the order of the day.

Enter Nashville, a writer’s town. The thought of being able to

create a good song out of thin air was something that appealed to

him very much. “I’d always just dabbled in it, and I always wanted

to fully understand the craft” period. So, while playing on the road

with such folks as Johnny Rodriguez, Janie Fricke, Billy Joe Royal,

Marie Osmond, T.G. Shepherd, and Kathy Mattea, Nick was

writing. He signed on as a staff writer for Leon Russell’s

Publishing Co. and through that connection had the good fortune of

Joe Cocker recording one of his tunes called “Shelter Me” which

had mild success in the states and went gold in Europe.

As his time with Leon came to a close, Nick signed another

writer’s deal with MTM (Mary Tyler Moore’s) company. Johnny

Van Zant recorded another song called “She’s out with a Gun”

(Well, it was the 80’s!) Glen Mediers released another hit with

the song “Someday Love.”

Since that time Nick has been staying busy with various projects

and has continued writing, and creating. “I have pieces of music all

over the house; it’s what I do….” At this time he is currently

planning a project of his own with the aid of several long time

friends.

In a nutshell, Nick is committed to staying musical, and has no

plans of slowing down for awhile. About his passion for his craft,

he says “If someone can sit down at a piano or with a guitar and

accompany oneself singing to the heavens, why would one ever

want to do anything else?

Guitarist, vocalist and songwriter.
Bobby Lebel fronts the Bobby Lebel Orchestra and The Damn Fine Rebels. Gretsch endorsee, former “Road” alumni and an inductee in the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, Bobby’s numerous album projects have earned him notoriety and a record deal in Italy. He has jammed on stage with such greats as Edgar Winter and band members of Ted Nugent, Chick Corea and Robben Ford.

He has backed up stars like Kathie Lee Guifford and opened shows for Rare Earth, America, Three Dog Night, Head East, Twisted Sister and James Cotton. Lebel’s songwriting for this project is heavily influenced by Sun-Records-Era Elvis, Eddie Cochran’s rockabilly, Bobby Darin’s swing style, Dick Dale’s surf wave and the picking of Les Paul and Merle Travis.