Bender Brass Band

Bender Brass Band - The brain child of our musical director Jimmy Carpenter, the Bender Bass Band is a super group and the house band of The Bender! You’ll find this incredible selection of musicians backing up artists and sitting in on many different sets throughout the festival. Some festivals have artists at large, but we have a band at large. In addition to the core members, Red Young, Nick Schnebelen, Mike Merritt, and David Kida, Jimmy rotates alway new members to keep the lineup fresh and the crowds dazzled. One thing is for sure, if these guys are playing, you don’t want to miss it.

Jimmy Carpenter - Saxophonist, singer-songwriter, arranger, and Gulf Coast Records recording artist, Jimmy Carpenter is on a roll! He won the 2021 and 2022 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist/Horn. And he is now a Grammy-Winning Composer, for a composition he contributed to the New Orleans Nightcrawlers’ winning album, Atmosphere. Jimmy has toured internationally with Tinsley Ellis, Jimmy Thackery, Walter Wolfman Washington, Eric Lindell, and Mike Zito and the Wheel. 2019’s Soul Doctor, his first album on Gulf Coast Records, was extremely well-received worldwide, and in September 2022 he released his fifth solo album, The Louisiana Record, a collection of his favorite New Orleans songs, also on Gulf Coast. He has been a working musician for over 40 years, spent many years in New Orleans, and now resides in Las Vegas, where he is the Musical Director of the hottest blues festival in the world, The Big Blues Bender.

Red Young - World Class Musician, Performer, Writer & Arranger. He’s mastered the 88's and has lit up stages and studios with the likes of Dolly Parton. Eric Burton, Kirk Fletcher, Janiva Magness, and many others. Red has worked on TV shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Osborne's as well as the films In the Line of Fire, and Indecent Proposal. Not to mention he has strolled the stage on Live performances from Austin City Limits. More than comfortable behind a piano, Red Young is set to have a musical conversation with the artists around him whether the tone is Tupelo, Mississippi swampy and humid, Memphis raw-edged, or Chicago South Side strong. You'll see Red Young at his best on the stages of the Bender, and you'll be long gone in his craft on the ebony & ivory keys.

Nick Schnebelen - In addition to winning multiple Blues Music Awards, Nick Schnebelen and his band toured North America from 2018 to 2022 as the opening act for George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Nick clearly has the blues-rock power to fill that slot with regular standing ovations. Nick got his introduction to the worldwide Blues community in 2008, along with siblings Danielle and Kris, as a founding member of the Kansas City band Trampled Under Foot. The band overwhelmed the competition and won that year’s International Blues Challenge where Nick claimed the Albert King Award for “Best Guitarist”. The band later won a Blues Music Award for the best “Contemporary Blues Album”. Nick decided to chart his own coarse in 2014 and proceeded to release three original albums under his own name. In 2019, he released his critically acclaimed album “Crazy All By Myself” on Vizztone and followed it up with his most recent hard-hitting album “What Key Is Trouble In?”. When not supporting Thorogood, Nick is packing venues with his own headlining tours in USA and Europe.

Mike Merritt - Bassist Mike Merritt spent 25 years playing in the house band on all of Conan O’ Brien’s TV talk shows, starting in New York with “ Late Night” then moving to Los Angeles for “The Tonight Show” and TBS’s “Conan”. This gave Mike opportunities to perform with many guest artists over the years, including Cheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, The Staple Singers, B.B. King, Slash, Tony Bennett, Steve Miller, Isaac Hayes, Chet Atkins, Pete Townshend, Robert Palmer, Bruce Springsteen and scores of others. Mike has toured and recorded with Grammy-winning bluesman Johnny Copeland, Rock, and Roll Hall of Fame member Johnnie Johnson, and was an original member of Grammy-winner Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble Band. Other artists Mike has either recorded, toured, or performed with include Joe Bonamassa, Shemekia Copeland, Billy Gibbons, Larkin Poe, Hubert Sumlin, Son Seals, Popa Chubby, Jimmy Vivino, Al Kooper, Odetta, Catherine Russell, Beth Hart, Southside Johnny, Jimmie Vaughan, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

David Kida - Originally hailing from Springfield Massachusetts, David Kida has spent five decades traveling the world from the throne behind his drum set, and supporting some of the best in the business. In the 90’s David set out touring and recording with the renowned guitarist and blues artist Barry Levenson. While touring with Barry at the PEER festival in Belgium, David was asked to backup vocal phenom Janiva Magness who subsequently asked him to join her band and record 2 albums with her. This time also allowed David to play with countless incredible artists including Doug Macloud. Doug and David would end up forging a musical bond and later recorded 3 albums together.

David was asked to join Rod Piazza in the fall of 2005. I had always loved the band. I knew of the rich history of incredible musicians in his band. And I feel honored to be a part of the band. I played on the latest record "Thrillville" and look forward to making more records with them in the future. The Band has given me the chance to play in some amazing locations… All over Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and the constant touring of the USA.