FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 3, 2025
Media Contact: Gina Hyams, PR Consultant, 713-930-7554, ginahyams@gmail.com
Spencertown Academy Presents Diego Mongue Band Featuring Vocalist Chantell March 15
Spencertown Academy Roots & Shoots Concerts Series, in association with the Capital Region Blues Network (CRBN), presents the Diego Mongue Band on Saturday, March 15 at 7:30pm at the Academy’s Blanche Grubin Auditorium. Featuring Mongue on drums, vocalist Chantell, Chase Bradshaw on bass, and Cam Bencivenga on guitar, the band’s sound is a mix of blues, jazz fusion, and rock. General admission tickets ($25 public, $20 Academy and CRBN members) are available via www.spencertownacademy.org.
“Having known Diego since he was a teenager, I am delighted to see the success he’s achieving with his band. Given his own musical prowess—he is an accomplished drummer, bass player, and guitarist and plays all three instruments in his mother Gina Coleman’s acclaimed band, Misty Blues, it’s wonderful to see him team up with Cam, Chase, and Chantell, who are all outstanding musicians in their own right,” says Richard Green, member of the Academy Music Committee and President of the Capital Region Blues Network. “Chantell possesses the kind of voice that frequently invokes shivers down the spine and the band provides the perfect platform for her soul-drenched expression.”
Based out of Berkshire County, MA, the Diego Mongue Band captivated the audience and judges at the 2023 and 2024 Capitol Region Blues Network’s regional competition, leading to two trips to Memphis, TN, to compete in the International Blues Challenge (IBC). Their debut blues album, “While You Were Gone,” reached a height of #10 on the Roots Music Report on the Contemporary Blues Album Chart. Bandleader Mongue has collaborated with and/or recorded with blues artists Eric Gales, Justin Johnson, and Joe Louis Walker.
Originally from Chicago, Chantell is a classically trained vocalist. In her early career, she performed on studio albums for PBS Kids and Sesame Street. In 2021, she performed in a concert of encouragement and hope for essential workers featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the pianist Emanuel Ax. In 2023, she was accepted into the Recording Academy.
Roots & Shoots Concerts is an ongoing Academy series that showcases artists who reach back to earlier traditions in music (Americana, jazz, blues, rock, and world music) for inspiration while incorporating more recent forms and influences of the present.
This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Founded in 1972, Spencertown Academy Arts Center is a cultural center and community resource serving Columbia County, the Berkshires, and the Capital region. Housed in a landmark 1847 Greek Revival schoolhouse, the Academy is located at 790 State Route 203 in Spencertown, New York. For more information, please contact info@spencertownacademy.org.