Pavilion in New Castle, IN
Duke Tumatoe brings the blues to The Arts Park for the Henry County Concert Series
By: Kevin Vickery
On Friday, June 19th, The Henry County Concert Series welcomed long-time Hoosier-favorite, Duke Tumatoe and the Power Trio along with special guest, Allena Miller to the Arts Park in downtown New Castle for the official kickoff of the 2026 season.
The weather was great and temperatures perfect for a night of music at the beautiful venue located at 218 South 15th Street, right between the Art Association of Henry County and the New Castle Henry County Public Library.
The show started with Allena, a 17 year old high school student in Winchester from Modock, IN.
She has a wonderful , soft singing voice and treated the crowd to a few cover songs as well as some of her own original material like her song, “Curveball” which is available on all major streaming services. The song recounts her own personal journey of adapting to new situations when life throws you an unexpected curveball like changing schools mid-school year.
She has also recently completed a follow up single, recorded at Gaither Studios called, “Shut Up” that addresses school bullying. I personally enjoyed her song, “Into My Heart“ that tells the story of receiving her first guitar as a Christmas gift from her Grandfather.
Allena will be bringing her self described, “jazz-folk” sound to the Start With Art Benefit Concert in Union City on July 25th.
Start With Art Concert promotional image
Up next was the man of the hour, local legend and Chicago native, Duke Tumatoe & The Power Trio along with the Brass to Mouth horn section.
Duke (born William Fiorio) grew up around the Chicago blues scene and got his start in the mid-60s. By 1967 he was playing with the early version of REO Speedwagon before parting ways to pursue the blues full time.
In 1969, he went on to form Duke Tumatoe & The All-Star Frogs then later Duke Tumatoe & The Power Trio and has recorded 15 albums over his 50 year career while still playing 80-100 shows per year.
I first learned of Duke like a lot of Hoosiers when The Colts relocated to Indianapolis from Baltimore in 1984. Duke had befriended Tom Griswold of “The Bob & Tom Show” who suggested Duke write a song about the team to perform live on the radio show in 1985. It was such a success that Duke still writes and performs that weekly updated song, “Lord, Help Our Colts” during football season now over 40 years later.
I personally have felt for years like I owed Duke a debt of gratitude for that since it was his success that inspired “The Stuck & Gunner Show” on the other end of the now iHeart Media building to try the same concept with my band, The Cousin Brothers. This lead to me writing weekly updated versions of our song, “Big Colts Fan” and performing them live in the studio, early Friday mornings during football season as well. Our song and that radio program didn’t have the longevity that Duke has enjoyed but we did at least get to do it during what I would call the Colts “good years” for six seasons during the Manning era and winning Super-bowl XLI.
Duke’s show at the Arts Park Pavilion didn’t disappoint and I couldn’t help but admire how his singing voice has the same tone and strength that he’s had for the 40 years I’ve been listening to him. The crowd was excited to hear favorites like, “Don’t Have it In Me” from 2000 which he made popular as a duet with Q95’s Jimmy “Mad Dog” Matis. Duke’s popular “Tie You Up” which was originally recorded in 1986 took on a whole new life when a recording featuring an impromptu duet version with the late, Sam Kinison was recorded at “Live-Day” in 1988 and has since become an anthem for fans of both Duke and Bob & Tom.
In addition to Duke Tumatoe, The Power Trio consists of bassist, Bill Ritter, and drummer, Dawson Ouellette, as well as the horn section including, Jay Young on saxophone, Kent Hickey on trumpet, and Neil Broeker on baritone sax. The band has plans to return to the studio soon to record some new material Duke has been writing as well as re-recording some of his previous songs with the addition of the horn section.
Duke’s strong stage presence and charismatic personality shined throughout his performance as he delivered the fans in New Castle a fun and entertaining show that was enjoyed by all in attendance.
On his longevity in a successful music career, Duke told me, “The real basis of it all is to have fun with it. – If you ain’t having fun, you could do something else and make a lot more money.” He added, “When you play music, leave everything else out of it. – No one needs to know what you think about this, that and the other. – They’re not paying you for your intellect in that regard and my opinion on anything isn’t worth more than anyone else’s opinion.”
Thanks Duke. I couldn’t agree more and couldn’t have said it better myself.
The Henry County Concert Series continues featuring Sofa Kings with Dave Ellison on July 17th, The Why Store with John Thompson on August 21st, and Henry Lee Summer with Ritchie Dickerson in September 18th. All shows are at the Arts Park Pavilion with a 6:30 PM show time.
It takes a great deal of work and planning to bring a series of events like this to fruition and part of what makes that possible are the corporate sponsors. The Henry County Concert Series thanks Modern Fold, Henry County Community Foundation, Edward Jones, Elks Lodge #484, New Castle – Henry County Chamber of Commerce, The Art Association of Henry County and Bev & Duane Matthews for their support.
For more information about Duke Tumatoe, visit his official website at duketumatoe.com
To find out about events at The Henry County Arts Park Pavilion visit the Art Association of Henry County’s website at henrycountyarts.org
Make Some Noise 