The Mule Barn Theatre Guild is planning its next big Artist Series event. On Saturday, June 4, 2022, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., join in the fun at a Style Show and Luncheon featuring Jason Riley on guitar at Tarkio Rotary Theatre inside Thompson Hall on the Tarkio Tech campus. A style show with apparel from Ella & Grey of Rock Port, Missouri, and Ladies Apparel of Shenandoah, Iowa, will be modeled and a wellness program by Jackie Martin and Jay Stanton with Community Hospital-Fairfax of Fairfax, Missouri, will start the day off. A luncheon will follow and includes delicious food catered by Chef Paul Presents. After lunch, Jason Riley will entertain the guests.

You don’t want to miss out on this great community event! Tickets are $25 and may be purchased from Sid Cooper (816-261-4587), Marilyn Alldredge (660-744-3146), or at the Flower Mill (606 Main Street, Tarkio).

As a versatile guitarist, Jason Riley’s professional experience includes recording, composing, teaching and performing in multiple styles. His education in classical guitar and commercial music included extended study in American styles, the Jazz idiom and improvisation.

Jason Riley is a native of Tarkio. “As a recording artist, he has produced and released four solo CDs. An equally successful and dedicated sideman, his playing has been featured extensively on many albums by other artists as well.

“Riley’s uniquely personal playing style, an improvisation-based approach utilizing “live” looping and tongue-in-cheek technical and technological effects, is demonstrated through his humble stage presence, acclaimed work with acoustic and electric instruments and heart-felt tributes to his many musical influences. His versatility of style, mood and character is seemingly unlimited: he can play soft and subtle, frantic and aggressive, he can swing, he can rock, he can play unaccompanied, with other guitarists or with symphony orchestra. His work on stage not only reflects his understanding of classical form and balance, but shows a highly original combination of this classical/rock/jazz background that very few guitarists can successfully execute in live performance.

“Jason has won competitions and reader’s polls in both the rock and country genres and has opened for and performed with national and international artists. He has also made numerous radio and television appearances. When not on tour, Jason serves as adjunct professor of guitar at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, and Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Missouri. He has also served as co-director at the Festival Chartres – an international guitar festival in Chartres, France.”