Rusty’s show is a high-energy, freewheeling tour-de-force of homegrown rock and roll. A veteran of the Indiana music scene, Bladen has played many of the clubs, theaters, bars, and festivals in the Midwest on his way to building his fanbase. Nine albums and 5,000 shows in his back pocket make him truly one of the road warriors of Indiana’s music fraternity. Rusty’s original music. His every-night-a-great-time live show and the pile of encyclopedic rock and roll and country history that he plays have made him an artist who can be counted on to turn a performance into a party.
Bladen currently tours with the Rusty Bladen and The Living Daylights, with Tyler Brindel on drums and his son Jackson Bladen on keyboards, and includes Marty Miller (formerly with Louisville country/folk legend Mickey Clark) on bass and Michael Fortunato on sax for many shows,
“For the past 30 years, Bladen has been writing music and building his audience, stacking show after show of heartland rock and roll to gain the reputation as one of the midwest’s most engaging live performers.“ – Americana Rock Newsletter
Though Rusty worked a couple of jobs to support himself just after high school – including a stint at the Madison State Hospital – but it didn’t take long for him to find his way to a stage. Guitar lessons as a 10-year-old laid the groundwork. Memorizing the Neil Young songbook gave him a start. His frontman chops were honed by five years as the lead singer for a turn-it-up-six-nights-a-week Indiana hard rock/Top 40 band Aura in the 80s.
After the breakup of Aura, Rusty joined the Roadwork band, trading 80s spandex for straight-ahead rock and roll. For four years, they were mainstays of Madison-area bars and clubs, with treks into Louisville and nearby towns. While Rusty was strictly the lead singer with Aura, he strapped on the electric guitar for Roadwork, and with that band, built his chops as a Midwest rocker, with early videos showing the energy and ability to get a crowd rocking that would become Bladen’s trademark. / Roadwork video
Late in 1991, Rusty started to work on a debut solo album that would become Are You Happy Now? He left Roadwork to begin a solo career that would see him playing solo shows and hitting the road for nearly 200 dates a year throughout Indiana and Kentucky. He held a legendary sold-out album release party with his new band at the Evergreen Room in Seymour, Indiana upon the release of the record in 1993. The Rusty Bladen Band consisted of longtime Madison drummer Berry Burleson (and later, ex-Lonnie Mack drummer Dennis O’Neal), Louisville guitarist Rob Johnson, saxophonist Rick Debow (also from Louisville), and bass player Tim Halcomb. He later added Louisville keyboard player Dave Barickman / Rusty Bladen Band video
After recording and releasing Live at the Hoosier Theater, Rusty formed Rusty Bladen and The Shakin’ Jakes in 1997. He also coined the term “homegrown rock and roll” to describe the music made by both the band and Bladen as a solo performer. With Tony Burton (formerly with Roadmaster and Larry Crane) on guitar, Jon E. Gee (now with John Mellencamp) on bass, and Ed Gaus ( John Prine alum) on drums, the crew (with keyboardist JW Smith for many of the big shows) provided the rock and roll blast for Bladen for more than five years. They also played on (and Gaus produced) the Everything for Everybody album. They recorded the 1998 Ride That River EP, with Mellencamp drummer Dane Clark behind the kit. Bladen recorded the title song for the 2005 MGM motion picture “Madison”, and is featured in the film about the 1971 underdog, city-owned, Gold Cup-winning race boat in the town of Madison. / Rusty Bladen and The Shakin Jakes video
Throughout this period, Bladen was writing music and playing hundreds of solo shows. As an independent artist, his albums sold out, one CD at a time, via small record shops, at shows, and outside his van as the crew packed up the stage gear.
After the run of the Shakin’ Jakes, Bladen put together a new band in 2005, Rusty Bladen and The Designated Drivers, with Louisville’s Mark Hamilton on guitar, Madison bass player Vernay Reindollar, and drummer Kevin Burkett. Again, JW Smith played keyboards, including a digital-only release of One Live Night, recorded at the historic Scott Theater in Scottsburg, Indiana. That record captured 18 Bladen originals, full-blast American rock and roll, recorded live with his band – a true live album. It was a well-greased band that could make a journey into a country-rock haze of a good time. This band would carry him into the early 2010s.
Bladen recorded arguably his best album ever in 2014 – a Midwesterner’s take on country and rock and roll. The mix of Bladen’s writing (he penned all the songs) and finding a sonic mix with producer Thom Daugherty (former guitarist for The Band Perry and The Elms) made for a sound both familiar and original. Recorded in Indianapolis, the album features Daugherty playing electric guitar, in addition to Bladen’s acoustic guitar, harmonica, and vocals. “Where Did I Go Wrong” music video
During much of the 2010s, Rusty toured mainly as a solo performer, with band gigs for festivals, a few club dates, and New Year’s Eve. An enduring piece of Bladen’s catalog is a countryfried homegrown rock and roll Christmas album he recorded in 2008 called Feels Like Christmas, produced by longtime Indiana musician and Mellencamp drummer, Dane Clark. The title track is a Rusty Bladen original while 12 more songs are roots-rock versions of favorite traditional Holiday songs.
The seeds of his current band, Rusty Bladen and The Livin’ Daylights, Bladen’s oldest son, Neil Bladen joined on bass from 2015-19, while drummer Tyler Brindel started touring with Rusty in 2016, and remains the drummer in 2025. During this time, guitarists John Tasca and Ray Bowling, as well as drummer Brian York, also played shows with the band.
Bladen currently tours with the Rusty Bladen and The Living Daylights. / Rusty Bladen and The Living Daylights video
The guarantee between Rusty Bladen and his audience is this: if you take the time to come out for a show, you’ll sing, might get up to dance, and come away from it all pretty darn happy. Homegrown rock and roll, right?
