Guitarist Steve Fister plans homecoming concert to benefit Sportsmen's Americana Music Foundation

After years of touring the world, The Steve Fister Band is set to play intimate home gig.

Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation, in collaboration with guitarist Steve Fister, announced a bluesy September fundraiser. The Steve Fister Band will perform a benefit concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4, at Sportsmen’s Tavern, 326 Amherst St., Buffalo. General admission tickets are $15 and available through Showclix, the venue’s regular ticketing outlet.

Fister was a teenage guitar prodigy when he bid farewell to Buffalo and shuffled off to Hollywood. He has enjoyed a satisfying career and now he’s found a way to re-connect and pay it forward.

Fister was groomed by local guitar mentors, becoming a student tutor himself while still attending Cleveland Hill Cheektowaga Schools. Today, the Buffalo-born guitarist/singer-songwriter is a Platinum recording artist with a bluesy ’70s rock vibe. Fister’s music has been featured on HBO, ABC, NBC, VH1, MTV, Showtime and The History Channel. He is featured in the 2019 music documentary “Blood Frets and Tears”; and, in addition to fronting his own band, he’s recorded and toured with John Kay & Steppenwolf, Bon Jovi, The Pat Travers Band, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Walter Trout and Yngwie Malmstein, to name a few.

A guitar virtuoso, Fister has fond memories of a musical childhood. He started playing paid gigs and making records at the age of 7.

“I’ve got nothing but great memories of Buffalo and the music community that supported me,” he said. “I’ve been in Western New York playing with other big-name acts, but I always wanted to come back with my own band.”

He said he’s encouraged by the foundation’s goal to get instruments into the hands of – and great music into the ears of – Buffalo-area kids.

The Steve Fister Band features Fister (vocals, guitars and dobro), Philip Bynoe (bass and vocals) and Sandro Feliciano (drums and percussion). The trio combines roots-infused blues, folk, rock and storytelling for a guitar-driven musical experience.

Fister has produced 10 solo records, including “Live Bullets” which reached No. 2 on the European Blues Charts. His 2017 release, “The Steve Fister Electro Acoustic Band,” was well received and resulted in the trio touring Europe – once again to packed houses. The band performed at the Livehouse in Hollywood for “Steve Vai's Jamathon,” in front of 500,000 online viewers. The trio has played more than 300 shows, including support tours with Satriani and Trout.

The Steve Fister Band’s newest release, “Let It Slide,” is available at stevefister.com.

“I named the fundraiser ‘Where’s Steve?’ ” said Jason Hall, chairman of the Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation board of directors. “Local music-lovers share memories of Steve Fister the guitar player. It piqued my curiosity. … I found him! And he agreed to play a fundraiser.”

The mission of the Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation is to foster, promote and expand community appreciation for Americana music from Buffalo and Western New York through the production and sponsorship of performance and broadcast events and presentation of seminars and workshops on Americana music.