Native North Carolinian Seth Walker plays a soulful strain of blues, and he can quote chapter and verse on T-Bone Walker, B.B. King and the other expected influences. Ask him about less-obvious influences, however, and he pulls a highly unexpected name out of the hat: the late comedian Richard Pryor.

"Now my show is not comedy, obviously," Walker said in a recent interview. "But I love the way he'd take you to different places in his act. There were times he'd get serious on ya, times he'd do these hilarious characters. It's not the same, but I try to do that, too. Take you somewhere, then drop you off and send you on your way. I like some fun stuff, and some serious stuff as well."

For more, including details on Walker's Friday night show in Durham, see this here interview.

DURHAM - The spiffy new Durham Performing Arts Center has a lot of stand-up comedy acts on its upcoming schedule, including Lewis Black, Robin ... more

See photos of blues legend B.B. King's concert during the grand opening of the Durham Performing Arts Center.

Click through for a bunch more verbiage on John Hiatt than the blurb that's in Friday's paper.

Construction continues apace on the Durham Performing Arts Center, a plush new venue with a capacity over 2,700 rising just a stone's throw beyond the outfield fence of Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The target date to open is Nov. 30 -- and that's a firm deadline because legendary bluesman B.B. King is scheduled to break the place in with a grand-opening show that night, billed as the "Bull Durham Winter Blues Concert."

Tickets for the King show are $38-$68 and go on sale Sept. 27. Other concert bookings include a Kenny Rogers Christmas show on Dec. 11; and pianist Jim Brickman with the NC Symphony on Dec. 18. More details coming soon.