If you watched the Country Music Awards, you most likely caught the glam-twang performance put on by the Dixie Chicks and Beyonce. They sang a mashup of Bey’s “Daddy Lessons” from her visual album Lemonade, and “Long Time Gone” from the Chicks’ 2002 album Home. Long time, indeed.
Unfortunately, the video of the performance has been taken down, but you’ll have to take our word for it: Beyonce, Natalie and company of course killed it, but there was another standout star trying to break through last night. It’s the sax man, living his whole damn life in this moment on the CMA stage. Just look at him, the glorious white suit, the cowboy boots, the Zoolander hair. Tear it up, sax kid. Why we didn’t get a separate Sax Man Cam for that entire performance is beyond me. The baritone saxophone is not a nimble instrument, with most weighing over 10 pounds, but this musical genius appears to have been born to wail on one.
His name is Leo Pellegrino, a member of the New York subway busker group called Too Many Zooz. Here’s another video of Leo performing in Union Square two years ago:
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Leo is a CAPA Pittsburgh grad and the son of musician and performance artist Stephen Pellegrino. He’s also a member of Lucky Chops Brass Band, along with Too Many Zooz. “[Beyonce] saw the video of Too Many Zooz in the subway, and she liked it and got us in the studio,” he told the Post-Gazette.
From a funky dance in a subway station that smells like pee to the biggest stage in country music: This guy is #goals.
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