GUITARIST/SINGER BOY WELLS HEARS BLUES SKIES CALLING
ON NEW CD COMING NOVEMBER 22
MASTERFUL PLAYER’S ALBUM SHOWCASES HIS BLUES, ROCK, COUNTRY AND FUNK ROOTS; INCLUDES BONUS CD-ROM OF LATE ‘70S WELLS GUITAR LESSON WITH THE LEGENDARY DANNY GATTON
WIMBERLEY, TX – Guitarist/singer Boy Wells announces the November 22 release of his debut CD, Blue Skies Calling, featuring a dozen original songs on his own Marcel Marsupial Records. The album will be available at CDBaby, iTunes and other fine outlets.
Blue Skies Calling introduces music fans to a largely undiscovered stellar guitarist and musical master in Boy Wells. Wells is a veteran of the southern rock scene that was rooted in the geographical and multi-stylistic pocket around the nation’s capital, who now resides in the artistically fertile hills of Central Texas. The new CD is a harmonic and sonic - as well as personal and spiritual - journey through the musical tradition at the heart of the American roots idiom that bloomed below the Mason-Dixon Line. With the guitar of Boy Wells as the guide, Blue Skies Calling travels through blues, rock ‘n’ roll, country, bluegrass, jazz and more to reveal a rare and brilliant instrumentalist, songwriter and singer steeped in the musical real deal. A friend and protégé of the late, great guitar legend Danny Gatton, Wells made his bones with countless gigs, many road miles and uncounted hours in the studio, and now steps into the spotlight to share all that he knows and feels about music and life as well as his instrumental prowess, touch and emotive power.
The new album was recorded by Dave Hanbury at House of Jam Recording in Beltsville, Maryland, and features Boy Wells on vocals, lead, slide and acoustic guitar, joined by a cast of stellar musicians, including former Danny Gatton bassist John Prevetti, drummer Bruce Crump (Molly Hatchet) and Rickie Simpkins on violin and mandolin, whose credits include work with Emmylou Harris. Other players include Andy Hamburger on drums, Bill Watson on saxes, Brian Simms on keyboards, Jimi Lee on harmonica, Brad Clements on trumpet and Becky Taylor on banjo.
A special bonus on the Blue Skies Calling CD is the inclusion of a CD-ROM featuring a one-hour guitar lesson given to Wells by Danny Gatton. “I played a 1955 Les Paul of Danny’s for over 20 years,” says Boy Wells. “Danny called me before he died and asked me to put a vocal tape together for his label at the time. He needed a singer after his singer, Billy Windsor, had passed. He remained a friend, a good one all those years. This lesson was in the late ‘70s; it’s me and Danny in the living room of his house on Holly Lane in Indian Head, Maryland. It’s killer stuff.”
The music on Blues Skies Calling covers a wide palette of colors from American music. Whether it’s the New Orleans funk/jazz opener, “Mr. Coluzzi;” the blasting blues of “World Weary and Blue,” “Love In Vain” and “Devil’s Backbone Blues;” the southern rock of “Bring It Back,” “Broke Down,” “Mon Angel” and the title track; the improvisational instrumentals, “Marcel Marsupial” and “Tova;” or the two closing bluegrass/country-flavored tracks, “Tin Winter” and “Traveller,” Boy Wells takes the listener on a beautiful musical journey, accented by his tasteful and masterful guitar work.
The distinctive artwork on the CD is by Texas artist Scott Wade, best-known for his amazing “dirty car art,” which has earned him a place in Ripley’s Believe It or Not
(www.dirtycarart.com). And by the way, that’s Boy Wells’ hand on the cover, the product of a broken pinky earned while playing baseball as a kid. “When I started playing guitar, it was a great asset because of how it jutted out. It was naturally set for guitar playing,” says Wells.
Boy Wells started playing guitar at the age of 16 when he heard a Duane Allman solo on The Allman Brothers Band classic, “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” “Before that, I never even considered playing guitar,” he remembers. “I was stunned by the guitar; it seemed to ‘speak’ on a spiritual level to me. I've been playing ever since that day.
“I grew up in the same area Danny Gatton was from in southern Maryland. I met Danny when I was around 17 after a friend of his heard me cranking an amp outside one day and introduced me to Gatton. He became a mentor to me and gave me many lessons, advice, rides in old cars, guitar repair gigs, old car parts etc. - you name it.”
Boy Wells started playing professionally in the Washington, DC, area in the late ‘70s, working the country bars on U.S. Route 1 in Virginia and Maryland. He hit a few early high notes opening for the likes of Maybelle Carter, the Osborne Brothers and Billy Joe Shaver. Moving into more blues and southern rock into the early 80s, Wells started a band called Blue Southern and played DC clubs like Danny Gatton’s Beneath It All, The Crazy Horse and Desperadoes, when the country rock and southern blues scene was vibrant in the DC area and outward. For several years during that time, he played at the annual 4th of July big celebration shows on the Washington Monument grounds, opening for artists such as The Beach Boys, The Ventures and others.
During the mid to late ‘80s, he played in a modern rock band and after that, in the early ‘90s, Wells played in an Allman Brothers tribute band - Southern Legend - with former Molly Hatchet drummer Bruce Crump, while also playing in several other blues bands throughout Virginia and the South.
After tragedy struck his family and he lost both his son and daughter, Boy Wells moved to a town outside of Austin in 2006 and started playing the clubs in Austin and that entire region of Texas. After a bout with Meniere’s Disease (a debilitating disorder of the inner ear that can affect hearing and balance), which laid him up for literally a couple of years, Boy Wells got back into writing and recording, which became the genesis for the release of Blue Skies Calling.
a drummer with Count Otis Matthew's West Oakland House Rockers. In 1943, at the recommendation of Nat "King" Cole and Jimmy Witherspoon, he moved to Los Angeles to join Harlan Leonard's Kansas City Rockets at the Club Alabam. By 1945 he was leading his own band, and had his first big hit that year with "Harlem Nocturne". In 1948 he joined with Bardu and Tila Ali, and Johnny Miller to open The Barrelhouse in Los Angeles, which was the first nightclub to feature Rhythm & Blues exclusively. In 1950 he had ten songs that made the Top 10 on Billboard Magazine's Best Selling Retail Rhythm & Blues Records list. With this success, he went on the road with his California Rhythm & Blues Caravan, and became the hottest musical attraction in black America. In the early 1950's, remaining active as a writer, performer, and producer, Johnny began a radio career and became one of the most popular disc jockeys in southern California. His career in radio has now spanned almost 50 years. His early radio broadcast success led to a weekly variety show on television. "The Johnny Otis Show" was on TV in Los Angeles for eight years.
995. His most recent book, "Johnny Otis - Red Beans & Rice and Other Rock 'n' Roll Recipes" was published in 1997.
