Rev. Gary Davis, Bozo Padunavac and American Primitivism - An Exclusive Interview with Peter Lang

I caught up the other day with legendary American Primitive guitar player Peter Lang. American Primitivism, also known as American Primitive Guitar, is the music genre started by John Fahey in the late 1950s. Fahey composed and recorded avant-garde/neo-classical compositions using traditional country blues fingerpicking techniques, which had previously been used primarily to accompany vocals. Other famous early proponents were Leo Kottke and Robbie Basho who all played at one time or another on Fahey's Takoma Records label. The style is derived from the country blues and string band music of the '20s and '30s.

Fahey referred to it as 'American Primitive' after the 'French Primitive' painters, meaning untutored.

Bman: Hi Peter. I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with me. First I want to mention that I have posted a number of your performances with your biography which have been some of my most read articles. You definitely have a lot of fans.

I remember first hearing you when I was in college. Your finger playing technique is incredible. How did you get started playing guitar?

Peter: As a child I came from a dysfunctional family. My father was a WWII/Korea veteran. Music was an important escape from my world. I started playing trumpet in grade school and I loved to practice. My father had boilermakers ears (essentially everything bothered his hearing and it sounded to him like noise in a can). He suggested that I stop playing trumpet and possibly play a guitar instead. It ended up being a Ukulele but ultimately I got a Kay student model and by 14 had worked my way up to a good Gibson J45 at 14. I was actually starting to progress and get rid of some of my bad habits and a friend of my brothers smashed it for fun. Fortunately dad was an insurance man and with the proceeds I got a ’63 Gibson Hummingbird. Most of my early recordings were made on this guitar. Guitar builder Ren Fergusen who was building banjo’s and doing guitar repairs (later in charge of Gibson’s custom shop) did some great custom inlays on that guitar. 

Bman: So how did you get hooked up with John Fahey and Leo Kottke?

Peter: I moved to LA in 1967 to get work. A number of players would work at the Troubadour and the Ash Grove. I ended up playing with Dave Van Ronk, Elizabeth Cotten and Brownie McGhee. The Ash Grove was only open about 15 years but the owner was involved in “radical politics’ and it was burned down a number of times. It was there and Mc Cabe’s that I met John Fahey as well as Bukka White and Robert Wilkins among others and as a result ended up atTakoma Records.

Bman: So it was a chance meeting?

Peter: I was playing a party and basically playing in the American Primitive style (self taught) and writing my own materials. I had trouble learning others music by ear so I developed my own style. I tried to learn “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”. I could never really get it. It took my son to tell me “Dad. It’s 2 people playing guitar!”

I started recording in 1966 and someone dropped a tape to Takoma at Santa Monica College. I hear Leo’s (Kottke) first album and said, “Hey, That’s what I’m doing”. John’s (Fahey) wife was at UCLA staying with one of my roommates. She was always talking about her husband the nutcase guitar player. John and his wife owned Takoma Records. I signed in 1972. All of the Takoma guys had a spiritual leader. Robbie Basho had Majher Baba, Fahey had Satchadinanda, "The Woodstock Guru" ........ I mean Timothy Leary and Christopher Isherwood were there. I had Reverend Ike “The Cynic” Ikenhorder wearing a crown . They all had their little shrines and I would eat the candy left in the shrines. 

Bman: Quite the joker Peter!

Peter: I had never really heard Fahey before meeting him and then signing. Growing up in Minnesota I listened to what they had at Midwest Records. There was only one store where you could listen before you bought. They were the only store to carry any outsider music. Takoma was the first. I got compared to Leo a lot when I first recorded because he and I and Fahey came from the collective pool. Fahey and I both self taught and Leo learned through Fahey and Dick Rosenwiner, Davey Graham (Father of Modern Fingerstyle), Bert Jansch, John Reborn and Rev. Gary Davis. 

Bman: You, Leo and Rev. Gary Davis have more than just music style in common. Did you meet Davis.

Peter: Yes. I was at Ash Grove and Rev. Gary Davis walked in. 

Bman: I’ll bet that was cool. What was he like?

Peter: Very approachable. At the time I was playing a Guild F212 and I started to talk to him and then ended up playing for him. He then pulled out this outrageous 12 string made by Bozo Podunavac (pronounced: bo-zho pod oo nav ack). I had never heard anything like it. We chatted for a few hours. We had a few meetings after that. He was very gracious and funny. He inspired a lot of great players. He was one of the very best with that Piedmont Style in the company of Blind Blake, Lonnie Johnson and Billy Broonzy. He only used his thumb and one finger, (Leo and John Reborn use two fingers and a thumb). 

Bman: Most people don’t likely know it but Jeff Beck is a finger player too.

Peter: Yeah. Jeff uses mostly the thumb and index occasionally. He’s incredible!

Bman: Sorry, back to Gary Davis. So I know you ended up with a few Bozo’s. Did Gary have a part in that? 

Peter: Gary Davis died shortly after I met him in late 71-72. I found out that Bozo was in Chicago. I was in town and Leo wanted me to come by and say hi. Leo had a Bozo!
As life improved (business got better) I knew I was going to have one. Fahey had a ton of great guitars and he had one. Bozo was at Wooden Music in Chicago. I bought 2 there, a 6 string and a 12 string. The 6 string was really decked out and was used in a lot of advertisements. It was stolen in Duluth, Minnesota in 1979. I thought that I had forgotten it at home but then realized that my briefcase with a bunch of mic’s was gone as well. That guitar never turned back up. I used the 12 string a lot on the Lycurgus recording. Times were tough and I needed to sell that 12 string to a serviceman who was in the army. He was stationed in the Philippines and it was stolen while he was overseas. 

Bman: What do you think makes these guitars so special? I have a special love for them but I want an expert’s opinion.

Peter: Bozo has a really unique bracing pattern and as he trained building Cello’s and Contrabasses. They have a pretty thick top that is made of German Spruce with heavy bear claw from the lower part of the tree. It forces the sound to the corners of the face making the sound even richer. He used wood purfling and binding and preferred Indian Rosewood because it was more stable. His wood selections are great. His inlay work can be over the top beautiful. 

Bman: So was that it for your Bozo’s?

Peter: Oh no! I had one of the first Western Bell design (dreadnaught) 6 strings as well as a Western Bell 12. The 6 was stolen and I had to sell the 12 but I purchased a 2nd less ornate 12 in 1986 or 87 custom built for a friend. He bought matching 6 and 12 stringers and then sold me the 12 after a while. And then there was the “Owl Face” in ‘79! Bozo was always experimenting with new ideas and he came up with this concept for a double cut acoustic with two sound holes. He made 2 prototypes and Leo got one and I got one. He wanted our feedback. That was an incredible instrument.

It was stolen once and I got it back but I sold that one to a friend a few years back. 

Bman: Lucky Guy!!

Peter: Bozo also tried a plastic back on a guitar but it wasn’t my bag. Fahey and Denny Bruce each had them.

Twelve strings in general have a very unique sound. A 6 string has a purr. A 12 string can growl. A Bozo 12 string roars!! Not the deep thumping sound of a typical 12 string. And with slide they scream! The sixes have a lot more finesse. 

The Bozo 6 string is like a Lotus… his 12 string is a Mack Truck… but power in your face!! 

Bman: How’s Bozo to work with?

Peter: He’s a very nice guy really and gracious. He looks at building guitars very much as a craft and doesn’t much look for input from the buyer/artist. 

Bman: Well, he seems to know what he’s doing! So what’s going on with you now? 

Peter: Well, in 2008, 2 weeks after I released Testament, I had an auto accident. Injuries to my neck, back and right hand had made it difficult to perform for a year. I was playing about once a month. I still don’t have an insurance settlement.

Bman: That has to be tough. I know you were working in broadcast animation for a while.

Peter: Yes. I quit to work on my music again. I am fortunate to have a pretty good computer background and now do quite a bit of computer implementation and support. I keep up concerts regionally to enjoy the business but choose my gigs to suit my schedule. Right now I’m looking forward to playing “Camino Santiago”, a pilgrimage in Spain , playing religious blues and then off to Petaluma for the running of the bulls. A nice 2-3 weeks in Spain.

Bman: I have a few friends that have done that numerous times. They have had a blast.

I really appreciate you taking the time out from your schedule to bring us up to date with you and to share your stories about Bozo and Rev. Gary Davis. Is there anything else that you’d like to share with your fans?

Peter: On my first pass through, my perceptions were all wrong. I think that I was using music as an escape.It’s a way to deal with things that are different. It provides a start point and an end point. In music you can process your issues. There is something magical in music. I went to see Shakti with John McLaughlin and the experience made my hair stand up. 

Bman: John is an incredible player! 

Peter: Dogs howl and people play music or do art. They are the people who start the howl. When the artist and the others participate, that’s nerve central. As a younger artist I never really understood that. It’s a blessing to connect with some people and it makes you feel you’re contributing something important. There is a big difference between artists and performers. There’s a small difference between performers and the WWF. Too many people only enjoy the performance.

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Piney Brown Blues - Jimmy "T-99" Nelson and Sean Carney Band

Jimmy "T99" Nelson (April 7, 1919 – July 29, 2007) was an American jump blues and rhythm and blues shouter and songwriter. With a recording career that spanned over 50 years, Jimmy "T99" Nelson became a distinguished elder statesman of American music. His best known recordings are "T-99 Blues" and "Meet Me With Your Black Dress On". Nelson notably worked with Duke Robillard and Otis Grand
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If Trouble Was Money - Mr. Bo

Louis Bo Collins was born on April 7, 1932 in Indianola, Mississippi; he moved north to Chicago in 1946 and settled in Detroit in the early 1950s. Befriended by Washboard Willie, his growing interest in performing the blues was encouraged, and he was soon playing house parties throughout Detroit, performing with the likes of Jhn Lee Hooker, Eddie Burns and Little Sonny. Under the name "Mr Bo," Collins began a recording career in 1959 which would eventually be responsible for some of the finest blues ever to come out of Detroit. The singles reveal a singer and guitarist influenced by B B King and T-bone Walker, but they also reveal an artist who created a blues style that was uniquely his own. Perhaps the most enduring recording from this period is "If Trouble Was Money," penned by his brother Little Mac Collins and covered by many since its 1966 release. This disc contains some of the best of Mr Bo's classic songs and some new original compositions. Backed by a strong band with which he had played the past several years, he used these sessions to lay down track after tarc of some of the finest music of his life. Sly, Mr Bo never lived to see this album issued. On September 19, 1995 he succumbed to pneumonia at Detroit's Harper Hostipal. Only 63, Mr Bo's death brought to a close the career of one of Detroit's finest blues artists. The blues on "If Trouble Was Money" serve as a testament to the career of Louis Mr Bo Collins.
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Fine and Mellow - Billy Holiday

Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Harris April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.

Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording.
Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Sarah Julia "Sadie" Fagan (née Harris). Her father, Clarence Halliday (Holiday), a musician, did not marry or live with her mother. Her mother had moved to Philadelphia when thirteen, after being ejected from her parents' home in Sandtown-Winchester, Baltimore for becoming pregnant. With no support from her own parents, Holiday's mother arranged for the young Holiday to stay with her older married half sister, Eva Miller, who lived in Baltimore.
Billie Holiday at two years old, in 1917

Billie Holiday had a difficult childhood, her mother often took what were then known as "transportation jobs", serving on the passenger railroads. Holiday was left to be raised largely by Eva Miller's mother-in-law, Martha Miller, and suffered from her mother's absences and leaving her in others' care for much of the first ten years of her life. (Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, first published in 1956, was sketchy about details of her early life, but much was confirmed by Stuart Nicholson in his 1995 biography of the singer.)

Some historians have disputed Holiday's paternity, as a copy of her birth certificate in the Baltimore archives lists the father as "Frank DeViese". Other historians consider this an anomaly, probably inserted by a hospital or government worker. Frank DeViese lived in Philadelphia and Sadie Harris may have known him through her work.

Sadie Harris, then known as Sadie Fagan, married Philip Gough, but the marriage was over in two years. Holiday was left with Martha Miller again while her mother took further transportation jobs. Holiday frequently skipped school and her truancy resulted in her being brought before the juvenile court on January 5, 1925 when she was not yet 10. She was sent to The House of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic reform school. She was baptized there on March 19, 1925 and after nine months in care, was "paroled" on October 3, 1925 to her mother, who had opened a restaurant called the East Side Grill, where she and Holiday worked long hours. By the age of 11, the girl had dropped out of school.

Holiday's mother returned to their home on December 24, 1926, to discover a neighbor, Wilbur Rich, raping Holiday. Rich was arrested. Officials placed the girl at the House of the Good Shepherd in protective custody as a state witness in the rape case. Holiday was released in February 1927, nearly twelve. Holiday and her mother later lived with and worked for a madam. Shortly after working as prostitutes, both Holiday and her mother were arrested. They were released after a short stint in prison. During this time, Holiday first heard the records of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. By the end of 1928, Holiday's mother decided to try her luck in Harlem, New York and left Holiday again with Martha Miller.
Holiday was signed to Brunswick Records by John Hammond to record current pop tunes with Teddy Wilson in the new "swing" style for the growing jukebox trade. They were given free rein to improvise the material. Holiday's improvisation of the melody line to fit the emotion was revolutionary. Their first collaboration included "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," and "Miss Brown To You." The record label did not favor the recording session, because producers wanted Holiday to sound more like Cleo Brown. After "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" garnered success, however, the company began considering Holiday an artist in her own right. She began recording under her own name a year later (on the 35 cent Vocalion label), producing a series of extraordinary performances with groups comprising the swing era's finest musicians.

With their arrangements, Wilson and Holiday took pedestrian pop tunes, such as "Twenty-Four Hours a Day" (#6 Pop) or "Yankee Doodle Never Went To Town", and turned them into jazz classics. Most of Holiday's recordings with Wilson or under her own name during the 1930s and early 1940s are regarded as important parts of the jazz vocal library. She was then in her early to late 20s.

Another frequent accompanist was the tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who had been a boarder at her mother's house in 1934 and with whom Holiday had a special rapport. He said,

"Well, I think you can hear that on some of the old records, you know. Some time I'd sit down and listen to 'em myself, and it sound like two of the same voices, if you don't be careful, you know, or the same mind, or something like that."

Young nicknamed her "Lady Day", and she, in turn, dubbed him "Prez".
On May 16, 1947, Holiday was arrested for the possession of narcotics in her New York apartment. On May 27, 1947, she was in court. "It was called 'The United States of America versus Billie Holiday'. And that's just the way it felt," Holiday recalled. During the trial, Holiday received notice that her lawyer was not interested in coming down to the trial and representing her. "In plain English that meant no one in the world was interested in looking out for me," Holiday said. Dehydrated and unable to hold down any food, she pled guilty and asked to be sent to the hospital. The D.A. spoke up in her defense, saying, "If your honor please, this is a case of a drug addict, but more serious, however, than most of our cases, Miss Holiday is a professional entertainer and among the higher rank as far as income was concerned." By 1947, Holiday was at her commercial peak, having made a quarter of a million dollars in the three years prior. Holiday placed second in the Down Beat poll for 1946 and 1947, her highest ranking in the poll. In Billboard's July 6 issue on 1947, Holiday ranked 5 on its annual college poll of "girl singers". Jo Stafford topped the poll. In 1946, Holiday won the Metronome Magazine popularity poll
By the 1950s, Holiday's drug abuse, drinking, and relationships with abusive men caused her health to deteriorate. She appeared on the ABC reality series The Comeback Story to discuss attempts to overcome her misfortunes. Her later recordings showed the effects of declining health on her voice, as it grew coarse and no longer projected its former vibrancy.

On March 28, 1957, Holiday married Louis McKay, a Mafia enforcer, who like most of the men in her life was abusive, but he did try to get her off drugs. They were separated at the time of her death, but McKay had plans to start a chain of Billie Holiday vocal studios, à la Arthur Murray dance schools.

Holiday's late recordings on Verve constitute about a third of her commercial recorded legacy and are as popular as her earlier work for the Columbia, Commodore and Decca labels. In later years, her voice became more fragile, but it never lost the edge that had always made it so distinctive.
In early 1959 she found out that she had cirrhosis of the liver. The doctor told her to stop drinking, which she did for a short time, but soon returned to heavy drinking. By May she had lost twenty pounds. Friends Leonard Feather, Joe Glaser, and Allan Morrison tried to get her to check into a hospital, but she put them off.

On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person.
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North By NorthWest - Elliott Randall & Mick Abrahams

Michael Timothy 'Mick' Abrahams (born 7 April 1943, Luton, Bedfordshire, England) was the original guitarist for Jethro Tull. He recorded the album This Was with the band in 1968, but conflicts between Abrahams and Ian Anderson over the musical direction of the band led Abrahams to leave once the album was finished. Abrahams wanted to pursue a more blues/rock direction, while Anderson wanted to incorporate more overt folk and jazz influences. He was replaced first by Tony Iommi who would leave Tull after only a few weeks and would later go on to form Black Sabbath, and then by Martin Barre who remains with Jethro Tull to this day.

Abrahams went on to found Blodwyn Pig and the group recorded two albums, Ahead Rings Out and Getting to This before breaking up in 1970. Abrahams soldiered on with the short-lived Wommet, then the Mick Abrahams Band and has continued to release albums by himself and with reunited versions of Blodwyn Pig. He has worked as a driver, lifeguard and financial consultant, occasionally playing gigs, especially to support causes in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Abrahams caused some controversy in Tull fan circles for his formation of a band called This Was in the late 1990s, which reunited the members of the first incarnation of Jethro Tull (with the exception of Anderson) to perform songs from that era of Jethro Tull's music. Tull fans disapproved but Anderson apparently was not too offended, as in recent years Abrahams and Anderson have guested on each other's records. Abrahams has also participated in Jethro Tull reunions, as well as one-off projects and gigs over the years.

According to his website, Abrahams suffered a heart attack in November 2009 and would have to recuperate before resuming work. In April 2010 his website revealed that he was suffering from Ménière's disease, which would hold him back from performing at least for another year.
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Move On Down The Road - CANNED HEAT

Robert Ernest "Bob" "The Bear" Hite (February 26, 1943 – April 5, 1981) was the American lead singer of the blues-rock band, Canned Heat, from 1965 to his death in 1981.

He was introduced to Alan Wilson by Henry Vestine and the two of them helped convince blues pianist Sunnyland Slim to get back into the recording studio to record. In 1965, aged 22, he formed a band with Wilson. Vestine joined soon after and this trio formed the core of Canned Heat. The trio were eventually joined by Larry Taylor (bass) and Frank Cook (drums).

Canned Heat appeared on a November 1969 episode of Playboy After Dark. Hite was invited to talk with Hugh Hefner after the performance, along with other guests Sonny and Cher, Vic Damone, Dick Shawn and Larry Storch. A 20-year-old Lindsay Wagner, playing the part of one of Hefner's party guests, sat on Hite's lap and played a party game. When asked by Hefner what kind of animal Hite would be if he were an animal, Wagner claimed he'd be a bear. Hite told her she got it right, that people called him "The Bear." It was also on this episode that Bob Hite informed Hugh Hefner that he had over 15,000 78s.

He produced the John Lee Hooker/Canned Heat album, Hooker 'N Heat (1971). Hite was found dead in his van of a heart attack in 1981, at the age of 38.
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He May Be Your Dog But He's Wearing My Collar - Rosa Henderson

Rosa Henderson (November 24, 1896 – April 6, 1968) was an American jazz and classic female blues singer, and vaudeville entertainer.
Born Rosa Deschamps in Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky, she is remembered as one of the greats of the 1920s and 1930s classic blues era. Her career as an entertainer began in 1913 when she joined her uncle's circus troupe.

She married Douglas "Slim" Henderson in 1918 and began travelling with his Mason-Henderson show. Her career as a musical comedian started during the early 1920s, after she moved to New York where she performed on Broadway and eventually in London.

Her nine year recording career began in 1923. During that time she recorded upwards of one hundred songs using numerous pseudonyms such as Sally Ritz, Flora Dale, Sarah Johnson, Josephine Thomas, Gladys White and Mamie Harris. She was accompanied by such bands as The Virginians, Fletcher Henderson's Jazz Five, Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, Fletcher Henderson's Club Alabam Orchestra, the Choo Choo Jazzers, the Kansas City Five, the Three Jolly Miners, the Kansas City Four, the Three Hot Eskimos, and the Four Black Diamonds.

She sang the chorus on Fletcher Henderson's May 28, 1924, Vocalion recording of "Do That Thing", probably the earliest example of a female singing with a big band.

Although she began to show a marked decline in her recordings after 1926, she continued performing up until 1932 when she took a job in a New York department store.

She continued to perform benefit concerts up until the 1960s. Henderson died in Roosevelt Island, New York.
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Martha's Boogie - Martha Davis

Martha Davis (December 14, 1917 – April 6, 1960) was an African-American singer and pianist whose musical comedy act, "Martha Davis & Spouse", was popular in the late 1940s and 1950s.

Davis was born in Wichita, Kansas, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. By the mid 1930s, she had met and been influenced by Fats Waller, and performed regularly as a singer and pianist in Chicago clubs. In 1939, she met, and later married, bass player Calvin Ponder (October 17, 1917 - December 26, 1970), who went on to play in Earl Hines' band.

In 1948, Davis and Ponder moved to California, and Davis developed her recording career on Jewel Records in Hollywood with a trio including Ponder, Ralph Williams (guitar) and Lee Young (drums). Their cover of Dick Haymes' pop hit "Little White Lies" reached # 11 on the Billboard R&B chart, followed by a duet with Louis Jordan, "Daddy-O", from the movie A Song Is Born, which reached the R&B top ten later that year.

Davis and Ponder also began performing together on stage, developing a musical and comedy routine as "Martha Davis & Spouse" which played on their physical characteristics (she was large, he was smaller). The act became hugely popular, touring and having a residency at the Blue Angel in New York. They appeared together in movies including Smart Politics (with Gene Krupa), and in the mid 1950s, variety films Rhythm & Blues Revue, Rock 'n' Roll Revue and Basin Street Revue. Several of their performances were filmed by Snader Telescriptions for video jukeboxes, and they also broadcast on network TV, particularly Garry Moore's CBS show.

In 1957, after a break of several years, they resumed recording for the ABC Paramount label, with whom they cut two LPs. Davis died from cancer in New York in 1960, aged only 42, and Ponder died ten years later, aged only 53.
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Dream Walking - Derrick Big Walker

Born in 1953 Fort Sill Lawton, Oklahoma, where his father, Golden Glove Boxer, Roy C Walker was stationed.
In 1962 Derrick moved to San Francisco with his mother, who worked in a Community Theater, where Big also acted in several children's productions. In San Francisco during this time the new music of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane etc, influenced him and his music. He was also a big fan of Clover

who had great influence on Derrick's decision to become a musician.

Derrick Walker, took some harmonica lessons from Paul Butterfield, he helped teach Derrick to sound like himself and play melodies, "not just licks". Bobby Forte - Villa Nova Dupré who played with BB King during the 60's and 70' s and Nole Juks who play with Jimmy Witherspoon

gave him saxophone lessons.

Derrick played with The Eddie Ray Rhythm And Blues Band,and the Luther Tucker Band backing artists such as Lowell Fulson, Percy Mayfield, Big Mama Thornton, Sonny Roads, Jimmy McCracklin and Sugar Pie De Santos. Derrick played with Michael Bloomfield and he was on his LP recording "Cruising for a Bruising".

Derrick began playing with a band called the Soul Rebels (1981), who were working for Bill Graham as a warm up band in Bill's nightclubs. They fronted acts such as the Dead Kennedy's, The Ramones, Greg Kihn, The Beat and many others. The bandleader was Dean Devnear, bass and drums were manned by the Stench Brothers who where a big part of Pearl Harbor and the Explosions. The Soul Rebels were considered San Francisco's most popular band at the time.

Derrick went to Europe in 1983, playing Saxophone on the streets, small clubs and festivals with Red Archibald. 1985 forming his own band playing the streets and culbs in Holland, Belgium, France, Germany and Spain. touring with Big Walker and his.

``The Black & White Blues Band. ``

1987-92 playing the blues harp with the ``Grinders``in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Germany.

He is the composer of "Stars in the Sky" and performed in two songs in the international film that made use of his music "Freud leaves Home".

2000. Derrick has undertaken several tours of Norway and Denmark, and regular club appearances in Sweden, with his new band the ``Blue Souls.``

He appeared often with folk blues artist Eric Bibb and played on several of Eric's CDs, and recorded gospel with Cyndee Peters on "Songs From The Heart".

He played harmonica and acted in The Broadway musical ``Big River.``

He appeared with Blues legend Jimmy Dawkins and Singer Zora Young at The Great British R'n'B Festival in Colne as well as touring playing festivals in Denmark and Sweden.
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She Caught The Katy - JP & The Crossroaders

The Crossroaders are a blues band mixed in with a hint of country and rock, playing the likes of Lowell Fulson, The Allman Brothers and Free.

JP's voice is as great as ever and with a blues trio behind him it makes for a rockin' evening.

Since the Wiseguys, JP has been guesting with various players in the SW London area, but after a while he got an itching to start something new.

He started jamming with the Wiseguys original guitar player Steve Summers and they both felt the time was right to start something serious again.

They asked the original Wiseguys drummer Mark Orlovac to come on board and with three members signed up, all that was left to do was to find a bass player.

Dave Albon was known to JP and he was asked to come along to a rehearsal. The quartet locked in immediately and the Crossroaders were born.

Moving away from the swing/jump blues from the Wiseguys, the Crossroaders are more Chicago-esque with great tunes and great playing to match.
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I'll Play The Blues For You - Terry "Big T" Williams

Just a quarter mile from the legendary “crossroads,” a blues guitarist crawls across the floor on his knees as sweat streaks down his face. He's well into his first set of the night as he takes “Catfish Blues” from 0 to 11 and back again.

The crowd is on its feet. The cameras are flashing. The sound falls somewhere between Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and another world. The backing band is all smiles as it locks in tight, waiting for all hell to break loose. He's back on his feet now... slaughtering the guitar as he makes his way into the crowd that quickly surrounds him. Again, he takes the volume up before bringing it back down. The band follows his lead impeccably. He's back on stage now... singing and punctuating each phrase with his deep Delta guitar riffs.

He's the real deal. A sure thing. He's the man they call “Big T.” And whether it's a neighborhood juke joint in Clarksdale, Mississippi or a big city blues club in Chicago, Illinois, the result is the same. The crowd stays late, leaves happy and asks, “when's Big T coming back?”

As a young boy Big T was inspired by the blues that poured forth from the radio at home, and from the stories his grandmother told about the great blues musicians who lived along the Delta, such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. And Big T would visit Ike Turner, who lived one block away, to watch him play with his band. Today, Big T is a Delta blues legend, touring the world and recording for Matt The Scatt Records.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Tech Talk - Greenfield Guitars - G1

The G1 is an extremely versatile, grand concert size guitar that sits comfortably in your lap (it is slightly larger than an OM). It has a very focused yet open sound with a tight responsive bass, transparent mids and thick, clear, ringing highs. The G1 is quick to respond to even the lightest touch and it lends itself well to many different styles of music. It is evenly balanced from string to string and everywhere on the fretboard; including the upper register, above the body joint. The G1 has the ability to reproduce complex chords with piano-like clarity, while articulating each note in fingerstyle patterns. While primarily a fingerstyle guitar, it is also superb for light strumming, acoustic jazz and even classical repertoire.

Scale length: 25.4"
Body length: 19 1/2"
Body width - Lower bout: 15 3/8"
Body width - Upper bout: 11 1/2"
Body depth at lower bout: 4 3/8"
Overall length: 40"

If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Crankshaft Update!

I hope you've been well! I'm just writing you a brief note to let you all know about what's been going on with Crankshaft lately.

Last weekend my song "327" was played on NPR's Car Talk as a bumper track! This is the second song from the album Junkyard Rhythm that they've played in the last three months!

In less then two weeks I'll be traveling down to the heart of the Mississippi Delta to a town called Clarksdale to preform as a one man band at their Juke Joint Festival! This is the town where the highways 61 and 59 meet to make the legendary "crossroads" where Robert Johnson apparently sold his soul to the devil in exchange for lightning fast guitar skills. To my knowledge I will be the only Minnesota musician booked down there, this is definitely an honor for me, and super exciting!

Locally, out of 16 bands, I've advanced to the final round of Famous Dave's Battle of the Blues Bands, which just happens to be the same weekend as the Juke Joint Festival! This has created some crazy logistics for me and my family. This is what we came up with: My dad agreed to drive down to Clarksdale, MS with me for the festival during Friday and Saturday. Then on Sunday morning he's going to drop me off at the Memphis airport, where I'm going to fly back to Minneapolis, and he's going to drive. When I arrive my Mom is going to pick me up at the airport and literally bring me straight to Dave's to compete at the final Battle! Yes, it will be a marathon, hopefully it will be a worthwhile one, I'm pretty confident that my band and I can win!

More good news! I've sold all 1000 copies of the first run of my latest studio album Junkyard Rhythm! (released - May, 2011) I've also set a plan in motion to record another full length album that will be titled When The Sun Goes Down. We'll be recording the guitar, upright bass, and drum tracks live during the first week of June in a early 1900's wood barn about 40 minutes north-west of Minneapolis, MN. This will be the first album that I'll be hiring a national publicist for! I'm aiming for a November or December release. Junkyard Rhythm was repressed so that I'll have something semi-fresh available for new fans until the next album has been released.

Thanks for your time and support folks, I hope you find this semi-interesting or somewhat entertaining! Until next time, turn it up and boogie down! Crankshaft OUT!

If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Here Dey Come - Dragon Smoke

Dragon Smoke is a band that formed as part of the New Orleans Jazz Fest tradition of the “Superjam”. The “Superjam” idea is to put together a band of people who don’t normally play together and see what happens. With the dual vocals of Neville and Lindell, matched with the Galactic rhythm section, the band quickly realized, “We are a great band!” and has played every Jazz Fest since it’s inception in 2003. This inception took place at the famed Dragon’s Den, hence the name of the band.
The music centers around Lindell’s blue eyed soul , Neville’s funk and R&B, and Galactic’s groove. Besides a couple trips to the West Coast, this band has been strickly playing in New Orleans. With everyone in the band being a leader on their own, it is rare to get this band together. And when it does, it shows that these guys are really having FUN! From the interplay between the members, you would think that Dragon Smoke has been playing shows forever.
Dragon Smoke is looking towards the future, with plans to write and record an album and to do more touring outside of New Orleans and the Bay Area. So be on the lookout for the Smoke—you will always see the smoke before you see the fire!
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Allstar Boogie - Big Walter Horton

Walter Horton, better known as Big Walter Horton or Walter "Shakey" Horton, (April 6, 1917 – December 8, 1981) was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming and essentially shy man, Horton is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the history of blues. Willie Dixon once called Horton "the best harmonica player I ever heard."
Born Walter Horton in Horn Lake, Mississippi, he was playing a harmonica by the time he was five years old. In his early teens, he lived in Memphis, Tennessee and claimed that his earliest recordings were done there in the late 1920s with the Memphis Jug Band, although there is no documentation of it, and some blues researchers have stated that this story was most likely fabricated by Horton. (He also claimed to have taught some harmonica to Little Walter and the original Sonny Boy Williamson, although these claims are unsubstantiated, and in the case of the older Williamson, somewhat suspect).

As with many of his peers, he spent much of his career existing on a meager income and living with constant discrimination in a segregated United States of America. In the 1930s he played with various blues performers across the Mississippi delta region. It is generally accepted that his first recordings were made in Memphis backing guitarist Little Buddy Doyle on Doyle's recordings for the Okeh and Vocalion labels in 1939. These recordings were in the acoustic duo format popularized by Sleepy John Estes with his harmonicist Hammie Nixon, among others. On these recordings, Horton's style is not yet fully realized, but there are clear hints of what is to come. He eventually stopped playing the harp for a living due to poor health, and worked mainly outside of the music industry in the 1940s. By the early 1950s, he was playing music again, and was among the first to record for Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, who would later record Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. The early Big Walter recordings from Sun include performances from a young Phineas Newborn, Jr. on piano, who later gained fame as a jazz pianist. His instrumental track recorded around this time, "Easy", was based on Ivory Joe Hunter's "I Almost Lost My Mind".

During the early 1950s he first appeared on the Chicago blues scene, where he frequently played with fellow Memphis and Delta musicians who had also moved north, including guitarists Eddie Taylor and Johnny Shines. When Junior Wells left the Muddy Waters band at the end of 1952, Horton replaced him for long enough to play on one session with Waters in January 1953. Horton's style had by then fully matured, and he was playing in the heavily amplified style that became one of the trademarks of the Chicago blues sound. He also made great use of techniques such as tongue-blocking. He made an outstanding single as a leader for States in 1954. Horton's solo on Jimmy Rogers' 1956 Chess recording "Walking By Myself" is considered by many to be one of the high points of his career, and of Chicago Blues of the 1950s.

Also known as "Mumbles", and "Shakey" because of his head motion while playing the harmonica, Horton was active on the Chicago blues scene during the 1960s as blues music gained popularity with white audiences. From the early 1960s onward, he recorded and appeared frequently as a sideman with Eddie Taylor, Johnny Shines, Johnny Young, Sunnyland Slim, Willie Dixon and many others. He toured extensively, usually as a backing musician, and in the 1970s he performed at blues and folk music festivals in the U.S. and Europe, frequently with Willie Dixon's Chicago Blues All-Stars. He has also appeared as a guest on recordings by blues and rock stars such as Fleetwood Mac and Johnny Winter.

In October 1968, while touring the United Kingdom, he recorded the album Southern Comfort with the former Savoy Brown and future Mighty Baby guitarist Martin Stone. In the late 1970s he toured the U.S. with Homesick James Williamson, Guido Sinclair, Eddie Taylor, Richard Molina, Bradley Pierce Smith and Paul Nebenzahl, and appeared on National Public Radio broadcasts. Two of the best compilation albums of his own work are Mouth-Harp Maestro and Fine Cuts. Also notable is the Big Walter Horton and Carey Bell album, released by Alligator Records in 1972.

He became a mainstay on the festival circuit, and often played at the open-air market on Chicago's Maxwell Street. In 1977, he joined Johnny Winter and Muddy Waters on Winter's album I'm Ready, and during the same period recorded some material for Blind Pig Records. Horton appeared in the Maxwell Street scene in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, accompanying John Lee Hooker.[1] His final recordings were made in 1980.

Horton died from heart failure in Chicago in 1981 at the age of 64,[1] and was buried in Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

Hello My Little Baby - Rip Lee Pryor

Richard "Rip Lee" Pryor currently resides in Carbondale Illinois. Since 1994 he has been playing Harmonica, fronting a variety of bands and now plays in the region for countless fans. (Snooky's son)
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Walking The Back Streets And Crying - Gladys Kyles and All Night Blues Band

I know that this is short but this lady can sing!Ms. Gladys is singing her version of Little Milton Campbell's "Walking The Back Streets And Crying". Her version rivals Little Milton's - Listen!
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Karen Carroll and The Mississippi Grave Diggers

The name of Karen Carroll and The Mississippi Grave Diggers has already welded together after numerous joint appearances and successful tours and become a phenomenon in the local blues life! Suggestive interpretation, cloudless cheerfulness and tempestuous playing characterize the full-house concerts of the band. The forceful sound grabs attention, and the playing of polished character gives an extraordinary pleasure even to the choosiest fans. By amalgamating traditional black rhythms with gipsy swing and bebop, folk blues and youthful grooves, the Mississippi Grave Diggers give an unmistakable jazz and world music flavour to contemporary blues. It creates a unique chatacter of joy music of the traditions created by the band, crossing continents, then fusing on local stages.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

T-Bone Shuffle - Robin Banks

MISS ROBIN BANK$ has her roots deeply dug. Clearly comfortable with Jazz, Classic R&B and Soul, even Reggae, she's also known for her bold and brassy, classy but sassy, Texas and Chicago electric Blues style. In 1999, Miss Banks became a staple in the Texas music scene and continues to enjoy and record in the Lone Star state. She has 4 independently released CDs to her credit and makes regular tours to Europe and the Caribbean, but recently made Toronto Canada her home. A master of tone and phrasing, ROBIN BANK$ has a vocal style, strength and clarity that has been compared to Etta James and Dinah Washington. She is a recipient of a Maple Blues Award for New Artist of the Year and was twice nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year. She recently performed at Massey Hall in Toronto as part of the celebrated annual Women's Blues Revue event. No matter the genre, ROBIN BANK$ is known in the industry as "the real deal"!
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

WNTI 91.5 Rock-it Science with Greg Lewis - Playlist-links for April 5, 2012

Playlist Songs--SONG--ARTIST--ALBUM-----

	Beyond The Crossroads, Peter Karp & Sue Foley, Beyond The Crossroads Start: 20:01:00 End: 20:05:00 Duration : 4:00
	It's A Love Thing, Denny Freeman, A Tone For My Sins Start: 20:07:00 End: 20:11:00 Duration : 4:00
	Nothing I Would Not Do, Tony Joe White, Snakey Start: 20:11:00 End: 20:16:00 Duration : 5:00
	I'm Living Off The Love You Give, Little Milton, Tin Pan Alley Start: 20:15:00 End: 20:19:00 Duration : 4:00
	What's Goin' On?, Jake Voutilainen, Determination Start: 20:24:00 End: 20:28:00 Duration : 4:00
	Not A Good Girl, Erja Lyytinen, Songs From The Road Start: 20:28:00 End: 20:40:00 Duration : 12:00
	Over Yonder's Wall, Tramline, Somewhere Along the Way Start: 20:44:00 End: 20:48:00 Duration : 4:00
	Be Careful What You Wish For, Jo Jo Gunne, Big Chain Start: 20:48:00 End: 20:51:00 Duration : 3:00
	I Got A Line On You, Blackfoot, Strikes Start: 20:51:00 End: 20:54:00 Duration : 3:00
	Red Light Roll On [bonus track], Spirit, Twelve Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus [re-issue] Start: 20:54:00 End: 20:59:00 Duration : 5:00
	Got Love If You Want It, Rod Price, Open Start: 21:01:00 End: 21:05:00 Duration : 4:00
	Slow Ride-Fool For The City, Tony Stevens, Join Together Start: 21:07:00 End: 21:11:00 Duration : 4:00
	I Don't Know That You Don't Know My Name, Ten Years After, Ssssh Start: 21:11:00 End: 21:13:00 Duration : 2:00
	Sunny, Karl Morgan, Talking With the Hands Start: 21:13:00 End: 21:16:00 Duration : 3:00
	Tough Trails, Nils Lofgren, Every Breath Start: 21:16:00 End: 21:20:00 Duration : 4:00
	Natural Man, Savoy Brown, Voodoo Moon Start: 21:24:00 End: 21:29:00 Duration : 5:00
	Jungle Fever, Backbone Slip, Swamp Water Start: 21:29:00 End: 21:34:00 Duration : 5:00
	Pieces And Parts, Buddy Whittington, Bagful Of Blues Start: 21:34:00 End: 21:39:00 Duration : 5:00
	Crazed Fandango [with Steve Morse], Tommy Bolin and Friends, Great Gypsy Soul Start: 21:45:00 End: 21:49:00 Duration : 4:00
	Crossroads, Eric Clapton, Nothing But The Blues Start: 21:49:00 End: 21:55:00 Duration : 6:00
	Hill Stomp, Robert Belfour, Pushing My Luck Start: 21:55:00 End: 21:58:00 Duration : 3:00
	Story of Flipper, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Simon Says Start: 21:58:00 End: 22:00:00 Duration : 2:00

Delmark Presents :It Ain't Over - 55 Years Of Blues

I opened the mail yesterday and found a real treat. I received a copy of the recording, It Ain't Over celebrating Delmark's 55 years in business live at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago. I have been in this club many many times and this would have had to be the blast of all blasts. The opening track finds powerhouse singer Zora Young doing some power funk with a backing band featuring Lurie Bell and Scott Cable on guitars, Roosevelt Purifoy on keys, Bob Stronger on bass and Kenny Smith on drums. Young's Till The Fat Lady Sings is a great opener for this show. Bell throws down some great blues riffs on the funk playing his 335 and as Purifoy starts to rap out the funk on the keys Young starts to channel the godfather of soul with some squeals that would make JB proud. The rhythm section on this band is remarkably tight and Cable gets in some hot riffs on his Strat. I notice three amps on stage throughout the night which appear to be a Brownface Vibroverb, a Pro Tweed and a Blackface Twin.
Next up is Jimmy Johnson who does two great songs; Cold Cold Feeling and You Don't Know What Love Is. Johnson's vocals are very strong and deliberate and grab you good. He also manages to squeeze some terrific blues solos out of what I have found to be in general a sterile guitar. It's like they say, Jeff Beck can play a toy guitar and it will still sound like Jeff beck. Well. this isn't a toy and Johnson knows how to play it really well. Johnson is backed by Dave Specter on guitar, Brother John Kattke on keys, Harlan Terson on bass and Marty Binder on drums. Kattke gets the opportunity to show his stuff on You Don't Know and Spector takes a cool second guitar solo on his Epi 335 with the mini pickups.
Aaron Moore takes the stage for two vocal/ piano numbers with Kenny Smith on drums. It's all about style and Moore delivers the goods on Wading In Deep Water and Why You So Mean To Me.
Little Arthur Duncan leads the next set of Pretty Girls Everywhere and I Got To Go of course featuring Duncan, ever the showman, on harp and vocals, Rick Kreher on Strat, Nick Moss on a JazzMaster, Bob Stronger on bass (Fender Jazz) and Kenny Smith on drums. I hadn't mentioned it earlier but Stronger is right in the pocket and always tight. Moss takes short crisp solos on each track.
Lurrie Bell is up next with Don't You Lie To Me and Reconsider Baby. Bell is joined by Purifoy, Stronger and Smith. He plays both pickups most of the time and seems to opt for more of a twangy single coil tone that really suits his playing style. (The more I watch this video the more I am impressed by Stronger's incredibly tight playing). Bell really digs in on Don't You Lie To Me and lays down a very cool shuffle solo. On Reconsider Baby Bells vocals are impressive and he has fattened up his tone somehow and really takes the 335 down. Some extremely impressive playing by Bell in choice not only of riffs and style but neck position for effect and dynamics.
Bell's crew stays on stage and they bring up Shirley Johnson to sing a terrific version of As The Years Go Passing By. Johnson has a great deep rich voice and Bell keeps stinging the tune with impeccable taste. Bell gets another chance to shine and he steps up. He is relentless on the 335 and squeezes every drop of blues out of it!
Eddie Shaw replaces Johnson with Bell and crew and rips onto the stage playing a great tenor sax into to For You My Love. He leads the band in vocals and Purifoy's presence is more prominent. Shaw blows some major league riffs and the place is hoppin. The Sun Is Shining, a great loping blues tune gives the band a great opportunity to stretch a little first with Shaw on tenor, then with Purifoy on keys and bell on guitar. This turns into a cool boogie jam.
Last up is Tail Dragger with the addition of Big D. on Harp, Kevin Shanihan on Strat for Tend To Your Business. Big D. takes a great swat on harp and the band lays back and lets TD have the floor. Bell takes a particularly articulate stretch on this track and Shanahan gets in a quick tasty shot of the blues. For the final track Tail Dragger does a great version of My Woman Is Gone. His vocals are impressive and the band is tight. Billy Branch joins on harp and blows out some terrific riffs.
This is a great show commemorating the 55th year of Delmark and the declaration of Delmark Records Day (March 7, 2008) in Chicago by Mayor Richard M. Dailey and the hard work done by founder Bob Koester of such a meaningful blues milestone.
Special features including a pretty insightful discussion of the history of Delmark, it's development and the blues. It's a great listen.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Blazin' The Blues In B'Field: Guitar Ace Alastair Greene In Concert 4/21

Guitarist Alastair Greene rocks the blues locally at Pyrenees Cafe' & Saloon in Bakersfield April 21.

What The Press Is Saying About Alastair Greene & His New Album, Through The Rain

"Alastair Greene has a day gig that could cause guitar envy, balancing the lead guitar seat since 2010 for the Alan Parsons Project while still releasing solo efforts...like classic rock heavy hitters in the vein of Led Zeppelin and Hendrix, Alastair Greene rocks hard on "Through The Rain" and then rocks a little harder, just to make sure you get it." THE ALTERNATE ROOT

"Greene's opener, the incendiary, Eruption-like "Before The Storm," makes it crystal clear he's a gunslinger that could tear the roof off of any roadhouse bar...all told, "Through The Rain," the swaggering "Stoneroller," and the Tony Iommi-influenced "Madman" are solid platforms for his exceptional musicianship."

MUSIC CONNECTION

"Through The Rain" is Alastair Greene's latest solo release and his best to date...formed from a similar mold as some other powerhouse guitarists like Warren Haynes and Lance Lopez, Greene manages to transform obvious '60's and '70's classic rock influences into a much more explosive 21st Century version of those oh-so-familiar hard-driving, pulse-pounding, and speaker-bursting treats. There is absolutely nothing here not to love, the tracks are all outstanding, vocals all strong, band always spot on, and Greene's playing and singing world class." BLUESROCKERS

(BAKERSFIELD) - Blues-rock guitar ace Alastair Greene comes to town in support of recent album release "Through The Rain" with a show at the Pyrenees Cafe' & Saloon, 601 Sumner St., Bakersfield, Saturday, April 21. 8 p.m. Free. Info: (661) 323-0053 or https://www.facebook.com/pyrenees.cafe

Greene has carved a solid niche' through the years with rock, blues, and guitar fans and his latest record has received solid media accolades. The album's signature single, "By The Way," (featuring a catchy chorus and rollicking lead guitar trade-offs between Greene and Ty Tabor from King's X) is nominated for "Rock Single of the Year" by the 2012 Los Angeles Music Awards.

_________________________________________________________________

But Wait, There's More...

"In Blues circles, his chops precede him, but rock fans likely have never heard Alastair Greene - and they need to. On this, his fourth solo record, Greene ups the ante with head-turning riffs and solos to beckon Duane Allman from up high." VENTURA COUNTY STAR

"As those in the know will tell you, there's a hotbed of talent roaming our streets, from trained session players to some of the industry's most indispensable touring musicians. At the head of that pack is Alastair Greene...the electric and eclectic bar-ready rock of Through The Rain is sure to dazzle even the most casual of players, but it's slow-burning instrumental numbers like "Dearly Departed" that remind us why Greene's talents go far beyond his chops." SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT

"Local guitar god Alastair Greene's delightfully dexterous digits will do their thing...his latest, Through The Rain, is a little more classic rock, but the shredding remains..." VENTURA COUNTY STAR

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Check out Greene's infectious blues-y rocker "Drunk Again" performed live at the Real Blues Festival of Orange County 2 last May,

About Alastair Greene

Alastair Greene's career path has taken some interesting turns over the last couple of years. Between accepting the enviable job as lead guitarist for The Alan Parsons Live Project in 2010, and being the only unsigned act invited to play the 2010 Sonora Blues Festival, Greene has been performing a wide variety of music on stages the world over. Greene also recently signed to LeRoi Record to release his newest recorded offering. THROUGH THE RAIN may come as a bit of a shock to those who only became aware of Greene's music via his Blues-based live band and previous CD releases. If his 2009 record WALKING IN CIRCLES was a musical tribute to Greene's Blues heroes, then THROUGH THE RAIN would be his tribute to his hard rock upbringing.

From the Led Zeppelin-style riffing of the title track, to the Hendrix-meets-Pearl Jam of closer 'You Will Remember', Greene spends the majority of his new release in old-school hard rocking territory. THROUGH THE RAIN is even more eclectic than his 2002 debut A LITTLE WISER. 'Take Me With You' conjures up laid back Americana sounds that will be familiar to fans of The Black Crowes, while 'The Real You' mines a deep Funk Rock groove with extended solos reminiscent of heavier jam bands such as Gov't Mule. Greene has not abandoned his love for the Blues and its early Rock n' Roll off shoots, as up-tempo barnburner 'T'other Way' and the mid-tempo retro-rocker 'Stoneroller' prove. THROUGH THE RAIN also touches on a wide variety of lyrical themes, including stories of love lost and won, songs that question political motives, and introspective topics such as what happens after this life is over.

The musician line-up on THROUGH THE RAIN gives the album a wide variety of feels and grooves. The drumming is split between long time Alastair Greene Band drummer Tom Lackner (who has been touring with Jeff Bridges) and former Dishwalla drummer George Pendergast. AGB bassist Jim Rankin, former Summercamp bassist Misha Feldmann and Greene himself share bass duties. As a special treat for guitar fans, Ty Tabor (guitarist for the legendary King's X) engages in a guitar solo trade-off with Greene on the first single from the record 'By The Way'.

"Alastair should be playing with the biggest bands in the world. I believe it's just a matter of time." - Alan Parsons

If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”