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Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Mayne Stage/ Act One Pub Newsletter 2.8.12
New Release by Tip Of The Top - From Memphis to Greaseland - Review
I have just receiver a copy of the new release by Tip Of The Top called From Memphis To Greaseland. You like traditional Chicago style blues...this thing smokes! The release is made up of 13 original and cover tracks. This recording really gets that Chicago sound down and doesn't overplay. It sounds fresh and vibrant. Little Johnny Lawton goes a great job on vocals and has great guitar style. Akarsha "Aki" Kumar blows a mean harp and the rhythm section (Frank DeRose on bass and Carlos Velasco on drums) are tight. They have special guests including Johnny "Cat" Soubrand and Chris "Kid" Anderson guitars as well as Sid Morrison piano. This entire recording is very tight and these guys swing. This may be the freshest Chicago style blues recording that I have heard in a while. I have no problem suggesting this to anyone for a good dose of original Chicago blues.
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Oh My Baby's Gone - Ray Sharpe-
Ray Sharpe (born February 8, 1938, Fort Worth, Texas, United States) is an American R&B and rockabilly singer, guitarist and songwriter.
He grew up influenced by country as well as blues music, and many of his recordings are classed as rockabilly – he was described by one record producer as "the greatest white-sounding black dude ever". His recording career started in Phoenix, Arizona in 1958, when Lee Hazlewood produced his single, "That's the Way I Feel" / "Oh, My Baby's Gone". His second record, "Linda Lu" / "Monkey’s Uncle" – both sides written by Sharpe, produced by Hazlewood, and featuring Duane Eddy and Al Casey on guitars – was much more successful, reaching #46 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. “Linda Lu” has subsequently been covered by many artists, including the Rolling Stones, Flying Burrito Brothers, and Tom Jones.
Subsequent single releases on a variety of record labels were less successful. These included recordings made in 1966 with King Curtis, which featured Jimi Hendrix on guitar. However, Sharpe’s songs have been recorded by acts ranging from Roy Head and the Traits to Neil Young and J. B. Hutto, and he has continued to release records, as well as performing regularly in the Fort Worth area.
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Daniel in the Lion's Den - Bessie Jones
Bessie Jones (February 8, 1902 - July 17, 1984), gospel singer from Smithville, GA. She learned her songs from her grandfather, a former slave born in Africa. She was a founding member of the Georgia Sea Island Singers. Alan Lomax first encountered Bessie Jones on a southern trip in 1959. Jones made her way up to New York City two years later and asked Lomax to record both her music and biography.
Jones told an interviewer in Alachua, Florida in the early 1980s, that she was born in Lacrosse, Florida, (Alachua County), when that area was a tung oil production area. Jones also said she hadn't been to a doctor since 1925 and that she wore many copper bracelets which protected her from disease.
Jones' 1960 song "Sometimes" was heavily sampled in American electronica musician Moby's 1998 single "Honey".
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Hey Bartender - Floyd Dixon
Floyd Dixon - Blues pianist, vocalist ( February 8,1929 - 2006)
This critically acclaimed performer - best known for his 1954 song “Hey Bartender” - stood alongside Charles Brown, Ray Charles and Louis Jordan as one of a few artists who helped transform swing music into Rhythm & Blues.
A wonderful exponent of what is often referred to as West Coast blues, more piano based and jazz influenced than much of the blues and R&B referenced in the Primer, Floyd is a leading practitioner of this 'California style'. Both the state and the style played host to a great many post war Texas bluesmen, and the jazzy T-Bone Walker approach became a mainstay of the genre.
Born J Riggins Jr., Dixon began playing piano and singing as a child and in Texas he was exposed to a range of blues and gospel influences, as well as a little jazz and hillbilly.
His family moved to Los Angeles in 1942 when Floyd was thirteen and it was here that Dixon came into contact with Charles Brown, a major musical influence throughout his working life. To an extent Brown took the young piano player under his wing and when Johnny Moore's Three Blazers split up, Dixon had learned more than enough to act as a natural replacement for the Brown sound - he made a number of early Brown style recordings with Eddie Williams (the original Blazers' bassist) and with Johnny Moore's new Blazers line-up for both the Aladdin and Combo labels.
Floyd also recorded extensively with his own trio, signing with Modern Records in 1949 and adding the influences of jump blues stalwarts Louis Jordan and Amos Milburn to the urban sophistication of Charles Brown. He had his early successes with Modern, securing a top ten R&B hit with 'Dallas Blues' and following it up with the slightly less successful 'Mississippi Blues' (1949). He switched to Aladdin and in the following year scored another hit with 'Sad Eyes', followed by 'Telephone Blues' and 'Call Operator 210'; on the last recording, he was backed by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers.
Dixon switched to the Specialty label in 1952/3 (and the Atlantic subsidiary Cat in 1954) and, although the groove was much the same, he recorded some of his better known material around this time. 'Hey Bartender' is possibly his best known tune and his original version was picked up on by Koko Taylor and by the Blues Brothers on their multi million selling first album.
Dixon continued to record for a selection of small West Coast and Texas independent labels throughout the 50s and 60s and he was in constant demand as a live performer. By the 1970s however, the self styled Mr. Magnificent dropped out of the music scene to enjoy a quieter life back in his home state of Texas. It wasn't until 1975 that he made a comeback of sorts, beginning with a tour of Sweden, where he became the first artist to be featured on the Route 66 re-issue label. In the 1980s, he toured as part of the European Blues Caravan with Ruth Brown and Charles Brown.
In 1984 he was commissioned to write a blues for the Los Angeles Olympic Games ('Olympic Blues') and in the 90s his powerful performances were a fixture on American blues and jazz festivals. His older recordings are now available again and in the mid 1990s he secured a contract with Alligator Records. The “Wake Up And Live” album is well worth the admission price, with Floyd still singing and playing with an artistic fire and passion that remains undiminished - his support band is excellent and, although he reprises material from his earlier years such as 'Hey Bartender', the exercise never slips into revivalism.
In 1993 Dixon received the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Career Achievement Award. Living Blues Magazine recognized him in 1997 as Most Outstanding Blues Musician (Keyboards) and as Comeback Artist Of The Year. Praise indeed for his “impeccable piano technique, fabulous timing, and a voice like a foghorn”. He also received the W.C. Handy award for Comeback Album Of The Year for “Wake Up And Live”. He never stopped performing, and he recorded another CD, “Fine, Fine Thing,” for the HighJohn label in 2005. In June 2006, Dixon recorded a live CD/DVD with fellow pianists Pinetop Perkins and Henry Gray,
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She Keeps Me Guessing - Eddie Burns
Eddie "Guitar" Burns (born February 8, 1928, Belzoni, Mississippi) is an American Detroit blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter. His career has spanned seven decades, and in terms of Detroit bluesmen, Burns is deemed second only in stature to John Lee Hooker.
Burn's father was a sharecropper who performed as a singer in medicine shows, although Burns was mainly raised by his grandparents. He was self taught in the harmonica and made his first guitar.
Initially influenced by exposure to the music of Sonny Boy Williamson I and Big Bill Broonzy, Burns relocated from the Mississippi delta via Waterloo, Iowa to Detroit in 1948. Originally Burns excelled playing the harmonica, and his debut single, "Notoriety Woman" (1948), featured this ability accompanied by the guitar playing of John T. Smith. Burns tells how he met John Lee Hooker here: "Well see, John T. and me was playing at a house party this particular Saturday night. We was in Detroit Black Bottom...so Hooker was on his way home from somewhere - I guess he was at some other party, house parties used to be real plentiful here. Hooker heard it, knocked at the door, and they let him in. He introduced himself and he sat down and played some with us. And then, he liked the way I was blowing harmonica...he had a session coming up on Tuesday, this was on a Saturday. And so then, he wanted to know if I wanted to do this session with him on Tuesday. And I told him, yes, naturally. So that's how John T. and me went down to cut for Hooker. When we got through the man wanted to know what I had. I had one song, "Notoriety Woman." And so he said I'd need two, and I sat there and made up "Papa's Boogie."" However, by the following year Burns was playing guitar accompaniment on recordings by John Lee Hooker.
Billed at times as Big Daddy, Little Eddie, or Big Ed, Burns performed regularly in Detroit nightclubs, but had to supplement his earnings by working as a mechanic. In those early years Burns's own recording was not prolific with just a handful of tracks released on several labels. His output veered from Detroit blues to R&B as the 1960s progressed, when he issued a number of singles in that decade on Harvey Fuqua's Harvey Records label. Now permanently billed as Eddie "Guitar" Burns, he appeared on Hooker's album The Real Folk Blues (1966).
In 1972 Burns undertook a European tour and recorded his debut album, Bottle Up & Go in London, England.[2][4] This was followed by an appearance at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in 1973. Two years later Burns toured Europe again, this time as part of the billing of 'American Blues Legends'. Burns self penned track, "Orange Driver", was recorded by The J. Geils Band (Hotline, 1975). In August 1976, Burns performed his song "Bottle Up & Go" live on the British television program, So It Goes.
In 1989 Burns released an album titled Detroit on Blue Suit Records, where his ability on both guitar and harmonica were displayed. In February 1992, Burns appeared alongside Jack Owens, Bud Spires, and Lonnie Pitchford at the seventh annual New York Winter Blues Festival. By 1994, Burns had been granted the Michigan Heritage Award.
His brother, Jimmy Burns, is a soul blues musician, who lives in Chicago, and played guitar on Burns 2002 album Snake Eyes. Burns most recent offering was Second Degree Burns, released when he was 77 years of age
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Mean Old World - Michael De Jong
Born to a Dutch father, who fled to France during World War II, and a French mother, de Jong spent much of his early youth living in Holland. He emigrated with his family to the United States in 1949 where he lived for the next 35 years, moving back to Europe in 1984 before settling in Holland in 1988.
With his dark, somber lyrics set to Americana-meets-the-blues arrangements, Michael de Jong has brought a new edge to the rock of the Netherlands, where he enjoys his largest fan base.
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Eddie Cusic - At His House - Leland - Mississippi
Eddie Cusic was born in 1926 in Leland, Mississippi. He grew up farming with his family and was first inspired to play the blues from hearing men play at suppers and other get-togethers in his community. Like many Delta musicians of his generation, his first attempts to play were done on a 'diddly-bow', a one string instrument consisting of a piece of bailing wire attached to a wall and played with a knife or bottle neck. He eventually moved up to a Sears Roebuck guitar and began playing with other local musicians. However, despite regular gigs throughout the 1950's and 60's, Cusic was still struggling to provide for his family. It was during this time period that took a job at a local quarry and for the most part stopped performing.
When Cusic returned to active performing in the 1980's, he came back to the music as a solo acoustic performer. He has been a mainstay at the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival in Greenville for many years and more recently has been a featured performer at the Sunflower River Blues Festival, the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife and the Chicago Blues Festival.
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Arkansas Blues - -Red McKenzie
Red was the leader of the Mound City Blue Blowers, in which he played comb, kazoo, and sang. Later, he went on to play with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. While working as a bellhop in St. Louis he and some friends would get together and play on the street and he was "discovered" and taken to Chicago to record in 1924. The sensational novelty group, Red, Eddie Lang, Jack Bland and Dick Slevin had a million seller for Brunswick in"Arkansas Blues". This gave them an opportunity to perform in London, After his return to America, Red became active as a Jazz Promoter, more than as a Jazz musician. Red worked as a talent scout and set up the first Okeh Recording date for Beiderbecke, Eddie Lang and Frankie Trumbauer which featured the famous recording "Singing the Blues". In 1927, he promoted a Paramount Recording session at which a group of Chicagoans recorded the "Friar's Point Shuffle". In 1928, Okeh Records cut four sides with his group called McKenzie and Condon's Chicagoans.
In 1930 he recorded with a number of famous musician, Fats Waller, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Goodman, Bud Freeman. Eddie Condon and Josh Billings. He recorded Arkansas Blues again. Red was the equal of Jack Teagarden as a white jazz singer, of which there were only a few.
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Chickasaw Special - Noah Lewis
Noah Lewis (September 3, 1890 or 1895 – February 7, 1961) was an American jug band and country blues musician, generally known for playing the harmonica.
Lewis was born a "woodcall" (no known father) in Henning, Tennessee, United States, his birth year being variously cited as 1890 or 1895. Lewis learnt to play harmonica as a child and moved to Memphis, Tennessee in his early teens. By the time he first met Gus Cannon in Memphis in 1907, he was already a respected original stylist on the instrument, noted for his liquid tone and breath control, which allowed him to generate enormous volume from the instrument. By then he was also noted for his ability to play two harmonicas at once – one through his mouth and one through his nose, a trick he probably taught to Big Walter Horton, who recorded briefly as a teenager with the Memphis Jug Band some 20 years later. Lewis developed his unusual levels of breath control and volume from playing in local string and brass marching bands on the streets of Memphis. At the 1907 meeting Lewis introduced Cannon to the 13 year-old guitarist and singer, Ashley Thompson, with whom Lewis had been playing in the streets of Ripley and Memphis for some time and the three of them worked together over the next 20 years whenever Cannon was in Memphis, and not away working medicine and tent shows. When Will Shade's Memphis Jugband recorded and became popular in the late-1920s, Cannon added a coal-oil can on a rack round his neck and re-named the trio (Cannon, Lewis and Thompson) Cannon's Jug Stompers, and it was this line-up that recorded for the first time on Victor Records in Memphis on 30 January 1928.[1] The songs from that session included "Minglewood Blues", "Springdale Blues", "Big Railroad Blues" and "Madison Street Rag". By the time of the band's next recording on September 5, 1928, Cannon had replaced Ashley Thompson with Elijah Avery on banjo and guitar. However, by time of the band's third recording session, four days later, Avery had in turn been replaced with an old friend of Cannon's from the medicine and tent show circuit, the six string banjo player and guitarist, Hosea Woods, with the band's line-up remaining unchanged from then on.
With the Jug Stompers, on "Viola Lee Blues", Lewis sang lead vocal and played a melancholy harmonica solo.
Lewis recorded four solo tracks, and another four sides as the Noah Lewis Jug Band in 1930, the latter incorporating Sleepy John Estes (guitar) and Yank Rachell (mandolin)
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Tuesday, February 7, 2012
I'm Guitar Slim - Guitar Slim
Eddie Jones (December 10, 1926 – February 7, 1959), better known as Guitar Slim, was a New Orleans blues guitarist, from the 1940s and 1950s, best known for the million-selling song, produced by Johnny Vincent at Specialty Records, "The Things That I Used to Do". It is a song that is listed in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States. His mother died when he was five, and his grandmother raised him, as he spent his teen years in the cotton fields. He spent his free time at the local juke joints and started sitting in as a singer or dancer; he was good enough to be nicknamed "Limber Leg."
His first recording session was in 1951, and he had a minor rhythm and blues hit in 1952 with "Feelin' Sad", which Ray Charles covered. His biggest success was "The Things That I Used to Do" (1954). The song, produced by a young Ray Charles, was released on Art Rupe's Specialty Records label. The song spent weeks at number one on the R&B charts and sold over a million copies, soon becoming a blues standard.
He recorded on a few labels, including Imperial, Bullet, Specialty, and Atco. The recordings made in 1954 and 1955 for Specialty are his best.
His career having faded, Guitar Slim became an alcoholic, and then died of pneumonia in New York City at age 32. Guitar Slim is buried in a small cemetery in Thibodaux, Louisiana, where his manager, Hosea Hill, resided.
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Beyond Here Lies Nothing - Peter Parcek (and Free Download)
Peter Parcek’s daring, incendiary and soulful style is a distinctive hybrid. He weaves rock, gypsy-jazz, country, folk, and blues-- especially blues-- into a tapestry of melody, harmony and daredevil solos that push those styles to their limits without sacrificing the warmth of his own personality.
Peter calls his approach "soul guitar," an appellation that alludes to his playing’s depth of feeling and character, as well as its deepest roots in classic American music. But Peter’s sensibilities are equally attuned to the future.
Peter’s journey as a musician began when the Vietnam War erupted and he graduated high school. With the blessings of his mother and the help of a family friend, he relocated to London, England, and found himself in the thick of the British blues explosion.
"I got real lucky," he recounts. "Whenever I could afford it or sneak in, I could see Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Peter Green in clubs, as well as many other great guitarists who were on the scene, but never made it big.
Daunted by the six-string virtuosity on display all around him, Peter put down his guitar to sing and blow harmonica and joined a band, playing rooms like the famed Marquee Club — one night on a bill with the Pink Floyd. But fate intervened. He was returned to the States for lack of a British work permit.
Once back in Middletown, CT, Peter began witnessing great American blues artists in concert: Skip James, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy. "I would sit as close as possible so I could see exactly what they were doing on the guitar," he says. "It was an amazing education."
Decades later, he would receive a superlative from Guy. "I met some people who knew Buddy and took me to his dressing room after a show," Peter says. "I felt a little out of place, because I didn’t really know anybody. So out of nervousness, I guess, I just absent mindedly picked up one of Buddy’s guitars, unplugged, and started playing. After a while I realized the room was quiet and I looked up, and Buddy was watching me with his finger pressed to his lips for silence.
"You’re as bad as Eric Clapton," Guy remarked. "And I know Eric Clapton."
Peter, who is remarkably modest about his virtuosity, says he didn’t get serious about his instrument until he moved to Massachusetts. "That’s when I developed from a guitar owner to a guitar player, by practicing eight to 10 hours a day," he explains.
Between jobs as a school counselor and instrument salesman, Peter joined his first serious band, Boston’s Nine Below Zero. Their visceral take on classic and original blues won them regional acclaim and led to Peter playing on recordings for the piano legend Pinetop Perkins and a stint as Perkins’ touring bandleader.
"It was an amazing time," Peter relates, "and it inspired me to take the reins of my own music and form a band."
"What I try to bring to any music I play, but especially to blues, is something I learned from Skip James when I saw him perform at Wesleyan University in the ’60s," says Peter. "He played beautifully, with real elegance, and conducted himself in a gentlemanly manner. But people kept talking, so at one point he stopped playing and announced, ‘Mr. Skip would appreciate it if you would stop perambulating when he is expressing.’ And then he left until things quieted down.
"That made something click in me. Skip showed me that it was right to play blues with dignity and style, and to express and conduct yourself as an artist. He obviously put his entire soul into what he was doing on a lot of levels. And that’s what I try to do whenever I pick up a guitar."
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Here's a free download:
Bman's Exclusive Interview with Howard Bernstein - Album Cover and Poster Designer
Bman: How did you get hooked up with ESP Disk?
Howie: In 1966 I was living in a tenement building on Broome Street on the Lower East Side. Living in the apartment above me was Michael Solden, a friend of Jordan Matthews, who was the art director for ESP Disk. Jordan was looking for an artist to do the first album covers for ESP Disk. I worked at a drawing board in his apartment almost non-stop for two years. I had total freedom to create the artwork and was never given any input.
The poster shown here was designed by Bernstein and is available through Wolfgang's Vault (Bill Graham)
Bman: Looks like you did quite a few covers while you were there. How long was your affiliation with ESP Disk and who else were you working with?
Howie: Approximately three years. During that time I built a portfolio.
Bman: I have a number of the early ESP Disk covers that you designed available for viewing here. I understand that you actually did these by hand?
Howie: Yes, the first 200 album covers were hand silk screened by Jordan Matthews and me.
Bman: I understand that a few of these covers have other relevance other than just the art and the immediate music.
Howie: Yes, curiously enough. The Willow cover is Debbie Harry's first lp and Jean Erdman (who I did one of covers for) was married to Joseph Campbell.
Bman: Joseph Campbell.... That's wild!
I found quite a few of your early posters on the internet. I have a few compiled here:
Bman: I also saw a newspaper article about your meeting with Salvadore Dali. Tell us about that.
Howie: Dali was my art hero during my teenage years. While I was living in NYC, a friend of mine, Jacqueline Battle, telephoned Dali at the St. Regis Hotel, and using her command of French and Spanish, managed to arrange an audience for us to meet Dali in the hotel’s King Cole Bar. Before the meeting with him I bought the Dali book, which he signed for me. Dali was more interested in examining and discussing our sketchbooks rather than talking about himself.
Bman: I also read that you did some book covers. One that comes to mind is the outrageous cover for Roger Zelazny’s book “Lord of Light.” Were there others?
Howie: Yes. I did numerous book cover illustrations that were published by Random House, Doubleday, Alfred Knopf, Ballantine Books, Herald Tribune, Village Voice, Evergreen Review, Cashbox and Billboard, including full-page ads for The Who’s “Magic Bus,” and also designed album covers for MGM, Capitol Records, RCA, DECCA, and Verve Folkways.
Bman: Now this was all in NYC. Then you moved to San Francisco?
Howie : Yes. I left New York City in 1969 and headed for San Francisco, but moved to the Napa Valley where I did a series of ten posters for Sausalito-based Tho-Fra (Tom Burke). Went back to New York briefly, then headed north to Canada and traveled across the Trans-Canada Highway, stopping in numerous cites before crossing back into the U.S. in 1970. Moved to Scottsdale, Arizona and lived at the Stable Art Gallery owned by Avis Reed, a legendary art dealer.
Bman: I’ve also seen a bit of work that you have done with a sharpie pen. In fact, I saw Don Heffington on the Tonight Show with drum heads designed by you if I’m not mistaken.
Howie: Yeah, I drew on his drum heads using a big black marker.
Bman: Those are really wild. I came up with this cool photo of Elvis Costello with Hef's drums. I'm sure that they get attention wherever Don Plays!
What really gets me going is your line work. I just love your sketches. You have taken this to a new level. Tell us about “Werner Von Burner.”
Howie: The heart of the subject matter on the wood comes from the night sketchbook with a micro-ball pen. It just flows. I’m very grateful for that.
Bman: I know you have been working for years with the Boys & Girls Club and love the interaction with the kids and young adults. . . . . . . . I remember seeing one of Werner’s pieces called “The Palms” which relates directly to your work with the club. Can you tell us about this exceptional piece?
Howie: This was the only piece that was a direct response to a street “moment” in the hood. I was working at a B&G Club in South Phoenix and witnessed a drug bust at the Palms Motel, home to drug dealers and prostitutes.
Bman: This is a powerful piece. It has the same intensity of your earlier work but your style has matured and obviously you have really honed your skill with burning instruments.
Howie: I had a buddy in San Francisco, Ron Armstrong, a guitar maker (ex Alembic, Stars Guitars), who told me to check out the Leichtung torch. This precision tool shoots out a butane flame that can be adjusted to a fine point, which allows me to shade the work.
Bman: You seem to have gotten it down to a science... just like drawing with a pen! Is there anything else that you’d like to share with your fans?
Howie: At the age of five I was on the kitchen floor pushing my toy truck. Dad came home from his law office, sat down, called me over and pulled out his fountain pen and drew a profile of a man’s head on his yellow pad. I never again played with a truck and Mom kept me supplied with art materials.
Bman: I'm guessing that your mom and dad's support of your interest in the arts is now being given back 10 fold to the community through your involvement with the young people. Thanks a lot for your time Howie.
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Send Me Your Love - The JT Blues Band
The JT Blues Band, a high-energy blues/rock band based in Western New York, takes pride in their original music. However, that doesn't stop them from featuring the music of British blues/rock legends such as the Animals, Cream, Robin Trower, Gary Moore, Led Zeppelin, and Traffic along with music by Albert King, the Allman Brothers, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, SRV, ZZ Top, Robert Cray, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, plus many traditional blues covers. This is definitely not your typical blues band!
The JT Blues Band's achievements include placing second at the 2010 Memphis Bound Blues Competition. Three of their original songs have been included on blues CDs compiled by 88.7 WBFO-FM, the local NPR affiliate, which get regular air-play. Band members Joe Territo (JT), Rick Baker, Rick McDonald, and Scott Freilich are experienced musicians whose passion and talent combine to create some great original music.
The JT Blues Band's original CD, 21st Century Blues, is selling very well worldwide – in 20 countries so far! 21st Century Blues is a straight mix with no dubbing, extra fills, or studio magic. When you hear the band live, you experience exactly what you hear on their recordings.
All original songs by The JT Blues Band get regular airplay on internet radio stations worldwide, where the band averages about 100 plays each month. On October 16, 2011, the 21st Century Blues CD was the featured album on the Anita West Blues Show on WBFO 88.7 Buffalo, NY
JT, the band's songwriter, is an experienced singer and guitarist. Drummer Rick Baker, the heartbeat of the band, also has many years of experience. Rick McDonald, lead vocalist, is a long-time actor with stage and television credits. Scott Freilich,(who replaced Joe Scrivo) is a member of the Buffalo Musicians Hall of Fame, is an upright bass player who unleashes plenty of talent in his bass rhythms. The band, a member of the Western New York Blues Society, performs throughout the region for their enthusiastic following, which grows whenever new audiences hear the JT Blues Band.
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