Legendary guitarist Eric Johnson's UK tour starts Friday 6 July

24 HOUR BOX OFFICE: 0844 478 0898
BOOK ONLINE: www.thegigcartel.com

Eric Johnson, the celebrated American electric guitarist, hailed by Joe Bonamassa as “one of the greatest guitar players of all time,” will embark on his first UK tour at the Holmfirth Picturedrome on Friday 5th July. The 5-date mini tour will showcase material from his current album “Up Close”, as well as from his rich back catalogue.

Planet Rock will start at ticket pre-sale on Wednesday 7th March, followed by a ticket pre-sale from Ents24 on Thursday 8th March.

Tickets go on sale to the general public via the 24 hour box office: 0844 478 0898, www.thegigcartel.com.

Johnson is also a respected acoustic, lap steel, resonator and an accomplished pianist and vocalist. He’s best known for his diverse array of music genres evidenced by many different styles incorporated in his studio and live performances, including rock, blues, jazz, fusion, folk, New Age and country music.

Guitar Player magazine called Johnson "one of the most respected guitarists on the planet". His critically acclaimed, platinum-selling 1990 recording Ah Via Musicom produced the single Cliffs of Dover, for which he won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Cliffs of Dover also appeared in Guitar Hero 3 – Legends of Rock.

In 1996 he joined forces with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai for the original and legendary G3 tour that garnered a worldwide audience with the platinum selling CD and DVD release.

Johnson is best known for playing stock Fender Stratocasters and Gibson ES-335 electric guitars through a triple amp setup that consists of vintage Fender and Marshall amplifiers.

He plays vintage Stratocasters but also his ‘Fender Signature Stratocaster’ model, which is one of the best selling instruments in the Fender catalogue. He also designed a Signature acoustic guitar that was released by Martin guitars.

During Eric Johnson's latest tour through Northern California, he visited Dunlop HQ in Benicia to personally see where and how his new signature Fuzz Face pedal and his signature Jazz III pick are made. He spoke to Bryan Kehoe about the story behind the creation of both his products, and how committed Eric is to the art and crafting of his guitar sound.

24 HOUR BOX OFFICE: 0844 478 0898
BOOK ONLINE: www.thegigcartel.com

Holmfirth Picturedrome
Friday 6th July
Tickets: £25.00 (advance)
Box Office 0844 478 0898
Market Walk, Holmfirth, HD9 7DA
www.picturedrome.net

Glasgow O2 ABC
Saturday 7th July
Tickets: £25.00 (advance)
Box Office 0844 477 2000
Doors: 7pm / Stage: 7:30pm
300 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JA
www.o2abcglasgow.co.uk

The Sage Gateshead
Sunday 8th July
Tickets: £25.00 (advance)
Box Office 0191 443 4661
Doors: 7pm / Stage: 7:30pm
St Mary’s Square, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2JR
http://thesagegateshead.org

Bath Komedia
Monday 9th July
Tickets: £25.00 (advance)
Box Office: 0844 478 0898
Doors: 7:30pm / Stage: 8pm
22-23 Westgate Street, Bath, Avon, BA1 1EP
www.komedia.co.uk/bath

London – Leicester Square Theatre
Tuesday 10th July
Tickets: £30.00 (advance)
Box Office: 0844 478 0898
Doors: 7pm / Stage: 7:30pm
6 Leicester Place, London, WC2H 7BX
www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

London – Leicester Square Theatre
Wednesday 11th July
Tickets: £30.00 (advance)
Box Office: 0844 478 0898
Doors: 7pm / Stage: 7:30pm
6 Leicester Place, London, WC2H 7BX
www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

Eric Johnson’s stature as one of the premier guitar players in contemporary music is his artistic trump card, backed by a Grammy Award and five nominations, platinum album, Top 10 hits like Cliffs of Dover, praise from critics and the esteem of his peers. The full range of his talents marks him as a gifted songwriter, dynamic live performer, singer, pianist, and song interpreter.

His myriad and distinctive musical gifts are vividly evident on Johnson’s current studio album, Up Close, released on his own Vortexan Music label. The 15-track disc finds the noted master craftsman cutting loose, roaming through variations on the rock, blues, pop, country and jazz genres, pushing the dynamic range of his artistry, and mixing it up with such friends and peers as guitarists Jimmie Vaughan and Sonny Landreth, plus guest vocalists Steve Miller, Johnny Lang and Malford Milligan.

“I decided to let go a bit and allow things to happen and just go with the flow,” explains Johnson about his approach to the album. “That’s a direction that works better for any artist, and especially for me. I like my work to have a high proficiency, but I also want to go for the energy and magic of the performances.”

That vitality and vivid musicality brims from such hook-filled numbers as the hard-rocking instrumentals Fat Daddy and Vortexan and the driving vocal song Brilliant Room (sung by Milligan). Gem is splashed with bright and painterly six-string colors, Soul Surprise finds Johnson weaving a picturesque tapestry of both his guitar and piano gifts, and Arithmetic summons up a swirling and spectral kaleidoscope of guitars, keyboards and Johnson’s singing.

His early years and influences are explored on the Mike Bloomfield/Buddy Miles-composed blues song Texas (from the 1968 Electric Flag album A Long Time Comin’) on which Miller sings and Johnson’s and Vaughan’s guitars engage in stirring interplay, and Austin (sung by Lang), which looks back to his teens in his hometown as a budding player and avid music fan who would be allowed to slip under-aged into music nightclubs and “go sit in the back and listen to bands.”

On The Way is a delightful Texas meets Tennessee twang romp, and A Change Has Come To Me opens with a six-string nod to Jimi Hendrix (a prime Johnson influence) that carries through the track as it burgeons into a celebration of the pleasures of the deep and soulful groove. Interstitial instrumental snippets like the spellbinding Indian music-flavored opener Awaken and the dreamlike Traverse and The Sea and the Mountain plus Change (Revisited) weave the collection together. Johnson caps the CD with the uplifting grace note of Your Book on which he and Landreth interweave their playing (including Johnson’s stately piano work) with emotive elegance.

The lyrical themes of reflection, emotional revelations, personal growth and fulfillment are underscored on the album by Johnson’s most daring, urgent, progressive and at times raw and fervent guitar work to date. With its sonic immediacy (thanks to a mix by engineering legend Andy Johns) and openhearted musicality and songwriting, Up Close truly lives up to its name as Johnson continues to forge fresh and compelling new dimensions of his artistry.

Johnson leapt to the forefront of contemporary music some 20 years ago as “an extraordinary guitar player accessible to ordinary music fans,” as the Memphis Commercial Appeal hails him, with his landmark million selling 1990 album Ah Via Musicom. Hailed as a record that reached near-classic proportions within the guitar community, it was preceded by dedicated groundwork as a live performer that marked him as a talent bound for great things. And it’s been followed by a diverse and fascinating musical journey that inspired The New Age Music Guide to rave that “Eric Johnson plays guitar the way Michelangelo painted ceilings: with a colorful vibrancy that's more real than life."

His achievements include being enshrined in Guitar Player’s Gallery of Greats and named one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century by Musician magazine amongst numerous other awards. He enjoys the admiration of many of his fellow players and has performed/ recorded with such notables as Chet Atkins, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and others.

He was tapped by Eric Clapton to appear at the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival and plays his second stint of the Experience Hendrix tour in fall 2010. He has paid homage in song to such players as Jerry Reed (“Tribute to Jerry Reed” on his album Bloom), fellow Texan Stevie Ray Vaughan (the Grammy-nominated track “SRV”) and Wes Montgomery (who Johnson saluted in his Ah Via Musicom song “East Wes”), and boasts both a signature Fender Stratocaster electric and Martin MC-40 acoustic guitar. "Cliffs of Dover" is featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock as the final winning challenge. And in addition to his recordings, tours and DVDs under his own name, Johnson also plays with his side project Alien Love Child, which released an in concert album in 2000, Live and Beyond, that earned an instrumental Grammy nomination for the song “Rain.”

Even before his breakthrough with Ah Via Musicom, Johnson made his indelible mark with his 1986 first album release Tones. It landed him on the cover of Guitar Player magazine, which hailed the album as "a majestic debut,” and earned him his first Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance with the track “Zap.” Ah Via Musicom won Johnson a Grammy for Cliffs of Dover, which was one of his record three Top 10 instrumental hits from a single album alongside Trademark and Righteous. Following three years of concerted touring that established him as a continuing popular concert attraction, Johnson recorded Venus Isle, which on its release in 1996 garnered him another Grammy nomination. In 1998, his previously unreleased first album recording from 1976, Seven Worlds, was finally issued. A limited-release collection of demos, outtakes and live tracks, Souvenir, hit the streets in 2002. His most recent studio album, 2005’s Bloom, yielded a fifth Grammy nomination.

Johnson’s success over the last 20 years was presaged by a grassroots rise in which he made his bones and burgeoning reputation as a formidable musical talent and player since he first became a local sensation in the Austin clubs as a teen with the psychedelic rock band Mariani.

Trained on classical piano as a youth, he switched to the guitar after the stateside arrival of the Beatles in 1964. As a young player he delved deeply into blues, jazz, country and other styles that inform his music. By the mid-1970s, Johnson began touring and sparking a buzz about his astonishing talents in the jazz-rock outfit Electromagnets, whose recordings and a live TV performance from that era were released in the 1990s to critical acclaim. He cut his teeth in the studio on sessions for Cat Stevens, Christopher Cross and Carole King, and by 1984 his stature in Texas and beyond was so strong that the unsigned artist was tapped to make his first appearance on the prestigious PBS concert show “Austin City Limits.” At the urging of such stars as Cross and Prince, Johnson was signed to a major label deal with Reprise Records and emerged onto the international recording scene.

His dynamism as a performer is captured on the 2008 DVD Anaheim and the 2005 DVD/CD release of his second “Austin City Limits” show in 1994, Live From Austin, Texas. His 1996 G3 tour with guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai yielded a best-selling album and platinum DVD, G3: Live in Concert.

Johnson’s eminence as an artist goes beyond just his stunning guitar mastery. His keen compositional sense and lyrical playing create instrumentals that speak to listeners and convey thoughts, emotions and imagery, and Up Close also spotlights his singing and sure way with words.“It really boils down to the music and the song at the end of the day,” he explains. “If it doesn’t have that it gets boring for me.”

On his current album release, “I wanted to bare myself a little further and show myself more,” says Johnson. “As you evolve as a person and artist, you reach forks in the road where you look at what it is you really want in life and to bring out in yourself and thereby affect other people. What’s most important to me is to grow as a person, and because of that, I want my music to also grow and have more of a profound meaning and impact.” And Up Close finds Eric Johnson continuing to expand his artistry with compelling and enriching results.

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Update for Matthew Curry and the Fury

Matthew and The Fury played this weekend at Mississippi Valley (there was a front page article in the Quad City Times, photo with him in the crowd on his new wireless tearing it up on Voodoo Chile) and then at Blues Brews and BBQ's in Champaign, (and sat in with Ronnie Baker Brooks). The band has also been nominated for 3 awards: Best Debut CD, Sean Costello Rising Star, and Best Blues Song.
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Slider - Ron Thompson

Ron Thompson (born July 5, 1953) is an American electric blues and blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Thompson has released seven albums since 1983 on labels including Blind Pig. He has worked with Little Joe Blue, John Lee Hooker, Lowell Fulson, Etta James and Big Mama Thornton.

Thompson commented on his preferred style, "blues is like a medicine, or religion to me, it'll cleanse your soul". Meanwhile, Mick Fleetwood stated, "Ron Thompson is my favorite guitarist"
Thompson was born in Oakland, California, United States, and had mastered basic guitar and slide guitar techniques by his mid-teens. He was educated at Newark Memorial High School, in Newark, California. In the early 1970s, Thompson played backing to Little Joe Blue, and worked solo and as a sideman in San Francisco Bay Area clubs. He joined John Lee Hooker's backing band in 1975, staying with him for three years. In 1980, Thompson formed his own group, the Resisters, and secured a recording contract with Takoma Records. He played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1978, 1979 and 1983.

In 1983, he released his debut album, Treat Her Like Gold. Thompson also found employment separately working with Lowell Fulson, Etta James and Big Mama Thornton. Thompson's second album Resister Twister was released in 1987 and nominated for a Grammy Award, plus 1990's Just Like a Devil, was taken from his work on Mark Naftalin's Blue Monday Party radio show.

Thompson's 2007 album, Resonator was a purely acoustic production.
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I Hear You Knockin' - Smiley Lewis

Smiley Lewis (July 5, 1913 – October 7, 1966) was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues musician. The journalist, Tony Russell, in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans. He hit on a formula for slow-rocking, small-band numbers like "The Bells Are Ringing" and "I Hear You Knocking" only to have Fats Domino come up behind him with similar music more ingratiatingly delivered. Lewis was practically drowned in Domino's backwash"
Lewis was born in DeQuincy, Louisiana, U.S., a rural hamlet near Lake Charles, to Jeffrey and Lillie Mae Lemons, as the second of three sons and given the name of Overton Amos Lemons. His mother died while he was a child, and later Lewis named a song[4] and several automobiles after her. In his mid-teens, he hopped onto a slow-moving freight train with some friends, who jumped off when the train began to speed up. Lewis alone remained on the train, getting off when it reached its stop in New Orleans. He found boarding with a Caucasian family in the Irish Channel, eventually adopting their surname of Lewis.

He began playing clubs in the French Quarter and "Tan bars" in the 7th Ward, at times billed as Smiling Lewis, a variation of the nickname earned by his lack of front teeth, and often accompanied by pianist Isidore "Tuts" Washington, whom he spent the mid-1930s with in Thomas Jefferson's Dixieland band. When the band dissolved, Lewis turned to going from one club to another, playing gigs for only tips.

Lewis married Leona Robinson in 1938, the couple living with her mother until they began having children, when they moved to South Tonti Street while Lewis spent the daytime hours working odd manual labor jobs and the nights singing. During World War II, he joined Washington again, this time with Ernest "Kid" Mollier's band entertaining soldiers stationed at Fort Polk outside of Bunkie, Louisiana while also serving as the house band at the Boogie Woogie Club. The two formed a trio with drummer Herman Seals after the war ended, and again began playing the French Quarter and down Bourbon Street.

An invitation by David Braun to record a session with his DeLuxe Records followed in 1947 for the trio and resulted in the release of his debut album, Here Comes Smiley, though Papa John French replaced Seals and played bass. The single "Turn On Your Volume" was a hit in local jukeboxes, but DeLuxe requested no more material and even left two other recorded sides unreleased. An invitation by Dave Bartholomew, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Lewis and was then beginning a production career with Imperial Records, led the trio to record a session in March 1950 that resulted in the song "Tee Nah Nah". Lewis scored his first national hit song with "The Bells Are Ringing" in 1952. In 1954 he recorded the original version of Bartholomew's song "Blue Monday", a hit for Fats Domino two years later. In 1955 he achieved his biggest sales with the original recorded version of "I Hear You Knocking" (written by Bartholomew and Pearl King) featuring Huey Smith on piano.

An attempt prompted by Imperial Records president Lew Chudd to attract new record buyers in 1957 saw Lewis recording pop and country music songs; the experiment failed and did nothing to boost Lewis's declining record sales. He was released from the label, and spent the early 1960s as an opening act for new performers, including Lee Dorsey, Irma Thomas, and Ernie K-Doe, the money short and Lewis arriving at gigs via the city bus. His career rounded out with a brief stint at Okeh Records in 1961 that consisted of one single, a 45 produced by Bill "Hoss" Allen in 1964 for Dot Records, and ended with a Loma Records release of "The Bells Are Ringing", remade with record producer Allen Toussaint.

He was hospitalized in 1965 and diagnosed with an ulcer; the operation led to the discovery that Lewis had stomach cancer, and quickly a benefit was organized by Bartholomew at La Ray's on Dryades Street. In the arms of his second wife, Dorothy Ester Lemons, whom he had married only six months prior, Lewis died on October 7, 1966, three days before the benefit.

Although Lewis' Imperial singles never sold more than 100,000 copies individually, they often lent themselves success to other artists. Gale Storm's pop version of "I Hear You Knocking" found its way into the top five on the charts. In the 1970s, Dave Edmunds covered the song as his first hit.

Elvis Presley's cover of the Lewis song "One Night" (altering one risque lyric) was #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and #1 on UK Singles Chart. Where Lewis' "I Hear You Knocking" had been too early to break from segregation involved in U.S. radio at the time of its release, Dave Edmunds' cover of the song reached number one in the UK[12] and peaked at number four in the U.S. His version of the song lyrics actually names Lewis (alongside Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Huey Smith).

Lewis' track "Shame, Shame, Shame" appeared on the soundtrack accompanying a dramatic chase through a collapsing attic in the film Baby Doll in 1956. The song failed to find entry to the R&B chart. It was covered by The Merseybeats on their EP On Stage in 1964. Later, Aerosmith included it on their blues album, Honkin' on Bobo. The song also provided the title for the fifth episode of HBO's original series Treme and included a re-written version of the song with lyrics critical of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina.
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Video

Every Day in the Week Blues - Simeon "Blind Simmie" Dooley and Pink Anderson

Simeon "Blind Simmie" Dooley (July 3, 1881 - January 17, 1961) was an American country blues singer and guitarist.
Dooley was born in Hartwell, Georgia.

Dooley met Pink Anderson in 1916 and taught him to play guitar. The two played on the street and at parties when Anderson was not traveling with Dr. Kerr's Medicine Show. In 1928 Dooley and Anderson went to Atlanta to record four pieces for Columbia Records. Two were published in the same year, the other two the following year. The records sold well. Anderson was invited to make further recordings without Dooley, however Anderson refused to be without Dooley.

Dooley died from heart disease in Spartanburg, South Carolina, at the age of 79.
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Talkin Bout Love - Walter " Lightnin Bug" Rhodes

Walter was born in 1939 in Beaufort, NC and learned to play guitar there. In 1960 he was in New York playing for The Gospel Four and starting his recording career as a member of the Golden Arrows. Pretty soon though he made the move into R & B as a member of the Blues Boys duo, touring with such artists as the wonderful Big Maybelle and Shep & The Limelights. With his cousin Arthur Little he apparently recorded as Walt and Art for Dessa, before recording his first solo sessions for Blanche Kaslin’s Hull, with the Leo Price Band. He chose the name The Blonde Bomber as a variant on heavyweight boxer Joe Louis’ nickname The Black Bomber for his own albino pigmentation.
“He died July 4 1990 as a bluesman. He was found at the bottom of a swimming pool in Rockingham, North Carolina. A perfect homicide. He was technically blind and was very fearful of water. He was pushed in the pool and knowing he was about to drown his heart exploded. Walter was a poor person and there was no investigation into his death. Someone got away with murder. Walter was a great friend and talent and was well deserving of Star status and it's sad that he died before ever reaching it. His death was a major loss to music....”
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Love is Sweet - Shawn Kellerman

They called James Brown the �hardest working man in show business� and it would be no understatement to call Shawn Kellerman the �hardest playing blues guitarist� on the scene today. Shawn is recognized as one of the most powerful stage performers you will ever see. He literally puts every ounce of mental and physical energy into his music. Expressive, dynamic and technically outstanding, Shawn continues to build on his past experiences and push the boundaries of traditional blues into modern territory by adding in some soul, funk and rock influences. Sitting up close at a live performance is truly an awesome, jaw dropping experience.

When asked about his approach to music, Shawn replied "My roots are in the south and the music I hear in my head is based around high energy blues played with sensitivity and honesty. When I am sending a strong message, I just let it rip. When I am talking tenderness I caress each note." Listening to Shawn play confirms his deep background in the main schools of blues notably such recognized performers as Albert King & Albert Collins. Shawn drew personal inspiration from Mel Brown who was not only a mentor but a close friend.
Shawn started his musical career as a teenager and has been on the road in 20 different countries over the last 15 years. During the last two years he has concentrated on touring with his own trio �The Shawn Kellerman Band� which has played key festivals like the Arkansas Blues & Heritage Fest, Mont Tremblant, Pittsburgh Blues Fest and Blues From the Top . Shawn�s band has also backed international blues greats like Sherman Robertson at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest, Memphis in May and Lucky Peterson in Moscow Russia.
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Sweet Sixteen - Little Al Thomas and the Deep Down Fools

Little Al Thomas-vocals, John Edelmann - Guitar, Marty Binder - Drums, Rob Waters- Keyboard, Ed Galchick - Bass
Little Al Thomas is one of those rare older bluesmen that was actually born and raised in Chicago. His first recording, at the age of 69, was Southside Story with the Crazy House Band. It became an instant classic-in Chicago. In 2000, he and the band appeared at the Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland. As a result, they released a second CD, In The House. Guitarist, songwriter John Edelmann of the Crazy House Band formed a new band, The Deep Down Fools with Mart Binder on drums, Rob Waters on organ and ad hoc Eddie Galchick also from Crazy house, and Mike Scharf, both on bass. Little Al Thomas and John Edelmann have a CD as Little Al Thomas featuring The Deep Down Fools titled Not My Warden.
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Walkin Blues - J. Curly Speegle

Long time guitarist/vocalist for Legendary Rock n Roll Hall of Famer, Leon Russell, Jason ( J. "Curly") Speegle is an accomplished musician who has lent his talent to some of the most well respected musicians and songwriters in the business, including Leon Russell, Dave Mason, Taylor Hicks, Stacy Mitchart, Damon Johnson, and Oteil Burbridge just to name a few. Being Raised in northern Alabama, the Muscle Shoals sound and players from that region were a major influence in the development of his sound and style. According to his critics, Jason Speegle is considered one of the "Best present day slide guitar players of the south"
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Move On Down The Road - Alan Wilson and Canned Heat

Alan "Blind Owl" Christie Wilson (July 4, 1943 – September 3, 1970) was the leader, singer, and primary composer in the American blues band Canned Heat. He played guitar and harmonica, and wrote most of the songs for the band.
Wilson was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in the Boston suburb of Arlington. He majored in music at Boston University and often played the Cambridge coffeehouse folk-blues circuit. He acquired the nickname "Blind Owl" owing to his extreme nearsightedness; in one instance when he was playing at a wedding, he laid his guitar on the wedding cake because he did not see it. As Canned Heat's drummer, Fito de la Parra, wrote in his book: "Without the glasses, Alan literally could not recognize the people he played with at two feet, that's how blind the 'Blind Owl' was."
With Canned Heat, Wilson performed at two prominent concerts of the 1960s era, the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969. Canned Heat appeared in the film Woodstock, and the band's "Going Up the Country," which Wilson sang, has been referred to as the festival's unofficial theme song. Wilson also wrote "On the Road Again," arguably Canned Heat's second-most familiar song.

Wilson was a passionate conservationist who loved reading books on botany and ecology. He often slept outdoors to be closer to nature. In 1969, he wrote and recorded a song, "Poor Moon", which expressed concern over potential pollution of the moon. He wrote an essay called 'Grim Harvest', about the coastal redwood forests of California, which was printed as the liner notes to the Future Blues album by Canned Heat.

After Eddie 'Son' House's 'rediscovery' in 1964, Wilson taught him how to play again the songs House had recorded in 1930 and 1942 (which he had forgotten over a long absence from music); House recorded for Columbia in 1965 and two of three selections featuring Wilson on harmonica and guitar appeared on the set. On the double album Hooker 'N Heat (1970), John Lee Hooker is heard wondering how Wilson is capable of following Hooker's guitar playing so well. Hooker was known to be a difficult performer to accompany, partly because of his disregard of song form. Yet Wilson seemed to have no trouble at all following him on this album. Hooker concludes that "you [Wilson] musta been listenin' to my records all your life". Hooker is also known to have stated "Wilson is the greatest harmonica player ever"

Stephen Stills' song "Blues Man" from the album Manassas is dedicated to Wilson, along with Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman.
Wilson died in Topanga Canyon, California of a drug overdose at age 27. Although Wilson had reportedly attempted suicide twice before and his death is sometimes reported as a suicide, this is not clearly established and he left no note.
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Drove From Home Blues - Wright Holmes

b. 4 July 1905, Hightower, Texas, USA. Apart from a spell of wartime defence work in the north, Holmes was based in Houston from 1930, by which time he was already a blues singer and guitarist, working in clubs on Dowling Street. His first recordings in 1947 were not issued because the producer felt he sounded too much like Lightnin’ Hopkins, a judgment belied by three titles recorded the same year, and issued by Miltone and Gotham. Some of Holmes’ lyrics come from Alger ‘Texas’ Alexander (‘Alley Special’ is based on two Alexander recordings), but both words and music (including vocal melodies) sound completely improvised; his guitar playing determinedly obscures its basic pulse with syncopations, changes of tempo, and explosive, random-sounding runs. Holmes gave up blues by 1950, and was last seen in 1967, by which time he had lost a leg and turned to religion.
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Sing Sing Gramps - HARVEY BROOKS 17th Street Band Live

Harvey Brooks (born Harvey Goldstein; July 4, 1944 in Manhattan, New York) is an American bassist. He has played in many styles of music (notably jazz and popular music)

Brooks came out of a New York music scene that was crackling with activity in the early 1960s. One of the younger players on his instrument, he was a contemporary of Felix Pappalardi and Andy Kulberg and other eclectic bass players in their late teens and early 20s, who saw a way to bridge the styles of folk, blues, rock, and jazz. Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson gave Brooks his first boost to fame when he picked him to play as part of Bob Dylan's backing band on the sessions that yielded the song "Like a Rolling Stone" and the album Highway 61 Revisited — in contrast to the kind of folkie-electric sound generated by the band on his previous album, Bringing It All Back Home. Wilson and Dylan were looking for a harder, in-your-face electric sound, and Brooks, along with guitarist Michael Bloomfield and organist Al Kooper, provided exactly what was needed on one of the most famous recordings of the 1960s.

Brooks was also part of Dylan's early backing band which performed to great notoriety at Forest Hills, Queens and other venues in 1965. This band also included Robbie Robertson (guitar), Al Kooper (keyboards) and Levon Helm (drums). From the Dylan single and album, which became two of the most widely heard (and, at the time, most controversial) records of the 1960s, Brooks branched out in a multitude of directions, as he went on to play on records by folk artists like Eric Andersen at Vanguard Records, Richie Havens and Jim & Jean at Verve Records, transitional electric folk-rockers such as David Blue (whose producer was looking for a sound similar to that on Highway 61 Revisited), and various blues-rock fusion projects involving Bloomfield and Kooper. Brooks played on Cass Elliot's debut solo album Dream a Little Dream (1968), and also on some Doors sessions, including the Soft Parade album. Producer Paul Rothchild wanted to give the Doors a fresh sound. He hired Harvey to play and help organize the rhythm tracks and Paul Harris to write some string and horn arrangements. Harvey also played live with the Doors at the Forum in LA and Madison Square Garden in New York and was very visible on the Michael Bloomfield/Al Kooper/Steve Stills Super Session release, one of the iconic records of late 1960s rock music. His song "Harvey's Tune" appeared on this album.
It was through his participation in The Electric Flag, an extension of Michael Bloomfield and Barry Goldberg's interests in blues, that Brooks' career took an unexpected turn. The Flag only lasted in its original line-up for about a year, and much of that time was spent recording a sound track album to the film The Trip starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Susan Strasberg & written by Jack Nicholson and "The Electric Flag, An American Music Band." But in the course of this, Brooks became a producer at Columbia Records and connected with fellow producer Teo Macero who led him to Miles Davis.

Working with Davis involved Brooks in a freer manner of making music than he'd been used to even on the most ambitious sessions with Bloomfield, though it also meant butting up against Davis' ego, personality, and musical sensibilities as a bandleader. Brooks worked with the legendary jazz trumpeter long enough to contribute to the Bitches Brew and Big Fun albums as well as several unreleased tracks. On these sessions two bassist were used; Brooks played electric bass while Dave Holland simultaneously played the acoustic bass. From that point on — between the Dylan, Davis, Electric Flag, and Bloomfield and Kooper connections — Brooks' career was made.
Even casual listeners became familiar with his name, and from the 1970s into the mid-1990s, Brooks was one of the busiest bassists in music, working with such varied artists as John Martyn, the Fabulous Rhinestones, Seals & Crofts, Fontella Bass, John Sebastian, Loudon Wainwright III, John Cale, and Paul Burlison. He has been somewhat less active since the early 1990s, having relocated to Arizona during that decade, but has continued to perform and record. Harvey also played with Donald Fagen (Rock 'n' Soul Revue). In 2006, Light In The Attic, a Seattle-based record label, reissued the 1971 album In My Own Time by Karen Dalton, which was arranged and produced by Harvey Brooks. His current band is the 17th Street Band based in Tucson, Arizona. With his wife Bonnie and guitarist Tom Kusian started "17th Street Records" with two releases in Nov. 2009 now distributed by independent distributor City Hall Records. "Positively 17th Street" by the 17th Street Band and "El Regalo, The Gift" by Francisco Gonzalez.



Harvey Brooks and his wife moved to Israel on August 4, 2009 Playing and recording in Tel Aviv Harvey & Bonnie continue their musical blog at viewfromthebottom at harveybrooks.net. Recently featured cover story at Bass Musician Magazine March 2011 (Bass Musician Magazine).
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Hurry Up and Wait - Little Charlie & The Nightcats

Little Charlie & the Nightcats (now billed as Rick Estrin & the Nightcats) is an American four-piece electric blues / jazz combo, consisting currently of guitarist Kid Anderson, harmonicist/lead vocalist Rick Estrin, bassist Lorenzo Farrell and drummer J. Hansen. Former Bass player Brad Lee Sexton passed on July 3, 1986.
Charles Baty (born 1953) was attending University of California Berkeley and studying mathematics when he formed Little Charlie & the Nightcats with Rick Estrin (born 1949) in 1976. The band's music relies chiefy on electric urban blues of the Chicago variety, but mixed in with other compatible styles, including early rock and roll, soul, surf music, swing, jump blues, and western swing. The Nightcats issued their debut album, All the Way Crazy, in 1987, including the songs "Poor Tarzan", "Suicide Blues" and "When Girls Do It". The following album Disturbing the Peace (1988), included "That's My Girl", "My Money's Green", "She's Talking" and "Nervous". The records help established them on the blues festival and club circuits, and they began touring the country extensively, playing a number of international venues. They have played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1980 and 1982, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the San Diego, California Street Scene and Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival plus the Juneau Jazz & Classics Festival in 2002.

Their 1993 album, Night Vision was produced and played on by Joe Louis Walker.[2] It featured "My Next Ex-Wife," a witty blues-rocker that won Estrin a W.C. Handy Award for 'Song of the Year', highlighting his steadily growing reputation for songwriting prowess. Original drummer Dobie Strange left in 1996, after 20 years with the group, and his spot was taken by June Core.

In early 2008, Baty announced he was entering "soft" retirement, no longer tours with the band, except for possible reunion tours/shows in Europe and select North American festivals. Baty performed with JW-Jones at Mont Tremblant Blues Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest, and Piazza Blues in Bellinzona, Switzerland in July 2009. Estrin continued with the band re-billed as Rick Estrin & the Nightcats. Baty was replaced on guitar by Chris 'Kid' Andersen (born 1980), originally from Telemark, Norway. Andersen had played backing Charlie Musselwhite as well as fronting his own band.

Baty's most recent blues recording was as a guest on JW-Jones, Bluelisted (2008), an album which marked the first time in his career that he documented his harmonica playing on a recording, and the first time he and another West Coast blues musician, Junior Watson, had recorded together on the same tracks.

People are Strange - The Doors

James Douglas "Jim" Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors, as well as a poet. Following The Doors' explosive rise to fame in 1967, Morrison developed a severe alcohol and drug dependency that culminated in his death at the age of 27 in Paris. He is alleged to have died from an overdose of heroin, but as no autopsy was performed, the exact cause of his death is still disputed.

Morrison was well known for often improvising spoken word poetry passages while the band played live. Due to his wild personality and performances, he is regarded by critics and fans as one of the most iconic, charismatic and pioneering frontmen in rock music history. Morrison was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time", and number 22 on Classic Rock Magazine's "50 Greatest Singers In Rock".
James Douglas Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Rear Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in 1948 in Los Altos, California. He was of Irish and Scottish descent.

In 1947, Morrison, then four years old, allegedly witnessed a car accident in the desert, in which a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly killed. He referred to this incident in a spoken word performance on the song "Dawn's Highway" from the album An American Prayer, and again in the songs "Peace Frog" and "Ghost Song."

Morrison believed this incident to be the most formative event of his life, and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews. His family does not recall this incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison's family did drive past a car accident on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. The book The Doors, written by the remaining members of The Doors, explains how different Morrison's account of the incident was from the account of his father. This book quotes his father as saying, "We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him [the young James]. He always thought about that crying Indian." This is contrasted sharply with Morrison's tale of "Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death." In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, "He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don't even know if that's true."
Morrison died on July 3, 1971 at age 27.[41] In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub (at 17–19 rue Beautreillis, 4th arrondissement) by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner stated that there was no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death.
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Suitcase Blues - Hersal Thomas

Hersal Thomas (c. 1909 – July 3, 1926) was an American blues pianist and composer. He recorded a number of sides for Okeh Records in 1925 and 1926.

Thomas was born in Houston, Texas, and displayed an early talent for blues playing and composition. He was one of several musicians in his family. His brother George W. Thomas was also a skilled piano player, while his sister Sippie Wallace and niece Hociel Thomas were singers of note.

Though he died at a young age, Thomas was nonetheless an influence on the Chicago boogie woogie school of pianists. Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis both cited him as an influence. His most famous track was "Suitcase Blues" (8958-A Okeh 8227), which was issued on CD in 1992 as part of the box set, Roots 'N Blues: The Retrospective. The Thomas brothers also co-wrote "The Fives", which Ammons and Lewis cited as an essential boogie-woogie number.[citation needed]

Thomas recorded under his own name, and as an accompanist to Hociel Thomas, Sippie Wallace, Lilian Miller and Sodarisa Miller. In 1926, he recorded a session with Hociel Thomas and Louis Armstrong. The songs recorded on that occasion were "Deep Water Blues" (9519-A Okeh 8297), "Lonesome Hours" (9522-A Okeh 8297), "Listen To Ma (9521-A Okeh 8346), and "G'wan, I Told You" (9520-A Okeh 8346). The first three are listed as having been composed by "Thomas", though it is not clear if this refers to Hersal or his brother. He also worked in session with King Oliver.

Sippie Wallace recorded seven of his compositions: "A Jealous Woman Like Me", "A Man For Every Day Of The Week", "Dead Drunk Blues", "Have You Ever Been Down?", "I Feel Good", "Shorty George Blues" and "Trouble Everywhere I Roam".

Thomas died of food poisoning while working at Penny's Pleasure Inn in Detroit, Michigan. The circumstances of his death have never been clarified.
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Goin Down to the River - Mississippi Fred McDowell

Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904 – July 3, 1972) known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American Hill country blues singer and guitar player.
McDowell was born in Rossville, Tennessee. His parents, who were farmers, died when McDowell was a youth. He started playing guitar at the age of 14 and played at dances around Rossville. Wanting a change from plowing fields, he moved to Memphis in 1926 where he started to work in the Buck-Eye feed mill where they processed cotton into oil and other products. He also had a number of other jobs and played music for tips. Later in 1928 he moved south into Mississippi to pick cotton. He settled in Como, Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Memphis, in 1940 or 1941, and worked steadily as a farmer, continuing to perform music at dances and picnics. Initially he played slide guitar using a pocket knife and then a slide made from a beef rib bone, later switching to a glass slide for its clearer sound. He played with the slide on his ring finger.

While commonly lumped together with Delta Blues singers, McDowell actually may be considered the first of the bluesmen from the 'North Mississippi' region - parallel to, but somewhat east of the Delta region - to achieve widespread recognition for his work. A version of the state's signature musical form somewhat closer in structure to its African roots (often eschewing the chord change for the hypnotic effect of the droning, single chord vamp), the north hill country blues style (or at least its aesthetic) may be heard to have been carried on in the music of such figures as Junior Kimbrough and R. L. Burnside, while serving as the original impetus behind creation of the Fat Possum record label out of Oxford, Mississippi.

The 1950s brought a rising interest in blues music and folk music in the United States and McDowell was brought to wider public attention, beginning when he was discovered and recorded in 1959 by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins. McDowell's records were popular, and he performed often at festivals and clubs. McDowell continued to perform blues in the North Mississippi blues style much as he had for decades, but he sometimes performed on electric guitar rather than acoustic guitar. While he famously declared "I do not play no rock and roll," McDowell was not averse to associating with many younger rock musicians: He coached Bonnie Raitt on slide guitar technique, and was reportedly flattered by The Rolling Stones' rather straightforward, authentic version of his "You Gotta Move" on their 1971 Sticky Fingers album[citation needed].

McDowell's 1969 Malaco Records album I Do Not Play No Rock 'N' Roll, recorded in Jackson, Mississippi, was his first featuring electric guitar. It features parts of an interview in which he discusses the origins of the blues and the nature of love. (This interview was sampled and mixed into a song, also titled "I Do Not Play No Rock 'N' Roll" by Dangerman in 1999.) McDowell's final album, Live in New York (Oblivion Records), was a concert performance from November 1971 at the Village Gaslight (aka The Gaslight Cafe), Greenwich Village, New York.

McDowell died of cancer in 1972, aged 68, and was buried at Hammond Hill Baptist Church, between Como and Senatobia, Mississippi. On August 6, 1993 a memorial was placed on his grave site by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund. The ceremony was presided over by Dick Waterman, and the memorial with McDowell's portrait upon it was paid for by Bonnie Raitt. The memorial stone was a replacement for an inaccurate and damaged marker (McDowell's name was misspelled) and the original stone was subsequently donated by McDowell's family to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
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Little Red Rooster - Rolling Stones

Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969), was an English musician and a founder member of The Rolling Stones.

Jones' main instruments were the guitar and the harmonica, but he played a wide variety of other musical instruments and was a talented multi-instrumentalist. His innovative use of traditional or folk instruments, such as the sitar and marimba, was integral to the changing sound of the band.

Originally the leader of the group, Jones' fellow bandmembers Mick Jagger and Keith Richards soon overshadowed him; especially after they became a successful songwriting team. He developed a serious drug abuse problem over the years and his role in the band steadily diminished. He was asked to leave the Rolling Stones in June 1969 and guitarist Mick Taylor took his place in the group. Jones died less than a month later by drowning in the swimming pool at his home on Cotchford Farm in East Sussex.

Original Stones bassist Bill Wyman stated about Jones: "...he formed the band. He chose the members. He named the band. He chose the music we played. He got us gigs ... Very influential, very important, and then slowly lost it - highly intelligent - and just kind of wasted it and blew it all away."
Jones's main guitar in the early years was a Harmony Stratotone, which he replaced with a Gretsch Double Anniversary in two-tone green. In 1964 and 1965 he often used a teardrop-shaped prototype Vox Mark VI. From late 1965 until his death, Jones used Gibson models (various Firebirds, ES-330, and a Les Paul model), as well as two Rickenbacker 12-string models. He can also be seen playing a Fender Telecaster in the 1968 "Jumpin' Jack Flash" promo video.

Examples of Jones's contributions are his slide guitar on "I Wanna Be Your Man" (1963), "I'm a King Bee" (1964, on the Rolling Stones), "Little Red Rooster" (1964), "I Can't Be Satisfied" (1965, on Rolling Stones No. 2), "I'm Movin' On" (1965, on the EP Got Live If You Want It!), "Doncha Bother Me" (1966, on Aftermath) and "No Expectations" (1968, on Beggars Banquet). Jones can also be heard playing Bo Diddley-style rhythm guitar on "I Need You Baby (Mona)", the guitar riff in "The Last Time"; sitar on "Street Fighting Man" and "Paint It, Black"; organ on "Let's Spend the Night Together", "Complicated", and "2000 Man"; marimba on "Under My Thumb", "Out Of Time" and "Yesterday's Papers"; recorder on "Ruby Tuesday" and "All Sold Out"; trumpet on "Child of the Moon"; Appalachian dulcimer on "I Am Waiting" and "Lady Jane" and harpsichord on "Lady Jane"; accordion on "Backstreet Girl"; saxophone and oboe on "Dandelion"; mellotron on "She's a Rainbow", "We Love You"; "Citadel", "Stray Cat Blues" and "2000 Light Years from Home"; and (for his final recording as a Rolling Stone) the autoharp on "You Got the Silver".
At around midnight on the night of 2–3 July 1969, Jones was discovered motionless at the bottom of his swimming pool at Cotchford Farm. His Swedish girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, was convinced Jones was alive when he was taken out of the pool, insisting he still had a pulse. However, by the time the doctors arrived, it was too late, and he was pronounced dead. The coroner's report stated "death by misadventure", and noted his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse.[35] As Jones was 27 at the time of his death, he is one of the well known members of the 27 Club.
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The World (Is Going Up in Flames) - Charles Bradley

Charles Bradley (born 1948, Gainesville, Florida), commonly referred to as "The Screaming Eagle of Soul," is a funk/soul/R&B singer signed to the Daptone Records label under the Dunham Records division. His performances and recording style are consistent with Daptone's revivalist approach, celebrating the feel of funk and soul music from the 1960s and 1970s. One review stated that Bradley "echoes the evocative delivery of Otis Redding".

He is the subject of a documentary, Soul of America, that premiered at SXSW in 2012
Bradley was raised by his grandmother in Florida until the age of eight when, while meeting his mother for the first time, she told him that she wanted him to come live with her in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1962, his sister took him to the Apollo Theater to see James Brown perform. Bradley was so inspired by the performance that he began to practice mimicking Brown's style of singing and stage mannerisms at home.

When he was a young teen, Bradley ran away from home and lived on the streets and in subway cars for two years. Later, he enlisted in Job Corps which eventually led him to Maine to work as a chef. One time while working, someone told him he looked like James Brown. Yet when asked if he could sing, he was too afraid to admit it. Eventually he did, however, overcome this fear and performed five or six times with a band. But after his band mates were drafted into the Vietnam War, the act never re-formed.

Bradley worked in Maine as a cook for ten years until deciding to head west, hitchhiking across the country. He lived in upstate New York, Seattle, Canada and Alaska before settling in California. There, Bradley worked odd jobs and played small shows for 20 years.
In 1996, Bradley's mother called him and asked him to move back in with her in Brooklyn so she could get to know him. It was there he began making a living moonlighting as a James Brown impersonator in local clubs under the name "Black Velvet." During this time, Bradley experienced more hard times, including almost dying in a hospital after being given penicillin (to which he has an allergy) and waking to the police arriving to the scene of his brother's murder just down the road from his mother's house.

While performing as "Black Velvet," he was eventually discovered by Gabriel Roth, co-founder of Daptone Records. Roth introduced Bradley to Daptone artist Tom Brennek, who invited Bradley to his band's rehearsal. Bradley asked that the band simply perform while he made up lyrics on the spot. After writing several songs, with Daptone releasing some of them on vinyl starting in 2002, ten were chosen and released as Bradley's debut album No Time For Dreaming in 2011.

Bradley is currently performing his original material and not as "Black Velvet," but rather as Charles Bradley in venues across America
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Shotgun - The Charlie Keating Band

The Charlie Keating Band is a New England blues-inspired trio. (And on occasion a quartet when keyboardist JeffKeys joins the band onstage) Charlie's unique guitar style channels such slide greats as Elmore James and Duane Allman. Uniformly, listeners are amazed at the big sound of the band. Many have compared Charlie's style to that of the early Stevie Ray Vaughan because of Charlie's ability to combine lead and rhythm guitar. Charlie is also a gifted and prolific song-writer.
Charlie Keating grew up listening to Hank Williams, so that's probably where he got his influence on slide. There was a lot of James Brown around the house as well, so you know he heard the funky stuff.
Charlie started playing guitar in the 1969. A short stint at Berklee served him well. In the the early 70's, he played with the R&B band "Sandra and the Melodies", as well as several other local bands throughout Boston.
After a few years of mostly writing and recording his own material, Charlie went back to the live scene playing with the "Black Cat Road Band", "Big Whiskey", "Blue Charlie and the Union Cats", and the "Tedd Walker Band"; and could always be seen at South Shore Blues jams playing slide.
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Concord Music Group has released: The Very Best Of The Miles Davis Quintet - New Release Review

It's curious to listen to this recording of the incredible Miles Davis with John Coltrane and Red Garland and just let the music sink in. To think of how fresh most of it sounds and clean and uncommercial it really is. This quintet really set the bar for what was to come of one of the branches of the original blues. Containing 10 tracks, this recording touches on a number of different approaches that Miles and company were exploring. The opening track, Ellington's Just Squeeze Me, is one cool groove where Davis explores different melodic phases on a basic theme... keeping it simple and in my mind thereby really leading the pack. This song hits on the essence of what made Miles so great and he Garland and Coltrane play it beautifully. Another extremely strong track is Thelonious Monks 'Round Midnight. Miles had such a deep understanding and feeling of just exactly when to play and when to leave air. My Funny Valentine is another such track with Miles leading the way but give plenty of room for Garland and Coltrane to express. Unlike later Davis performances where bass players had a predominant role and even lead lines, Chambers plays beautifully articulated bass lines under the melody. Another track, You're My Everything again emphasizes the Quintet's control of of a basic melodic line and the multiple themes on a basic concept.

This is a nice early slice of Miles from the 50's and his ability to attract the absolute best talent throughout his career.
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