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 Born
in 1951 and raised in a music-loving home in Ocean City, New Jersey,
Walter Trout felt the calling to music at a young age. His first
instrument was trumpet, playing in the school band. A chance meeting with
the mighty Duke Ellington catapulted Trout’s pursuit of a professional music
career – what Walter terms “a turning point” in his life – when the Walter’s
mother orchestrated a meeting with jazz legends Ellington, Cat Anderson,
Johnny Hodges and Paul Gonsalves for the youngster’s tenth birthday. The
seed was planted about a career playing music.
In the mid-1960’s Trout’s instrument of
choice switched to electric guitar after hearing an album which was to
change his whole appreciation of music. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
featuring Mike Bloomfield cemented Walter’s musical ambitions towards the
blues genre and the electric guitar. In those vinyl grooves, Walter heard
the guitar speaking to his soul, expressing what words could not.
In his late teens and early twenties, Trout
played in numerous New Jersey bands, competing at the time for rank with
“Steel Mill” featuring a young Bruce Springsteen. In 1973, he packed up his
belongings in a VW Beetle and drove cross-country to the west coast,
arriving in Los Angeles with only a few changes of clothes, a trumpet, a
mandolin and his guitars.
By 1981, Trout’s reputation led to the
invitation to join venerable blues rock band Canned Heat, where he remained
through 1984. In Canned Heat he quickly learned the ways of a touring
musician, traveling the US and abroad, further refining his already stunning
abilities playing night after night, and confirming his reputation as a top
flight lead guitarist.
When the call came to join the legendary John
Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Trout jumped and found himself sharing the spotlight
with fellow guitarist Coco Montoya. Trout and Montoya lifted the band to a
new level, as Mayall’s Bluesbreakers enjoyed unprecedented album sales and
high profile tours in the US and abroad.
Breaking away from the Bluesbreakers in 1989, he formed The Walter Trout
Band, a move that quickly segued into immediate extensive touring of Europe,
playing large venues and music festivals, and his music was heard on
mainstream radio. In the early 1990s Walter had several radio hits in Europe
and charted with his unique style of blues rock. Throughout the decade, he
continued a non-stop touring pace, releasing eight recordings, steadily each
lifting his profile higher.
The self-titled Walter Trout, released by Ruf Records in 1998 was his
first “official” domestic CD. Shortly after, the band renamed as Walter
Trout and The Free Radicals and began an extensive touring pace state side,
steadily building a fan base and bringing their high energy, impassioned
live performances back home. Since then Ruf Records has released half a
dozen CDs in the US and Walter effectively continued his frequent touring,
splitting time more evenly between continents.
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 Down
Beat magazine describes Deanna Bogart as "an extravagant
entertainer"-- and entertain is what Bogart does best. The Maryland-based
blues and boogie pianist / saxophonist combines the energy of 1930's style
boogie piano blues with contemporary blues sounds emanating from places like
New Orleans, Chicago and Memphis. "The goal when we play live," says Bogart,
"is to create a fusion of all these different musical styles with the blues
and boogie genuinely at the core."
Bogart began to develop her unique style as a
sideplayer in Cowboy Jazz, a Maryland-based group that dedicated itself to
the sound of 1940’s western swing music. She joined the group at age 21 as
vocalist and spent several years learning and playing the cowboy rhythms
that are central to western swing. As her musical appetite grew she spent
nearly two years playing R&B with the Washington D.C.-based Root Boy Slim.
Bogart combined these disparate influences in her own original compositions
that blend elements of boogie music with modern jazz and rock. After getting
her own band off the ground in 1988, she began playing throughout the
mid-Atlantic region and the West Coast, slowly building a following and a
reputation. After hundreds of live shows, Bogart made her recording debut in
1989.
Whereas for years her fans accepted as an
article of faith that none of Bogart's recording ventures could match up to
the experience of live performances, that assumption has been transformed
since the release of her last two CDs, The Great Unknown and 2002’s
Timing is Everything. While home listeners will be deprived the
pleasures of Bogart's peripatetic piano style–these new recordings reflect a
decided turning point in Bogart’s writing and playing talents. While
continuing to utilize her musical roots in the blues, her musical
sensibilities have ventured into other textures, her voice has developed an
increasingly emotional force, and her songwriting has expanded into a
growing breadth of complexity and lyrical subtlety. A woman who has managed
to balance middle-aged single motherhood with the vicissitudes of life
leading a successful band for 15 years on the road has now begun to create
music that reflects a similar synthesis of the traditional and the
non-traditional. Bogart is philosophical about striking out in new
directions. “Nothing hurts creativity like safety” is her credo, “in art as
in life, you can't have magic if you're not willing to risk the train
wrecks.” Addressing an increasingly broad range of personal subjects and
life experiences, Bogart has become much more than a splashy unforgettable
performer–she has established herself as a unique artistic spirit.
Despite the power of her recordings, Bogart
still loves performing live with her band. “Musicians play for 'one of those
nights.” For me, that means the moment I’m at the place where all past and
present, pain and joy, meet as one. For lack of a better term, I call it “Deannaland.”
And it’s a place that both audiences and other artists never tire of
visiting along with her. Bogart has appeared on stage with the likes of BB
King, Brian Setzer, Buddy Guy, James Brown, Doctor John, They Might Be
Giants, Spyro Gyra, Ray Charles, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and the
Neville Brothers. The recipient of no less than 20 Washington Area Music
Awards–the “Wammies”–her most recent album, Timing is Everything,
helped garner her five awards in one year, including Best Blues Vocalist,
Best Group, Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year, and Musician of the
Year.
The Deanna Bogart Band since 1995 includes Mike
Aubin on drums, and Eric Scott on bass.
---
 Part
harmonica wizard and part rhythmic explorer, Harper is a fiery artist
who blurs the lines between rock, blues, soul and world music. His latest
Blind Pig release, Day By Day, displays his trademark virtuoso harp
performances, distinctive instrumentation, deeply soulful grooves and
instantly memorable songs and provides another prime example of why his
unique roots music style occupies a category of its own. Harper has been
described as "a singer with the deep soul of Motown, a harmonica player who
can graft Sonny Boy II and Little Walter with John Popper, a songwriter who
tells his own compelling stories in an unhurried, J.J. Cale-like manner, and
a musical visionary who is unafraid to mix the didgeridoo, an important part
of his Australian indigenous culture, with infectious modern percussive
rhythms." His skill lies in the fact that he is able to tap into the kindred
spirits running through his traditional and modern influences, borrowing
from western and world music to develop a highly original take on the roots
genre. He also takes the harmonica beyond its assigned place. Harper’s
innovative use of electronic enhancement and feedback breaks the traditional
boundaries of the harmonica, giving his music its distinctive harmonics and
effects.
Born in the United Kingdom, Harper’s musical
journey began early, performing in brass bands playing the trumpet and
euphonium. At the age of ten, his family moved half way around the world to
Perth, Western Australia, and his father introduced Harper to the harp. In
Perth, one of the most isolated cities in the world, there was a thriving
blues and folk scene. The blues had a rawness, an honesty and a passion of
the soul which spoke to Harper deeply. Then, like every blues lover, Harper
began his journey backwards to discover the deeper roots of the music.
"I think Muddy Waters really hit me hard. There
was something incredibly special about his sound, his powerful voice and his
songs. I would sing his songs constantly. I also really dug Sonny Boy
Williamson II as well. I loved his rhythmic use of his harp. I was also
inspired by a pretty wide range of players and styles like Little Walter,
Sugar Blue and Stevie Wonder who guide me in my playing. "But Harper did not
stop his search with the blues. It was a chance meeting with a Hopi "Dan
Running Bear" in Silverton, Colorado, that led him down the path to
rediscovering the music of his homeland. Fascinated with the spirituality
and culture of the American Natives, he found the same qualities present in
the Australian Aborigines of his homeland. On adding the native didgeridoo
to his music, Harper says "It is a sound I grew up with, so it seemed
natural to add it to my songwriting particularly when the lyrics related to
the plight of the Aborigines in Australia. When I added the didgeridoo to
the more traditional blues instruments, it worked. The deep woody qualities
and its haunting drone seemed to enhance the emotional quality of my
stories. The didgeridoo is a spiritual and healing instrument, and it seemed
blues music accepted it with open arms."
Prior to his introduction to American audiences,
Harper released six albums to great acclaim in his homeland of Australia. In
1994 he moved to Melbourne, Victoria and released his first album, Tears
of Ice. This was followed by Yesterday Is Over in 1996 with his
band Blue Devil and Live At The Soup Kitchen in 1997 as a soloist. In
2000, he released Glass on The Stepping Stone and Live At St.
Andrew’s in 2001. In 2003 he released Way Down Deep Inside, for
which he received two harmonica awards and “Album of the Year” honor from US
Magazine's Guide to the Best of the Blues Harmonicas & Beyond. Over the
years Harper has received multiple Australian Blues Awards for “Male
Vocalist of the Year,” “Song of the Year,” and “Acoustic Artist of the
Year.”
Harper’s first Blind Pig release and American debut, 2005’s Down To The
Rhythm, won accolades from the press for its unique sound and virtuoso
performances, coupled with Harper’s compositional skill. Harper’s latest
release from Blind Pig Records, Day By Day, showcases the results of
steady touring over the past several years, and his always unparalleled
songwriting.
---
 Boogie-woogie
piano and gutsy vocals have established Eden Brent as a Mississippi
favorite. Whether booked as a solo artist or bandleader, her performance is
fresh and spontaneous, often filled with audience requests and
participation.
A native of Greenville, Mississippi, Brent is the solo winner of the Blues
Foundation International Blues Challenge 2006 and is the 2005 Mississippi
Delta Regional Blues Challenge solo winner. She received the Greenville Arts
Council Greenville Honors Its Own Artist Award in 2004 and was a 2004
Greenville Blues Walk inductee. Listed on the Mississippi Arts Commission
Artist Roster since 1994, Brent is currently listed with
SouthernArtistry.org, an adjudicated web-based roster of Southeastern
artists maintained by the Southern Arts Federation.
Brent enjoyed a sixteen-year apprenticeship with
duo partner, the late Boogaloo Ames (1918 - 2002), who dubbed her "Little
Boogaloo." Although she achieved a Bachelor of Music from the University of
North Texas, Brent credits Ames with teaching her to play piano. "Music
school taught me to think, but Boogaloo taught me to boogie-woogie," she
says.
Together with Ames, Brent starred in the 1999
television documentary, Boogaloo & Eden: Sustaining the Sound. The
award-winning feature, which aired nationally on PBS affiliates, explores
the bond between mentor and protégé. Under Ames's tutelage, Brent performed
not only across Mississippi, but also at the Gibson Showcase Lounge in
Memphis, the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington,
and the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.
The pair's final appearance was in the 2002
South African television production, Forty Days in the Delta, a blues
documentary series taped in Mississippi shortly before Ames's death. The
program spurred Brent's 2002 solo tour in South Africa, and a second solo
tour and the release of her debut album, Something Cool, followed a
year later in 2003.
Dedicated to Ames, Something Cool reached
number two on the South Africa Rock Digest chart, and Brent's balladic
tribute to that country, "South Africa," reached number three on the singles
chart. About the song, Brent reflected, "I had spent so many years with
Boogaloo, and I was a little lost without him. So, in the months after his
death, traveling half way around the world by myself was liberating, and I
wanted to express that joy to the people there."
Five years after Ames's death, Brent has secured
her place in Mississippi Delta music, allowing her own style to evolve while
continuing Ames's legacy.
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 In
a generation that has forgotten its musical roots, Delta Highway
breathes youth and energy back into the blues. With strong guitar sounds
reminiscent of Muddy Waters and R.L. Burnside, combined with a progressive
harmonica sound, this Memphis band has developed a style that is all their
own and sure to please new and veteran blues fans alike.
Delta Highway was born in the piedmont region of
North Carolina, founded by twenty four year old vocalist / harmonica player
Brandon Santini and twenty six year old Justin Sulek in 2003. The two moved
to Memphis later that year to absorb the sounds and history of the delta
region where the blues runs wild. The Delta Highway sound is similar to a
massive freight train splitting the tracks left behind with an engineer and
brake man high on Jack Daniels’.
Frontman Brandon Santini was inspired while in
his mid-teens by the sounds of John Popper’s harmonica but quickly learned
about the real blues from heavyweights such as Paul Butterfield, Little
Walter, Kim Wilson, and Junior Wells. His playing style is a bit more
progressive some might say. Santini brings youth to the instrument and
presents his thick, distorted tones with his fiery quick runs that seems to
grab the attention of younger music fans as well as satisfying
traditionalists. He has also developed into a very soulful vocalist while he
brings a rather unique but traditional style to the mic.
Guitarist Justin Sulek began playing guitar
after hearing his father’s blues records throughout his childhood. He
remembers hearing the blues played by legends such as Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Buddy Guy, and Lightnin’ Hopkins and becoming inspired by the pure honest
playing styles by each of the bluesmen. Speaking of pure, that’s what you
get with Sulek’s playing style. He delivers fiery licks and continues to
amaze audiences with his bottleneck solos.
The band’s rhythm section consists of veteran
musicians Tom "Slim" Louis (Jason Ricci Band) on bass and Keven Eddy (Mojo
Buford Band, Blind Mississippi Morris & The Pocket Rockets) on drums. The
two are the perfect fit for a rhythm section and were seemingly tailored to
handle backup duties for Brandon Santini and Justin Sulek.
These four men are well respected by veteran
musicians and lay down one of the freshest blues sounds in years. Currently
a favorite on world famous Beale St. in Memphis, TN, the band represented
the Memphis Blues Society in the 2006 International Blues Competition by
winning the Memphis Blues Society’s Battle of the Blues. With the release of
their debut album Westbound Blues which will surely win over a new
generation of focus and satisfy traditionalists, the band takes listeners on
a trip to major blues towns and regions like Chicago, Texas, the delta, and
the hill country region of northern Mississippi.
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