Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 8:59 am
ZRock is proud to spotlight the participating musicians as Eric Clapton hosts the spectacular three-day Crossroads Guitar Festival June 4-6, 2004, at Fair Park and Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas. The event, an SBC presentation, will include continual concerts and once-in-a-lifetime guitar clinics by the world's leading artists.
The weekend will feature the Guitar Center Village including the Hard Rock Café’s “50 years of American Rock and Roll” display, interactive booths from leading guitar manufacturers, the “buy-sell-trade” Vintage Showcase and a display of guitars donated from Eric Clapton and friends personal collections for the forthcoming June 24 Christie’s auction with proceeds benefiting the Crossroads Centre. Concerts begin Friday evening and continue into Saturday afternoon on multiple indoor and outdoor stages. The event will culminate with an 11-hour concert at the Cotton Bowl on Sunday. Tax deductible donations to Crossroads Centre Antigua may be made by calling toll free 1-888-725-2420.
click the names below to read artist bios of the participating musicians and to learn more about the people behind the music.
Johnny A
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter
Jeff Beck
Roscoe Beck
Nuno Bettencourt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Booker T & the MGs
Harold Bradley
Doyle Bramhall II
James Burton
Jonathan Cain
John Calarco
J.J. Cale
Larry Carlton
Del Castillo
Eric Clapton
Rusty Cooley
Robert Cray
Mike Cross
Sonny Curtis
Bo Diddley
Jerry Douglas Doyle Dykes Honeyboy Edwards
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Tony Franklin
Vince Gill
Bob Glaub
Jay Gordon
Guitarmageddon
Buddy Guy
David Hidalgo
Jedd Hughes
Pete Huttlinger
David Johansen
Eric Johnson
Laurence Juber
Nishat Khan
BB King
Greg Koch
Sonny Landreth
Jonny Lang
Robert Lockwood, Jr.
George Lynch
John Mayer
John McLaughlin
Memento
Pat Metheny
OHM / Chris Poland
Buck Page
Tommy Shaw
Robert Randolph
Duke Robillard
Carlos Santana
Neal Schon
Marc Seal
Paul Reed Smith
Norm Stephens
Marty Stuart
Styx
Hubert Sumlin
Luther Tatum
James Taylor
Andy Timmons Band
Dan Tyminski
Steve Vai
Jimmie Vaughan
Joe Walsh
Tappy Wright
ZZ Top
Jarrod Vrazel Executive Producer
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 9:45 am
Paul Reed Smith
Paul Reed Smith Clinic at 4:30pm Friday June 4, 2004 on the Sirius Stage.
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 10:44 am
Chris Poland's OHM
Chris Poland and OHM will be performing at The Crossroads Guitar Festival at 5:45pm Friday June 4, 2004 on the Sirius Stage.
It is a hot and muggy Monday night in Los Angeles. A big yellow sign above the entrance to the famed jazz club, The Baked Potato, reads “Tonight: Super Hot Fusion From…” The place is packed, the drinks are poured, and the crowd anxiously awaits the upcoming entertainment for the evening. This is the band they had all heard about. This is the show their friends told them they had to see. The bass and drums kick in, laying down a hypnotic melodic groove followed soon by the entrance of a soaring melodic solo from the guitarist. The crowd continues to go wild, their applause and supportive cheering continue throughout the course of the band’s musical output. The band they are going wild over is OHM and if you enjoy top-notch musicianship, exceptional songwriting with an emphasis on strong emotive melodies, then listen up because just when you think you’ve heard it all, I’ve got news for you, you haven’t!
Yes, you may have heard the name “Chris Poland” before. Chris is probably best known for his phenomenal lead guitar work with several major label bands including MEGADETH (Capitol Records) and his progressive metal band, DAMN THE MACHINE (A&M Records). He also released a highly acclaimed instrumental guitar record in 1990 entitled RETURN TO METALOPOLIS (Enigma Records), that thoroughly impressed critics and garnered much interest from the music-buying public to the extent that the record was reissued by Fuel 2000 Records in 1998. In March of 2000, Chris released two cds of previously unreleased recordings though Grooveyard Records, a label dedicated to promoting top quality guitar-based music. The all instrumental Chasing the Sun and limited edition Rare Trax cds continue to solidify Chris’ reputation as a true original voice on the guitar, who continues to evolve and take the instrument to new previously unattained levels both technically and inspirationally with OHM. There is no doubt in many peoples’ minds that Chris Poland deserves to be placed among the greats of the genre like Shawn Lane, Greg Howe, and Allan Holdsworth; he is the real deal and more when it comes to the guitar.
Robertino Pagliari, OHM’s masterful monster on the six-string fretless bass, started playing bass professionally at age 15. Robertino has played with many well-known L.A. musicians including Rick Timus (Pointer Sisters & Bobbi Brown), Steve Lukather (Toto), Frank Gambale (Chick Korea), Bob Robles (Alphonso Johnson, Steve Smith, & Airto), and Victor Bissetti (Los Lobos). Robertino’s fat, sassy, powerful bass lines and technical, interspersed melodic solos make him one of the most exciting bassists on the scene today; if you don’t believe me just ask the people at DR Strings who currently officially endorse Robertino.
OHM is comprised of three monster tour de force musicians and drummer David Eagle is no exception. David has also played with many well-known musicians and has played on major label recordings for artists such as Oingo Boingo (A&M Records), Alphonso Johnson (Epic Records), Jan Akkerman (Atlantic Records), and Gary Hoey. David’s over-the-top rock/ jazz-based drumming, with all its captivating subtleties, has a awesome sound all its own that takes OHM’s music to new adventurous musical territories.
Since forming in 1997, OHM has been breathing new life into the L.A. rock fusion scene. The band is constantly writing, recording, and gigging with a highly original and captivating brand of instrumental music influenced by the likes of Weather Report, Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, as well as incorporating the more rock /metal influences of the band members’ past projects. With this approach the band is already garnering record label interest for an OHM recording. Furthermore, through opening shows for major bands such as Deep Purple, as well as gigging regularly on the L.A. scene, OHM has garnered a loyal following and exceptional response from both accomplished musicians and music fans alike. So, if you thought because of the current mass music trends that everyone had forgotten how to play more than three chords on their instruments, then you need to experience the ethereal sounds of OHM. They exemplify the amazing musical possibilities the three piece format can have, proving that all it takes is a guitar, a bass, and some drums to make some truly awesome, catchy, meaningful tunage…or in this case, ohmage ;0) It just goes to show you that just when you think you’ve heard it all, a little band called OHM comes along to change your perspective on music and how good it really can get.
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 11:51 am
Doyle Dykes
Doyle Dykes and Les Paul
Photo by Holly Noel
Doyle Dykes will be performing at The Crossroads Guitar Festival at the Acoustic Clinic 7:00 pm Friday June 4, 2004 on the Ernie Ball Stage.
Doyle Dykes is a guitar legend in the making. Although influenced by a wide variety of musical styles and musicians from the country of Chet Atkins to the rock and roll of Duane Eddy and the Beatles, Doyle has developed a distinct, recognizable sound that amazes audiences with skill while capturing hearts with sincerity and soul.
Doyle’s appreciation for various styles of music is reflected in his albums as they include signature compositions like “Jazz in the Box” and “Martha’s Kitchen” and hymns like the powerful “How Great Thou Art.” Gitarre 2000 was released by BMG on Windham Hill Records, and Doyle’s music has appeared on several of the label’s compilation albums like Here, There, and Everywhere (a tribute to the Beatles). In addition, Doyle’s music has been heard on United Airlines, Air Canada, NPR’s Morning News and All Things Considered, Disney’s California Adventure, and even the Space Shuttle Atlantis in September, 2000.
Doyle’s early years as a guitarist took him around the world as he toured with The Stamps Quartet and later with Grand Ole Opry Star, Grandpa Jones. Doyle has since returned to the Grand Ole Opry for numerous performances, many appearing live on national television. As an endorser and clinician for Taylor Guitars, Doyle has designed a very successful signature guitar. The Doyle Dykes Signature Model Taylor guitar (“DDSM”) features an amplification system by L.R. Baggs, deemed as the Doyle Dykes Hexaphonic Pickup System. Doyle also helped design his signature Rivera amplifier, called the Sedona, designed to accommodate both electric and acoustic instruments. Doyle’s signature instruments and equipment have influenced the musical instrument industry on a global basis.
Doyle performs in venues ranging from Theatres, Bluegrass festivals, and churches, to major Conventions, such as the NAMM Show (Anaheim, CA and Nashville, TN), the Musikmesse (largest music trade show in the world; Frankfurt, Germany), Music Live (UK), and the National Executive Institute, which is made up of honored FBI Agents, major city Police Chiefs, and Law Enforcement Officers from around the world. Internationally, Doyle attracts record audiences in many Continents around the world. Whether to a guitar player or music enthusiast, Doyle’s music will make a lasting impression on anyone given the opportunity to listen.
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 12:11 pm
Peter Huttlinger
Peter Huttlinger will be performing at The Crossroads Guitar Festival at the Acoustic Clinic 7:00 pm Friday June 4, 2004 on the Ernie Ball Stage.
“…an amazing display of all-around fingerstyle mastery. Scary stuff.” - GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE
After a day of demanding music classes at Berklee College of Music, Peter Huttlinger would grab a friend, rush to the Harvard Square subway station and spend the afternoon there playing music for tips. The two always came back with their pockets filled. For Huttlinger, this routine symbolized what has become his abiding outlook toward music: Perfect your art, but play to the crowd.
Since his days of subway busking, Huttlinger has developed into a world-renowned guitarist. Even as a must-have sideman, he occupied some pretty choice real estate, including the Hollywood Bowl and London’s Royal Albert Hall with John Denver, Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas with George Burns and stadiums around the world with numerous other pop and country superstars.
He has been a featured artist with the San Diego and Houston symphonies and is a favorite guest artist of the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. In 2000 Huttlinger won the title of National Fingerstyle Champion at the prestigious Walnut Valley Festival.
These days, the dazzling guitarist is stepping solo into the spotlight. His latest triumph is his affiliation with Favored Nations Acoustic, a new imprint of Favored Nations, the label founded by guitar legend Steve Vai. The first fruit of that affiliation is Naked Pop - a breathtaking instrumental showcase of original compositions, traditional fare and songs made famous by the Beatles, Sting, Judy Garland, Steely Dan, the Allman Brothers Band and Stevie Wonder.
"I came up with the idea for Naked Pop quite a while ago," says Huttlinger. "After college, I played a lot of weddings, restaurants and parties - wherever the gig took me. About two weeks into it, I got tired of playing the same old pop tunes the same way everyone else was playing them. So on slow nights I'd mess around with tunes I'd never heard anyone do as solo pieces. Basically I looked at it as paid practice. Soon people started asking me where they could buy my records. I logged the idea away."
Born in Washington, D.C., Huttlinger descended from two lines of prominent journalists. His grandfather on his mother’s side, Fred Walker, was an editor of the San Francisco Call-Bulletin, reporting directly to its owner and publisher, William Randolph Hearst. Huttlinger’s father, Joseph, was a White House correspondent and a publisher of his own newsletter on the oil industry. “My dad took my mom to the White House on their first date,” Huttlinger says, “and while they were walking around, President Truman came out and said, ‘Hi, Joe.’ That got Mom’s attention.”
When Huttlinger’s father died in 1964, his mother moved with her six children to northern California. "My mom played piano all the time—almost every evening," Huttlinger recalls. "It was real comforting to hang out and listen. She wasn’t trained, but she had a real melodic sense about her."
By the age of 12, Huttlinger had begun music lessons and by 14 he had settled on the guitar. Soon after he graduated from high school, a relative left him a small inheritance. He decided to use this windfall to study at Berklee College of Music, the Boston-based academic home of such musical luminaries as Quincy Jones, Kevin Eubanks, Melissa Etheridge, Brandford Marsalis, Bruce Cockburn and Paula Cole. It was there that Huttlinger found he had a knack for music theory and harmony. "All that made sense to me," he says.
Huttlinger graduated cum laude from Berklee in 1984 and moved to Nashville. During the eighteen years since that move, Huttlinger has established himself as a top-notch session player, composer, arranger, bandleader, songwriter and sideman.
During the early ‘90’s, John Denver’s tour manager and producer Kris O’Connor heard Huttlinger on another project and was so impressed that he recommended him for Denver’s band. Huttlinger toured, recorded and performed on television with Denver from 1994 until the singer’s death in 1997.
Huttlinger has performed on numerous Grammy-winning and Grammy-nominated projects. He has also been nominated for an Emmy for music he both composed and performed for a PBS special. His performances have been used in several national TV series, including the PBS Nature special "Let This Be A Voice." He created the theme song for ESPN’s Flyfishing America, a program on which he recently made his first "guest fisherman" appearance.
Peers consider Huttlinger one of today’s finest fingerstyle guitarists. Dirty Linen magazine labeled him "….a powerhouse guitarist," and Vintage Guitar said, "Fingerpicking phenom Peter Huttlinger has succeeded in a big way… [This] player is a major talent."
Huttlinger lives in Nashville and plays everywhere.
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 12:26 pm
Laurence Juber
Laurence Juber will be performing at The Crossroads Guitar Festival at the Acoustic Clinic 7:00 pm Friday June 4, 2004 on the Ernie Ball Stage.
As a young working musician in London, England in the 1970s, Laurence Juber got an extraordinary, life-changing break when Paul McCartney hand-picked him to become Wings' lead guitarist. Juber spent three years recording and touring the world with the band, and during that time he also won a Best Rock Instrumental GRAMMY® Award for the track "Rockestra" from the Wings album Back To The Egg.
After Wings disbanded in 1981, Juber embarked on a career as a solo artist, composer and arranger, and soon developed a reputation as a world-class guitar virtuoso, recently being voted #1 by Fingerstyle Guitar magazine. He has released 10 critically acclaimed solo albums, including "LJ Plays the Beatles" and his latest, "Guitarist"
As a studio and touring musician he has worked with such artists as George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Al Stewart, Air Supply, Paul Williams and The Monkees. His guitar playing is featured on films such as "Dirty Dancing", "The Big Chill", "Good Will Hunting" and many others. His television credits include "Home Improvement", "Seventh Heaven", and most recently "Eight Simple Rules"
The venerable C.F. Martin Company currently offers a limited edition "LJ" Signature model guitar.
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 12:45 pm
Honeyboy Edwards
Honeyboy Edwards will be performing at The Crossroads Guitar Festival at the Blues Clinic 8:00 pm Friday June 4, 2004 on the Sirius Stage.
"Honeyboy Edwards is among the last authentic performers in the blues idiom that developed in central Mississippi during the second and third decades of [the 20th] century....Through him, an entire body of great American music lives on." (Robert Palmer, author of Deep Blues and former pop music critic of The New York Times
"Delta blues veteran David Honeyboy Edwards has remained utterly true to his roots through a career that began in Mississippi in the 1930s. A Honeyboy Edwards show is a rare, unselfconscious performance of living blues history." David Whiteis, Chicago Reader
"Everywhere Edwards leads us is a worthwhile place to go." Acoustic Guitar Magazine
David Honeyboy Edwards was born in the heart of the Mississippi Delta in 1915. He left his hometown of Shaw and the sharecropper's life as a teenager, when he met Delta bluesman Big Joe Williams. Following Big Joe, he hopped the freight trains of blues lore -- the Pea Vine, the Southern, the Yellow Dog. He learned to play on dusty street corners in small southern towns and the good-timing houses of New Orleans.
Honeyboy went off on his own, wandering throughout the South as an itinerant musician and gambler. During the mid-1930s he worked both as a solo player and with Robert Johnson, Tommy Johnson, and Tommy McClellan. With members of the Memphis Jug Band, he played in Handy Park on Memphis's Beale Street. He befriended Big Walter Horton and traveled with him to small towns in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
Throughout this time Honeyboy honed his unique style of traditional Delta blues. In 1942 Library of Congress archivist and folklorist Alan Lomax caught up with the fast-moving, itinerant Honeyboy in Clarksdale, Mississippi and recorded 15 of his stories and songs for the Library of Congress collection. These recordings "virtually summarized what Delta musicianship of that decade had to offer" (Stephen Calt and Gayle Wardlow, King of the Delta Blues).
In the late forties, Honeyboy brought a teenaged Little Walter to Chicago and together they played at that city's famous Maxwell Street Market. Eventually the blues led Honeyboy to Texas, to Deep Ellum in Dallas, and to Houston, where he took on a band and a new sound, and recorded as "Mr. Honey" for the Artist Recording Company, accompanied by pianist Thunder Smith. He recorded again for Sam Phillips in Memphis, and came to Chicago when Chess Records called. This pioneer label of the electric blues recorded Honeyboy in 1953. His song, "Drop Down Mama," became a minor classic of that period.
In the fifties, Honeyboy married and began to raise a family. He decided to make Chicago his home. He played in south side taverns and built a reputation as one of the city's finest slide guitarists. During the sixties, his recording career accelerated as independent labels Milestone, Adelphi, and Blue Horizon put his songs on vinyl. He appeared as a guest artist on two albums by the original Fleetwood Mac.
For the last decades, Honeyboy has continued to record and perform. He has carried his unique style of the blues to audiences throughout the world. Honeyboy has entertained audiences at major concert halls, numerous major folk festivals, and on public and network radio and television.
Frequently sought out by film-makers, historians, and writers for his recollections of earlier days and important musicians, Honeyboy has been a featured musician and narrator in half a dozen films and is mentioned in most of the major books about blues. In 1997, his own book, The World Don't Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards, was published. This account is a deeply personal story of his early life as a sharecropper's son and his years as an itinerant musician. It also offers a "vivid oral snapshot of an America that planted the blues." The World Don't Owe Me Nothing has received high critical acclaim. It was declared a "Best Blues Book" by Living Blues Magazine and was honored with the Handy Award for Literature.
"The World Don't Owe Me Nothing is the most central contribution to blues history." Boston Globe
"This is essential reading for anyone interested in the blues or African American life." Library Journal
"Makes a bygone era come alive as no book as done before." Living Blues
Honeyboy Edwards was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1996. While many of his earlier recordings have been rereleased, Honeyboy has also recently recorded several cds on various record labels. In his 80s, he continues to travel and perform. His guitar and vocal performances are moving and intense. Listening to his live performances, one readily understands how Honeyboy Edwards has been captivating audiences around the world for decades.
Honeyboy Edwards has toured Argentina, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. He has performed on British, Canadian, and German television and radio.
He has played at major U.S. festivals including: ChicagoFest, Chicago Blues Festival, Bayfront Blues Festival, Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk Blues Festival, Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, Poconos Blues Festival, Long Beach Blues Festival, San Francisco Blues Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Farish Street Festival, Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, Riverfront Blues & Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz & Blues Festival, the Festival of American Folklife, and many more.
Foreign festivals in which Honeyboy has performed include: the Edinburgh Arts Festival, Burnley Blues Festival, Dresden Blues Festival, Montreal Jazz & Blues Festival, Harborfront Festival, and the Edmonton, Vancouver, and Winnipeg Folk Festivals.
Honeyboy has been featured in books including Robert Palmer's Deep Blues and Peter Guralnick's Searching for Robert Johnson, as well as countless magazines and journals. He can be seen in documentaries including: Blues--Pain Created To Heal Pain (Brazil), Can't You Hear the Wind Howl (Fox-Lorber Home Video), The Promised Land (Sony Home Video), The Search for Robert Johnson (Sony Music Video), and Smaart (the Netherlands). He is featured on Starlicks Blues Guitar instruction video (Hal Leonard Publishing). Free Range Pictures will release Honeyboy's video autobiography in spring , 2004.
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 1:46 pm
Robert Lockwood, Jr.
Robert Lockwood, Jr. will be performing at The Crossroads Guitar Festival at the Blues Clinic 8:00 pm Friday June 4, 2004 on the Sirius Stage.
One of the last surviving roots bluesman of the twentieth century.
Robert Lockwood Jr. was born March 27, 1915 in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, a farming hamlet about 25 miles west of Helena. 1915 was remarkable because several other monumental blues artists were born within a 100-mile radius that year; notably Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Little Walter Jacobs, Memphis Slim, Johnny Shines, and Honeyboy Edwards. They would all meet up in the future.
His first musical lessons were on the family pump organ. He learned the guitar, at age eleven, from Robert Johnson, the mysterious delta bluesman, who was living with his mother. From Johnson, Lockwood learned chords, timing, and stage presence. By the age of fifteen, Robert was playing professionally, often with Johnson; sometimes with Johnny Shines or Rice Miller, who would soon be calling himself Sonny Boy Williamson II. They would play fish fries, juke joints, and street corners. Once Johnson played one side of the Sunflower River, while Lockwood manned the other bank. The people of Clarksville, Mississippi were milling around the bridge; they couldn't tell which guitarist was Robert Johnson. Young Lockwood had learned Johnson's techniques very well.
Johnson's fast lifestyle caught up with him, passing away in 1937. Lockwood was 22 but prepared for the future.
Lockwood's first recordings came in 1941, with Doc Clayton, on his famous Bluebird Sessions in Aurora, Illinois. During these sessions, he cut four singles under his own name. These were the first incarnations of "Take A Little Walk with Me", and "Little Boy Blue," Lockwood staples sixty years later.
Later in 1941, Lockwood was back in Arkansas where he re-united with Sonny Boy II to host a live radio program broadcast at noon from KFFA in Helena, sponsored by the King Biscuit Flower Company. James "Peck" Curtis and Dudlow Taylor provided the rhythm. This show became a cultural phenomenon; everybody would listen during his or her lunch hour. Several generations of southern bluesman can trace their musical roots to the show.
Lockwood moved around, the usual route was Memphis, St. Louis, to Chicago. By the early 1950's, he had surfaced in the Windy City, where he became the top session man for Chess Records, the epitome of blues labels. Sonny Boy Williamson II, Little Walter, Roosevelt Sykes, Sunnyland Slim, and Eddie Boyd, whom he toured with for six years, you can hear his smooth chords on their recordings.
Blues was giving way to Rock and Roll, even in Chicago, so Lockwood moved to Cleveland, Ohio at the urging of his old pal, Sonny Boy. Settling down and raising a family took priorities but blues was still in his soul, just on the back burner.
In the late 1960s Lockwood would gig all around Cleveland, playing whenever he got the chance. Long-forgotten clubs like Pirates Cove and Brothers Lounge were places where Lockwood taught his blues to generations of local musicians and fans.
Lockwood's solo recording career, exclusive of the 1941 Bluebird Sessions, began in 1970 with Delmark's Steady Rollin' Man, backed by old friends Louis Myers, his brother Dave Myers, and Fred Below, collectively known as The Aces. In 1972, Lockwood hooked up with famed musicologist, Pete Lowry to record Contrasts, the first of two for Trix Records. Does 12 followed in 1975. They have been remastered and repackaged by Fuel 2000 Records.
In the early 1980s Lockwood teamed up with another long-time friend, Johnny Shines, to record three albums for Rounder, which has been comprised into 1999's Just the Blues. Plays Robert and Robert, a Black and Blue recording of a solo show in Paris in 1982, was re-issued on Evidence in 1993.
From the early 1980s to 1996, there were no domestic Lockwood releases. In 1998, I've Got to Find Myself a Woman was released by Verve, gaining a Grammy nomination. This was followed by Telarc's Delta Crossroads, also a Grammy contender in 2000. In 2001, What's the Score was re-issued on Lockwood Records which has the rights to his Japanese live recordings, previously only available on Peavine. They will be a future project.
Not content to rest on his laurels, Lockwood is touring more than ever at age 86. Lockwood leads an eight-piece band every Wednesday at Fat Fish Blue in Cleveland, roams the world playing his jazz-tinted Delta Blues, and records once a year. Lockwood is in better mental and physical shape than many men years younger. His guitar playing is as crisp as ever. Like a fine French cognac, he is only getting better with age; no dust, rust or must here.
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 2:09 pm
Duke Robillard
Duke Robillard will be performing at The Crossroads Guitar Festival at the Blues Clinic 8:00 pm Friday June 4, 2004 on the Sirius Stage.
Duke Robillard is one of the founding members of Roomful of Blues, as well as one of the guitarists that replaced Jimmie Vaughan in the Fabulous Thunderbirds in 1990. Between that time, Robillard pursued a solo career that found him exploring more musically adventurous territory than either Roomful of Blues or the T-Birds. On his solo recordings, the guitarist dips into blues, rockabilly, jazz, and rock & roll, creating a unique fusion of American roots musics. In 1967, Duke Robillard formed Roomful of Blues in Westerly, Rhode Island. For the next decade, he led the band through numerous lineup changes before he decided that he had grown tired of the group. Robillard left the band in 1979, initially signing on as rockabilly singer Robert Gordon's lead guitarist. After his stint with Gordon, Robillard joined the Legendary Blues Band. In 1981, the guitarist formed a new group, the Duke Robillard Band, which soon evolved into Duke Robillard & the Pleasure Kings. After a few years of touring the group landed a contract with Rounder Records, releasing their eponymous debut album in 1984. For the rest of the decade, Robillard and the Pleasure Kings toured America and released a series of albums on Rounder Records. Occasionally, the guitarist would release a jazz-oriented solo album. In 1990, Robillard joined the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Even though he had become a member of the Austin group, the guitarist continued to record and tour as a solo artist, signing with the major label Point Blank/Virgin in 1994 for Temptation. Duke's Blues followed two years later, and after one more album for Virgin, 1997's Dangerous Place, Robillard signed to Shanachie for 1999's New Blues for Modern Man. Conversations in Swing Guitar followed later that year, and the prolific guitarist returned in mid-2000 with Explorer.
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2004 2:50 pm
Bob Glaub
Bob Glaub will be performing at The Crossroads Guitar Festival at the Blues Clinic 8:00 pm Friday June 4, 2004 on the Sirius Stage.
Bob Glaub is one of the premier session aces working today, and has provided the bottom end foundation for artists like: Jackson Browne, Don Henley, John Fogerty, Warren Zevon, John Prine, Bruce Springsteen, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, Dusty Springfield, Linda Ronstadt, John Lennon, Rod Stewart, and many others. Since the ‘70’s, Bob’s solid sound and tasteful playing have become unmistakable. Bob’s career got rolling when he worked with guitarist Jesse Ed Davis and their subsequent friendship lead to more studio work. Bob hasn’t stopped playing with A-list rock stars since!
Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 1736
Location: Houston, Texas
Posted:
Tue Jun 01, 2004 4:40 pm
Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas will be performing at The Crossroads Guitar Festival with Vince Gill at 5:00 pm and with James Taylor at 5:30 pm Sunday, June 6, 2004 at the Cotton Bowl.
Jerry Douglas has been described as the Jimi Hendrix and the Charlie Parker of acoustic music. The New York Times has called him "dobro's matchless contemporary master." He has won eight Grammy Awards, several Grammy Acknowledgments, and countless specialized awards. Though he got his start in bluegrass, he has made an impact in fields ranging from rock'n'roll to jazz, from blues to Celtic, from mainstream country to contemporary classical.
Douglas’ legacy is multi-faceted -- as member of such bands as Alison Krauss & Union Station, the Whites, J.D. Crowe & the New South, the Country Gentlemen and Strength in Numbers. He has defined the sounds of many diverse recordings, having played on more than 1,000 albums, including discs released by Garth Brooks, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Reba McEntire and Ray Charles to name just a few.
At the producer’s helm, Douglas has used his warm analog sounds for albums by Maura O'Connell, Jesse Winchester, the Nashville Bluegrass Band and the Del McCoury Band, while having a major hand in shaping such recordings such as Ricky Skaggs' "Don't Get Above Your Raising," Emmylou Harris' "Roses in the Snow," and the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack.
In addition, he is a bandleader in his own right, and composer and soloist on some of the finest instrumental recordings of the past quarter century. Those recordings have ranged from sparkling, traditional bluegrass to rule-bending improvisation.
For this new solo album, Lookout for Hope, Douglas showcases all these aspects of his career - from the high speed of “Patrick Meets the Brickbats,” to the deliberate “Senia’s Lament” to the freewheeling jazz of “Lookout For Hope” and the traditional Appalachian of “Sweet By and By.”
"I play on a lot of recording sessions.” He points out, “Those are other people's projects. In an effort to figure out who I am, I sat down and tried to identify what ties the music all together. On this record, I feel I have arrived at that point of discovery. It's not bluegrass, jazz, classical or rock'n'roll; it's an amalgamation of all those things."
On this new album, the various facets of Douglas' experience are no longer compartmentalized but bleed into each other. The opening track, for example, is the Allman Brothers' "Little Martha," but Douglas transforms this Southern-rock classic into a string-band number with one dobro part stacked on top of another. "Monkey Let the Hogs Out" and "In the Sweet By and By" are both unaccompanied performances on Kona guitar, an Hawaiian instrument with a big, hollow chamber and raised strings.
There are two vocal numbers on this 11-track album. James Taylor, who has often asked Douglas to help out on his projects, returns the favor by singing lead on Hugh Prestwood's "The Suit," the story of a farmer whose inner dignity is revealed by the formal clothes he is buried in. Ireland's Maura O'Connell, whose 1992-97 albums were produced by Douglas, sings on Boo Hewerdine & Annette Bjergfeldt's "Footsteps Fall," a confession of ache for a departed lover.
The album's title track was composed by Bill Frisell, the noted jazz guitarist who hired Douglas for the 1997 album, "Nashville." Douglas turns the tune into a 10-minute exploration of harmonic tangents.
"That was an experiment to see if I could do a decidedly rhythmic track without a drum kit," Douglas explains. "So I had mandolinists Chris [Thile] on the right and Sam [Bush] on the left to see what would happen. Byron [House] the bassist, is the kick drum and the mandolins are the rest of the drum kit. Bryan [Sutton] played the main acoustic part, and then we added Trey's part later."
Trey Anastasio is the longtime leader of Phish. "When Phish came to Nashville one time," Douglas recalls, "I got a call from Mike Gordon [the band's bassist] who explained that they were all bluegrass freaks and wanted me to come to the show. I met them all and wound up playing several shows with them and playing on their album 'Farmhouse.'"
A blend of jazz and string-band music can also be heard on "Cave Bop" and "The Wild Rumpus," two numbers that feature Douglas leading a quintet. Backing up the leader are Jeff Coffin, the tenor saxophonist from Bela Fleck & the Flecktones; Victor Krauss, Lyle Lovett's bassist; acoustic guitarist Bryan Sutton; and drummer Larry Atamanuik.
"I first I got into jazz when I was playing with the Country Gentlemen," Douglas remembers. "We started listening to a lot of Grappelli and Reinhardt. Then when I went to the West Coast to record with Tony Rice, he listened to nothing but Miles Davis, and I just listened to so much of it that I understood it. I'm not a jazz musician, but I like the whole atmosphere of the music."
Gerald Calvin Douglas was born in Warren, Ohio. His father, John, was a steelworker who played bluegrass on the side. John took his young son to a Flatt & Scruggs concert in 1963, and Jerry was so entranced by the sound of Uncle Josh Graves and Brother Oswald Kirby playing the dobro that he committed himself to the instrument then and there.
After playing with his dad's group, The West Virginia Travelers, for several years, the 17-year-old Douglas was invited to join the pioneering new-grass band, the Country Gentlemen, in 1973. The following year he joined J.D. Crowe & The New South and was part of the milestone 1975 bluegrass album, "J.D. Crowe & The New South." He won his first Grammy trophy for Best Country Instrumental for the 1983 track “Fireball.”
In 1976 Douglas and Ricky Skaggs co-founded Boone Creek, (Vince Gill was a member for a brief time), the band that introduced a whole new generation of bluegrass bandleaders. In1979, Douglas released his debut solo album, "Fluxology," followed three years later by "Fluxedo."
In the meantime, Douglas became a full-time member of the Whites, the family band led by mandolin legend Buck White and featuring the sweet harmonies of his daughters Sharon and Cheryl. Douglas stayed with them from 1979 through 1985, but he still found time to play on such landmark albums as Emmylou Harris' 1980 "Roses in the Snow" and Ricky Skaggs' 1981 "Don't Get Above Your Raising."
By the mid-'80s, Douglas was the number-one dobro artist on Nashville recording sessions. He kept his solo career alive, however, with albums such as 1986's "Under the Wire," 1987's "Changing Channels," 1989's "Plant Early," and 1992's "Slide Rule." He formed a quintet called Strength in Numbers with Edgar Meyer, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck and Mark O'Connor, and they released the landmark recording, "The Telluride Sessions," in 1989.
Douglas formed a trio with Russ Barenberg and Edgar Meyer to record the 1993 album "Skip, Hop & Wobble." Douglas and Tut Taylor co-produced and performed on the multi-artist project, "The Great Dobro Sessions," (featuring Josh Graves, Oswald Kirby, Mike Auldridge, Rob Ickes and more) in 1994, bringing him his second Grammy trophy for “Best Bluegrass Album.”
Douglas joined Nashville bassist Edgar Meyer and India's Mohn Vina player Vishwa Mohan Bhatt for the genre-bending experiment, "Bourbon & Rosewater," in 1996 Douglas and singer-songwriter Peter Rowan collaborated on the 1996 album "Yonder." Douglas released another solo album, "Restless on the Farm," in 1998.
Alison Krauss asked Douglas to fill in on a 1998 tour. That trip went so well that Krauss offered the dobroist a full-time job and Douglas accepted. He has been with Krauss & Union Station ever since. Because they work six months a year, he makes time to pursue his other projects.
One of those projects was the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack. Producer T-Bone Burnett asked Douglas to help him round up players who were familiar with both old-time mountain music and professional recording sessions. Douglas not only put him touch with the right people but also performed on three tracks (including the Soggy Bottom Boys' "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow") and appeared on screen at the end of the film.
In 2002, he picked up three Grammy Awards for his work with Union Station and Earl Scruggs, and received five Grammy Award Acknowledgements for the soundtrack and accompanying Down From The Mountain Album. In addition to winning CMA Award for Musician of the Year, Douglas was named the Academy of Country Music’s Specialty Instrumentalist of the Year, the Americana Music Association’s Instrumentalist of the Year, and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Dobro Player of the Year for 2002.
Summer 2003 found Douglas on stage with Norah Jones and band for sets at the Montreal Jazz Festival and at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville. He was honored in the fall with his second Instrumentalist of the Year title from the Americana Music Association. Alison Krauss + Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas were featured in a CMT Most Wanted Live special as well as an NBC Shania Twain special, taped in Nashville.
2004 is off to a great start. Douglas recently visited his ancestral Scotland where he led a "Transatlantic Sessions" reunion as part of the Celtic Connection Festival. NARAS handed Douglas, along with Alison Krauss + Union Station, two more Grammys in 2004 for Bluegrass Album (Live) and Country Instrumental Performance (Cluck Ole Hen). The Nashville Scene Critic's Poll has named Jerry Douglas 2004's Best Musician. This spring Douglas will be touring with his own band, as well as putting the finishing touches on a new AK+US featuring JD studio recording. Release of the newest Douglas produced Maura O'Connell CD will come in May.
Fronting his own band continues to be Douglas' favorite vehicle of expression. "I have put together a real band. You have to keep going out with the same guys so that the musical arrangements can be fleshed out and so people in the audience will believe it's an actual group. I'm going to make this different enough so that it will be identified with me and my music. I want to focus on the distinctive sound of my instrument, that slidey sound that has become my signature style."
