Written by Sara Kocher | 01 November 2010

PHOTO CREDIT: Earl Thomas

The San Luis Obispo Blues Society will celebrate the holiday season with Earl Thomas and the Blues Ambassadors on Saturday, December 4. The show starts at 8:00 pm with Dr. Danger at the SLO Vets Hall, 801 Grand Avenue in San Luis Obispo. SLO Dance offers free dance lessons at 7:30pm. Tickets for Blues Society members $17; general public $20. All tickets are sold at the door. 21 and over, please.

Earl Thomas and the Blues Ambassadors
Singer and songwriter Earl Thomas has a rich and varied performance history. Originally from Tennessee, Thomas started his musical career playing with a jump blues band in the late 80s and is a four-time San Diego Music Award winner. Earl made his European debut at the Montreaux International Jazz Festival in 1992 and has since toured Europe with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Elvis Costello, and, most recently, as the frontman for Ike Turner’s Band, the Kings of Rhythm. His high-energy stage shows elicit comparisons to Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and Al Green. Thomas has recorded fourteen albums, with a stylistic range that includes blues, soul, funk, rock and gospel. His current project is a recording with the Blues Ambassadors, Introducing the Blues Ambassadors (Greaseland Records, 2010). For Thomas, an important part of the project is the make up of the band, whose backgrounds embody both San Francisco's cultural diversity and the stylistic roots of the blues, with musicians from African-American, East Indian, European and Asian heritages, including keyboardist Taki Komori, drummer Paul Revelli, bass player Kedar Roy, guitarist Robert Sidwell, and Bob Welsh on both guitar and keyboards. As Thomas describes it, “Spectacle and rhythm merge in the band's new release, Introducing the Blues Ambassadors, with the tracks "Standing In The Rain" and "How Come?" evoking social commentary through traditional blues structures and vibrant, contemporary sound. In these songs, the cadence of the Blue Ridge Mountains blends with Chicago's sharp city lights; and gospel, work songs, ballads, spirituals and European art music weave through an American national identity.

Place—whether a country, a city, a front porch, a nightclub, a street corner, a juke joint—becomes the common ground for recalling and creating life experiences anew.”
The Dr. Danger Band carries on a soulful blues based rock tradition that includes a mix of covers and originals which extend from the birth of rock and roll, to the sound of the Bay Area in the 60s and 70s, and up through the soul revival of Amy Winehouse. Band members include Brad Kyle (lead guitar and vocals), Linda Lucille (vocals), Jerry White (bass), Ray Wells (harp), Jim Clark (drums) and Brent Dannells (keyboards).

For more information, call 805/541-7930 or visit our website (www.sloblues.org).

Written by Sara Kocher | 30 September 2010

San Luis Obispo Blues Society presents saxophonist Terry Hanck and his band on Saturday, October 30. Jerome Washington Express will open the show at 8:00 pm at the SLO Vets Hall, 801 Grand Avenue in San Luis Obispo. Come at 7:30pm for free dance lessons by SLO Dance. Tickets are $17 for Blues Society members; $20 for the general public. All tickets are sold at the door; 21 and over, please. We’re still celebrating our 30th anniversary and we hope you can join us.

Terry Hanck delivers a wide array of blues through his tenor sax, and his vocal range is also impressive.  The best blues music is influenced by the time and place it comes from, and on a typical night, Terry Hanck will travel from the Louisiana swamps to the south side of Chicago, spanning over a half century of the blues, as he rolls 1950s swing, 1960s R&B, 1970s soul, and 1980s southern blues rock into a 2010 dance party mix. Hanck was nominated in 2009 for a blues music award, partially based on the appeal of his release Always (Vizztone, 2008), which showcases Hanck’s songwriting ability, instrumental mastery, and humor on tunes such as “Deep Fried Twinkies.”  His band includes John E. Soubrand on guitar, Tim Wagar on bass, and Butch Cousins on drums.

Jerome Washington Express, founded in 1994 in San Diego County, cut its teeth in venues throughout Southern California.  Drew Arnold (guitar/vocals), Tyler Mitchel (bass/vocals), and Jim Stromberg (drums/vocals) come together to create an airtight trio that puts on a raucous performance consisting of originals and covers ranging from traditional to contemporary blues.

Chris Harmon and other award-winning instructors from SLO Dance offer beginning swing dance lessons at 7:30 before each Blues Society show.  Lessons are free with admission to the show and no partner is necessary.

For more information or to volunteer, call 805/541-7930.

Written by Sara Kocher | 02 September 2010

features Chris Thomas King for 30th Anniversary

The San Luis Obispo Blues Society will celebrate its 30th anniversary on Saturday, September 18 with Grammy winner Chris Thomas King.  The dance show at the SLO Vets Hall, 801 Grand Avenue in San Luis Obispo will open at 8 p.m. with Guy Budd and the Soul Gypsies.  Come early and celebrate the anniversary with free cake, punch, and commemorative Blues Society buttons. Have a glass of champagne, enjoy the decorations, and bid on silent auction items from the Blues Society CD collection, Gene Francis Studio, Li Li Clever, Novel Experience, Trader Joes, and other local businesses. The first San Luis Obispo Blues Society show took place on September 28 in 1980; it featured Phillip Walker.
Admission is $17 for Blues Society members and $20 for the general public. 21 and over, please. Free dance lessons by SLO Dance are offered at 7:30pm.

SLO Blues is honored to share this occasion with multiple Grammy winner Chris Thomas King,  a performer who has consistently worked to keep blues traditions alive while forging links to contemporary events and music genres. A musician, actor, and blues innovator with Louisiana roots, Kings most recent CD, Sketches of ‘Treme, contains elements of traditional and electric blues, the hip-hop blues fusion that he pioneered, and New Orleans inspired ballads, with densely layered guitars in non-standard tunings contributing an otherworldly sound.

Born in Baton Rouge, King is the son of bluesman and club owner Tabby Thomas. A tour of Europe with his father, and the receptive blues audiences encountered there, encouraged him to focus on the blues. His early recordings featured straight forward electric and acoustic blues, but by the mid-1990s, he had created a fusion of blues and hip-hop which led to the 1995 recording of 21st Century Blues…From da ‘Hood followed by Dirty South Hip-hop Blues in 2002. He also continued to record traditional and historic blues, notably The Legend of Tommy Johnson which built on the Grammy winning soundtrack from O Brother, Where Art Thou? This was followed by roles in several movies and documentaries, including the Oscar winning film Ray, which also featured a Grammy winning score recorded by King and Ray Charles. More recently, King has refocused on his career as a touring musician, and has made an effort to include smaller venues, to reconnect with the juke joint blues he grew up with. Rise, his 2008 self-produced collection of songs about Katrina and the rebuilding of the spirit of New Orleans, received a Blues Music Award nomination for the song “Baptized by Dirty Water.”

Guy Budd and the Gypsy Souls play a blend of blues, rock, funk, and jazz, highlighted by the masterful guitar work of Budd and his smoky vocals.  Their well-crafted live shows and three CDs have made them a mainstay of the Central Coast blues scene. The Guy Budd Band first opened for a SLO Blues Society show in 1989.

For more information, call 805/541-7930 or visit http://www.sloblues.org/.

Photo credit: CTKToursMedia