Eller Soul Records artist: 4 Jacks - Deal With It - New Release Review

I just received a new release, Deal with it, from the 4 Jacks and it's a killer! With an allstar cast of Anson Funderburgh, Big Joe Maher, Kevin McKendree and Steve Mackey this is a band of bands. The title track, Deal With It is the opener and has that Stax sound with a round, plucky lead guitar melody and keyboard soloing with the solid bottom on an instrumental that is instantaneously cool as cool gets. Funderburgh plays a real nice lead solo and shows that taste that he is so well know for. Great opener! Have Ourselves a Time is a hot swingin blues featuring Big Joe on vocals. Mackey drives this track on bass and Funderburgh sets down a real nice groove on this track as well. I Don't Want To Be President brings out the Albert King funky blues style and prolific lyrics don't get lost behind the magic. She Ain't Worth A Dime is a classic 12 bar with each player contributing some smoke here. McKendree lays down some particularly hot piano licks on this track. Love's Like That is a real smokey track with tom tom drum beat as rhythm and Funderburgh blistering the paint as punctuation under the smooth vocals of Maher. Bobcat Woman is a great Texas loper and Funderburgh throws down some great guitar phrases on this track. I remember the first time I saw Funderburgh was on the Sanborn show on TV and I was an instant fan. I saw him a few years later (possibly I'll share a photo of us sometime) and I remember asking him to step forward and play more. Funny ... me telling AF that he should step up and play more. He probably thought I was some kind of hick. This is really tastefully done and well balanced with heat all around. Your Turn To Cry is a real slow blues just simmering and waiting to burst into flames. The vocal placement in the mix is particularly cool. I'm not a recording expert but it is just forward of the band, and it sounds great. Funderburgh plays some of his most inspired riffs on the cd and I'm really diggin it! Thunder And Lightning is a fast paced track along the lines of Big Boss Man or Howlin For My Darlin and the band hits it right on the screws. Texas Twister is a great honky tonk style track with Funderburgh taking the lead and McKendree playing some great keys under the top with solid bass and drums from Maher and Mackey all through. This is style! Ansonmypants is a boogie track with some comedic lines to open leading into a full out rocker. These off beat tracks are killer! Funderburgh takes this one deep and T-Bone is taking notice! The band sounds great! Bad News Baby is another slow number with great keys intro and vocal call and guitar response... I mean...who won't love this! It's good that the band held this track off until late in the release because it will be hard to top it. Mackey keeping a nice simple walking bass line going and a low mix on great key work by Mckendree...just simple rim shots from Maher, this is terrific! Ok... for the closer. Painkiller has a simple guitar/bass riff over a simple electric organ track slowly letting the cat out of the bag. MacKendree really shines on this track and Funderburgh steps forward and takes a few really nice solos of his own. This is a great funky instrumental strut and a great conclusion to a great release.

 By the way...straight to the best of 2013 candidates!!

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

You know I hate putting up a review without a video. This one isn't off of the release but a suitable track to get a flavor of the band if you are not familiar with the players.

Blues For Ike - Otis Grand and Anson Funderburgh

Otis Grand (born February 14, 1950, Beirut, Lebanon) is an American blues musician, best known for his album, Perfume and Grime (1996). Although born in Beirut, Grand has spent much of his life in the United States. He played with local blues musicians at Eli's Mile High Club in Oakland, California, and made contacts that would later prove useful; such as Joe Louis Walker who produced his debut album, Always Hot (1988). He later cited his early influences as being B.B. King, Otis Rush, Johnny Otis and T-Bone Walker. By the late 1980s, Grand was based in the UK where he and his Dance Kings became a popular nightclub act. He was voted 'Best UK Blues Guitarist' seven years running (1990–1996) by the British Blues Connection magazine. In 1991, Grand co-starred with his backing band and Guitar Shorty, on the My Way or the Highway album. Joe Louis Walker also played on Grand's next album, He Knows the Blues (1992) alongside Calvin Owens, Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis, and the singer Jimmy Nelson. The album was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award. Nothing Else Matters (1994) involved Curtis Salgado, Sugar Ray Norcia, and Kim Wilson, whilst Walker and Salgado returned for Perfume and Grime (1996) which also utilised Luther Allison and Darrell Nulisch. In 1997 Grand guested on Joe Louis Walker's album, Great Guitars. In March 2009, Grand appeared on stage at the Arts Centre in Cranleigh, Surrey, England. In addition to living in Lebanon and the United States, Grand has lived in France and currently resides in Croydon, England, Grand remains an incisive guitarist. His latest album, Hipster Blues, was released on May 21, 2007 If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Another terrific release from EllerSoul Records

Delta Groove Music artist: Andy T- Nick Nixon Band - Drink Drank Drunk - New release Review

I just received the highly anticipated Andy T - Nick Nixon Band release, Drink Drank Drunk and it's a scorcher! Opening with Midnight Hour, Nick Nixon shows why he is highly regarded as a top vocalist. A Texas swing blues, this track features hot guitar riffs by Andy T and Ron Jones on sax. Don't Touch Me Baby, a classic R&B style blues again spotlights Nixon on vocals with really sweet filler leads by Andy T. Andy holds back on the chance to just blow out every note in the neck and perfectly tweaks out an incredibly soulful solo. The title track, Drink Drank Drunk, has a really nice groove and features Jones again on sax. Andy plays a really tasty solo on this track  showing his flair for dynamics rather than constant filler. Have You Seen My Monkey opens with Christian Dozzler on accordion giving it a definite Louisiana flare. This is a comical track painting graphic imagery but again featuring hot riffs from Andy T on guitar and excellent vocals from Nixon. This is bound to be a crowd favorite. Dos Danos opens with Jones playing a sax melody and setting the mood for guest guitarist Anson Funderburgh to lay down a hot instrumental track with John Garza (bass), Dozzler (piano), John Street (organ) and Danny Cochran (drums). No End To The Blues opens with a hot riff from Andy playing in what I'd term as BB King style with Nixon sharing the mike with Markey. Andy plays some of the tastiest riffs on the recording on this track with Steve Mackey (bass), Kevin McKendree (piano),Larry van Loon (organ) and Jim Klingler (drums). On Hi Heel Sneakers, Funderburgh joins the crew again with some hot riffs of his own but really only in a complimentary manner to Nixon's voice. Another favorite from the recording, Life Is Too Short, finds Nixon really singing from the heart and Andy playing some of that guitar that makes you nod your head on the off beat because it just catches you in "that spot"! You Look So Good adds Brian "Hash Brown" Calway on harp and again joined by Funderburgh the band cranks out a real sweet Texas blues number. Wrapping up the recording is Ray Charles' I've Got A Woman. Not many people could pull off a Ray Charles track without it sounding stale but Nixon sounds great and the addition of Dozzler on accordion gives the song a party feel. It's a little early in the year to start to talk much of "Bman's Best of Yea"r list, but this will definitely be a candidate!

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

 

EllerSoul Records New Release - 4 Jacks "Deal With It"

Good Man - Anson Funderburgh & Kim Wilson

In recent years, Dallas-based guitarist Anson Funderburgh has taken his band the Rockets out of the clubs and onto the festival stages with his critically acclaimed recordings for the BlackTop label out of New Orleans. With Jackson, MS-native Sam Myers delivering the vocals and harmonica treatments, this band mixes up a powerful gumbo of Texas jump blues and Delta blues that can't be found anywhere else. Funderburgh & His Rockets are a particularly hard working band, performing across the U.S. and Europe nearly 300 nights a year. Funderburgh was born November 15, 1954, and got hooked on the blues when he got his first guitar at age seven or eight. His first musical experiences happened in the clubs in Dallas. He developed his team approach to blues music while learning from the likes of Freddie King, Jimmy Reed, and Albert Collins when these great bluesmen were passing through Dallas-area clubs, but Funderburgh had already taught himself guitar mostly from listening to classic blues records. He never had the chance to see Muddy Waters, but he did get to play with Lightnin' Hopkins in the late '70s. Funderburgh formed the Rockets in 1978, but didn't meet Sam Myers until 1982. Butt Rockin' Funderburgh recorded with the Fabulous Thunderbirds on their Butt Rockin' album, and went solo in 1981, when the New Orleans-based BlackTop label released Talk to You by Hand, the label's first release. Funderburgh added Myers on harmonica and lead vocals in 1986. Myers had traveled for years on the chitlin circuit, where he had the chance to accompany people like Elmore James and Robert Junior Lockwood. Funderburgh admits that adding Myers on vocals and harmonica was a turning point for the Rockets, partly because of the image they project from the stage, a big towering black man and three white guys backing him up. Funderburgh continued his association in the '90s with Black Top releasing Tell Me What I Want to Hear (1991), Live at Grand Emporium (1995), and That's What They Want (1997). After releasing nine albums on Black Top, in 1999 Funderburgh changed record labels with the release of Change in my Pocket for Bullseye Blues. At the beginning of the new millennium, Funderburgh is just coming into his prime by way of his songwriting talents, so his career deserves close watching in the coming years. The best is yet to come from this guitarist and bandleader. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Kim Wilson and Anson Funderburgh

Kim Wilson (born January 6, 1951) is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for The Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s; "Tuff Enuff", and "Wrap It Up.
Wilson was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1951, but he grew up in Goleta, California, where he sometimes went by the stage name of "Goleta Slim." He started with the blues in the late 1960s and was tutored by people like Muddy Waters, Jimmie Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Albert Collins, George "Harmonica" Smith, Luther Tucker and Pee Wee Crayton and was influenced by harmonica players like Little Walter, James Cotton, Big Walter Horton, Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester. Before he moved to Austin, Texas in 1974, he was the leader of the band Aces, Straights and Shuffles in Minneapolis, Minnesota; this band released one single. In Austin he formed The Fabulous Thunderbirds with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan, and they became the house band at the blues club, Antone's, owned by Clifford Antone. Muddy Waters called Wilson, "The greatest harmonica player since Little Walter".

Wilson continues to perform up to 300 concert dates per year at blues music festivals and clubs all over the world, both as leader of The Fabulous Thunderbirds and with the Kim Wilson Blues Allstars.

His powerful style of blues harp playing has been described as "loaded with the textures of a full-blown horn section.
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What does Anson Funderburgh have to do with Beavis and Butt-Head

Maybe more than you think. We all know Anson is a gentleman's gentleman but there is a link in there! Many of you probably know the name, Mike Judge, but don't know why. I'll tell you, it's because he is a blues bass player having played with Anson Funderburgh on Rack 'Em Up, and with Doyle Bramhall (The Senior) on numerous recordings over a period of about a decade. But here's another link. I have read that Judge based Beavis's character (appearance) on Anson.

In 1991, Judge's short film "Office Space" (also known as the Milton series of shorts) was acquired by Comedy Central, following a Dallas animation festival.

In 1992, he developed Frog Baseball, a short film featuring the characters Beavis and Butt-head, to be featured on Liquid Television, a 1990s animation showcase that appeared on MTV. The short led to the creation of the Beavis and Butt-head series on MTV, in which Judge voiced both title characters as well as the majority of supporting characters. Beavis and Butt-head visited Wilson Middle School and attended Highland High School in their series, which are the names of schools in Albuquerque, Judge's hometown. In 1997, Judge created King of the Hill for the Fox Network. Many of the show's characters were based on people he had known while living in Texas. Judge voiced characters Hank Hill and Jeff Boomhauer. At heart, however, Judge is a Willie Dixon-loving bass player who's recorded and performed with Bramhall for well over a decade.

In case you aren't familiar with Beavis and Butt-Head, the show centers on two socially awkward, rock/metal-loving teenage delinquents, Beavis and Butt-head (both voiced by Judge), who live in the town of Highland, Texas. They have no apparent adult supervision at home, are woefully undereducated and dim-witted and barely literate, and lack any empathy or moral scruples. One of the most well-known aspects of the series was the inclusion of music videos, which occurred between animated segments. The duo would watch and make humorous observations (about the band, a song's lyrics, and/or a video's visuals), or simply engage in nonsensical dialogs. Mike Judge improvised the video comments, and they were never scripted.
They showed a particular disdain for many generic 1980s "hair bands". They had almost no tolerance for new wave or electronic music (e.g. Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Two Tribes", Gary Numan's "Cars", and Scatman John's "Scatman" were all instantly shown contempt by the duo). Korn's song "Blind", as an example of Nu metal, was criticized for lacking originality (although they did claim they sounded "kinda cool"). Bands who received considerably large amounts of criticism during the tenure of the show included Poison and Grim Reaper.
When confronted with Milli Vanilli's "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby", the pair looked at one another in horror and changed the channel without speaking a word; this was effectively among the harshest commentary they ever gave a music video. They also non-verbally showed disgust when confronted with a duet between David Bowie and Bing Crosby for The Little Drummer Boy, shielding their eyes before changing the channel. The Europeans' video for "The Animal Song" was the most critically trashed by the duo, as Butt-Head claimed, "This sucks more than anything I have ever seen."

Ok , so the story ends there...right? No. Beavis and Butt-head are supposedly based on the childhood friends and professional musicians and guitar aces Johnny Moeller and Paul Size.
Johnny Moeller (born Jon Kelly Moeller, 31 October 1970, Fort Worth, Texas) is an American blues guitarist currently with The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Paul Size has carved a niche for himself as the guitarist for the blues-soul-party combo Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish.
I bring you Beavis and Butt-Head!
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Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets feat. Sam Myers

Anson Funderburgh (born James Anson Funderburgh, November 14, 1954, Plano, Texas, United States) is an American blues guitar player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978. Their style incorporates both Chicago blues and Texas blues.
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New Release: Mill Block Blues - Ruff Kutt - Review

Ruff Kutt Blues is the name of the project started by James Goode, a Rockabilly Hall of Fame bass player and fan of Texas Blues. The other name you need to know on this project is the name of Texas Blues guitar legend Anson Funderburgh. James and Anson go way back. And together, they have recruited an all-star cast of musicians to work on a special CD called Mill Block Blues. I was going to include a favorite picture of mine with a few of Anson's fans (Elmo James - contributor and yours truly) but there is just way too much to cover here. This is a really strong recording that a lot of people have been waiting for some time to come out. I was first introduced to Anson on a late night show with David Sanborn. He has his own guitar style with that perfect attack. This guitar playing along with the fine artistry is well showcased throughout this fine recording. My favorite takes are "Cut Like a Knife", "Now You See Me" and the title track, "Mill Rock Blues".

They are down to around 200 CD's left. The proceeds from the sale of the
CD's will go to charity. There will be no reprints.

Anson Funderburgh - Guitar, Arranger, Producer

Anson is a local hero to blues guitar players across the state of Texas. And there's good reason. He and his bandmates have brought 9 W.C. Handy blues awards, the blues world's equivalent of a Grammy, back to the state of Texas. This is quite an accomplishment. And it's part of the reason why so many young guitar players today look up to Anson. The other reason is that his body of work on guitar is considered by both fans and critics as some of the best blues guitar ever recorded.
Anson has played with some of the finest blues, R&B and country musicians in the land, including such notables as the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Snooks Eaglin, Delbert McClinton, Boz Scaggs, David Sanborn, Huey Lewis, Betty White, Earl King, Hal Ketchum, Thunderbird Davis, Grady Gaines and Clarence Hollimon & Carol Fran.Anson plays guitar on all of the tracks on the "Mill Block Blues" CD. And once again, it's tasteful stuff from the living Godfather of Texas Blues.

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Gentleman John Street - Keys, Arranger, Producer

Gentleman John Street is the musical genius behind the "Mill Block Blues" CD. Not only did he do most of the arranging of the tunes, he also did all the recording and engineering on the album. His keyboard work is stellar on the album. And the basic song ideas sprung to life when John got his hands on them.

John's been involved in music in one way or another since he was 8 years old. This includes musical director for off Broadway productions,  stage managing, production managing, sound engineering, guitar tech, keyboard tech, complete electronics tech, and player for national & international touring acts and recording on dozens of albums. He was Stage Manager for the '87-'89 Gregg Allman Band Tour. Many Scandinavian tours playing traditional blues with Rock Bottom (Parsifal Artist) & a stint with The Gregg Allman Band. He's also toured with Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets featuring Sam Myers. And he now tours with Andrew "Jr Boy" Jones as the dedicated keys player.

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James Goode - Bass, Songwriting

James is the heart and soul of this project. It was his idea to record a CD to try and help musicians in need. And he wrote the lyrics to all the songs on the CD and helped with the arrangements as well. James is also an accomplished musician in his own right as he is now a full member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame with his old band, The Excels. 

James' role cannot be undersold. He played bass on all the tunes. But he is also the guy that brought all of these fine musicians together and united us on this common goal. Without James, there would be no "Mill Block Blues" CD. The songs on that CD tell the story of James' life growing up on the Mill Block. The CD and the music are a reflection of James, the man.

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Wes Starr - Drums

FORREST WESLEY STARR was born on May 22, 1955 in Rome, Georgia. At the age of nine, Wes began his formal training with private drum lessons. Wes joined his school band program in the fifth grade. In the ninth grade at Pepperell High School, Wes was made Drum Lieutenant, a position he held through graduation. During these years, Wes played in local rock, jazz and dance bands in and around Rome and Atlanta, Georgia. Early influences include Gene Krupa, Elvin Jones, and Butch Trucks of the Allman Brothers Band.

When an offer came in 1979 from his friend, Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds), to audition with "Omar and the Howlers", Wes moved to Austin, Texas. For the next four years, he toured around the country with "Omar and the Howlers" and recorded Omar's first LP, Big Leg Beat. This was to become for Wes, the beginning of a long music career in Texas and the developing of his own creative style of Texas drumming.
After one and a half years with "Asleep at the Wheel", which included the recording of one LP and a touring schedule of more than 250 dates a year, Wes left "the Wheel" to join Louisiana's up-and-coming R&B artist Mason Ruffner. During the nine months Wes played with Mason, they toured as support act for The Firm's U.S. tour, featuring Jimmy Page and Paul Rogers.
After doing a stint in Delbert McClinton's band, Wes joined long-time friends Anson Funderburgh and Sam Myers touring the U.S., Canada, Scandanavia and Europe taking May 2001 off to tour Europe with Lee McBee.

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Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones - Vocals

Guitarist, songwriter and singer Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones began working professionally at age 16 with Freddie King's backing band, the Thunderbirds. He got his first guitar from his uncle, jazz musician Adolphus Sneed. For many years, he's backed various Dallas-area vocalists on guitar, but in the mid-1990s, he came into his own as a vocalist with an album for JSP Records, I Need Time (1997), which showcases his crafty songwriting, great guitar playing, and powerful singing.
In 1967, Jones joined Dallas-area vocalist Bobby Patterson's band, the Mustangs. Through most of the 1970s, Jones backed various artists, including Johnnie Taylor and Charlie Robertson. In late 1987, Jones moved to California and joined the Silent Partners with bassist Russell Jackson and drummer Tony Coleman, longtime drummer with B.B. King's band (and in recent years a part-time resident of Portland). Jones recorded with the late pianist and singer Katie Webster on her critically praised Alligator Records album, Swamp Boogie Queen.
While recording with Sonny Rhodes, Jones met harmonica ace Charlie Musselwhite, who persuaded him to join his band. Jones played guitar on Musselwhite's three late-1980s/early-1990s albums for Alligator Records (Ace of Harps, In My Time, and Signature) and did extensive touring with the harmonica master (Jones appeared with Musselwhite at the Waterfront Blues Festival in 1995).
Jones left Musselwhite's band amicably in the mid-1990s and returned to Dallas, where he accompanies Dallas-area blues singers like R.L. Griffin, Hal Harris and the Lowlifers.

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Dempsey Crenshaw - Vocals, Harmonica

Born in Alabama, Dempsey came to Dallas around 1961. After learning harp very early in life, he picked up bass guitar playing with and opening for many of the Blues and R&B Greats. Around 1957 he started touring with a list of artists that reads like a WHO’S Who of Rock & Roll and R&B. They include Sam & Dave, Jimmy Reed, Freddie King, Chuck Berry, T-Bone Walker, Eddie Floyd, Rufus Thomas, Marvin Gaye, Big Joe Turner, Etta James, and Little Richard’s guitar player. He also did a 2 year stint with The Drifters from 1963 to 64.
Dempsey started his own band called Shame Shame, that had success and a following in Dallas. They toured and recorded a CD, and played B.B. King’s club in Memphis. He then formed another local Dallas blues band called D.C. and the Capitals. And you can hear some of Dempsey's unmistakable vocals on several tracks on the CD.

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Michael Schaefer - Vocals, Songwriting

Born and raised in Plano, Texas, Michael grew up listening to a wide variety of Texas music from the earliest days he can remember. Told by his parents that he started drumming in his crib at the age of two, his earliest musical interests involved percussion. Michael was an All-Region drummer in the middle school band in Plano. The passion for music continued while down in Austin as he studied guitar with Sean Mencher of the rockabilly trio, High Noon. 

Later Michael would develop an ear and passion for Texas blues. He founded the internet discussion group on Yahoo called North Texas Blues. And he currently runs a website called The Texas Blues Roadhouse dedicated to promoting local Texas Blues artists.

Michael was lead vocalist and a guitar player in two local Dallas bands. The first was a blues-rock band known as Texas Mojo. And the second is his most recent project called Mike and the Majestics where he worked with noted bluesman Dempsey Crenshaw. Michael is currently studying jazz guitar at Collin College. And he is currently co-director of the Frisco School of Music Jazz Band.

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Hash Brown - Harmonica

For those of us in the Dallas Blues scene, Hash Brown is another of those guys that everyone looks up to. He's an ambassador for authentic Texas Blues. His brain has stored more blues riffs and knowledge about the blues than almost anyone.

Hash Brown has been playing the Blues since 1973. He plays guitar, harmonica, and sings. He moved to Dallas, TX in 1983, and cut his eye teeth playing with an assortment of Dallas Blues royalty including ZuZu Bollin, Henry Qualls, Sam Myers, Big Al Dupree, Robert Ealey, Willie Willis, Ray Sharpe,U.P. Wilson, Little Joe Blue, Ernie Johnson, and many, many more.

He has 3 CDs under his own name, a number of compilations and also appears as a side man on no less than 30 recordings; including ZuZu Bollin, Henry Qualls, Barbara Lynn, Robert Ealey, Hosea Hargrove, and many, many others.

He continues to make Dallas, TX his home and plays continually around the metroplex, and a
short tour every now and then.

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Ron Jones - Sax

After getting his Bachelor of Music Education at the University of North Texas, Ron went on to get his Masters in Music at NYU. He's studied with the likes of Chris Potter, George Garzone, Lenny Pickett, Jim Riggs, Jim McNeely, Kenny Werner.

Ron recorded on Al Green's "Love Is Reality" (Sony 1990) and he's recently recorded on CD's for Anson Funderburgh, Wanda King, Christian Dozzler and Rhett Butler.

Ron has opened concerts for Crosby Stills & Nash, Tower of Power, David Sanborn,
Liebman/Brecker/Lovano, Temptations, Earl Klugh. And he's jammed onstage with Smokey Robinson, Mick Fleetwood, Gregg Allman, Kirk Whalum, Delbert McClinton, George Thorogood and Buddy Miles.

Ron has also taught Jazz at Richland College, Brookhaven College and was the Jazz Band Director at Northlake College. You can get a healthy dose of Ron's tasty sax work on this CD.

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Don Cates - Rhythm Guitar

Don was born and raised on the Mill Block.  He went through the tough times as the rest of the folks there.  Don is an accomplished guitarist

and played on "This Is The Place"  The song is about the Don Cates Annual Fish Fry and Blues Bash.  His contributions on this CD are greatly appreciated.

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Blue Shadows Falling - Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets feat. Sam Myers

Anson Funderburgh (born James Anson Funderburgh, November 14, 1954, Plano, Texas) is an American blues guitar player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978. Their style incorporates both Chicago blues and Texas blues.In 1981, Funderburgh released the Rockets' debut album Talk to You By Hand from New Orleans, Louisiana's based Black Top Records. The band consisted of Anson, with Darrell Nulisch on vocals and harmonica. The album included a cover version of Earl King's song, "Come On". Talk to You By Hand was also the first ever release by the record label. The band appeared at the 1984 San Francisco Blues Festival. When Nulisch left the band in 1985, Funderburgh invited the blues harmonica player Sam Myers from Jackson, Mississippi to fill in the spot. The first Rockets' recording featuring Myers was My Love Is Here To Stay which came out in 1986. He stayed with the band until his death on July 17, 2006, appearing on eight albums with them.

As well as the studio recordings, Funderburgh and his band have played live at the Zoo Bar, in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1990 the band played the Long Beach Blues Festival. The same year, they appeared on Show #109 of the NBC television program, Sunday Night.

In 1989 and 1990 the band's bassist was Mike Judge, future animator and creator of Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill.

Their song "Can We Get Together" was also featured in the film, 21 Grams in 2003.

Anson Funderburgh

I first saw Anson on a show that David Sanborn used to have on on Saturday Nights. I though what a talent and how have I missed Him. well, I have seen him a number of times now and he is not only a great player but a terrific gentleman.

Enjoy!