David Gogo Band

Friday August 19, 5:30PM
www.davidgogo.com

Although still relatively young in "blues years", David Gogo has accomplished much in his career. So far he has three Juno nominations, was named Musician of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards, was twice named Guitarist of the Year at the Maple Blues Awards, and has been bestowed with the CBC Saturday Night Blues, Great Canadian Blues Award for a lifetime contribution to the blues in Canada.

Nine albums have been released under his name and he has been a guest on a number of other artists recordings. David has composed music for television and major motion pictures and his songs have been performed and recorded by various musicians worldwide.

Whether he’s showcasing his blistering guitar licks and soulful vocals during his electric performances or drawing the crowd in with his humour and down-to-earth personality during his acoustic shows, audiences throughout North America, Europe, and Scandinavia can attest to his outstanding talent.

David appeared at Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festivals’ first sold out day, in 2005 and we welcome back this fiery performer to kick things off Friday August 19.

Reba Russell Band

Friday August 19, 6:55PM
www.rebarussell.com

An internationally known blues diva, Reba Russell is a Memphis treasure. Reba’s rockin’ band has developed a large, loyal fan base in Memphis due to her show stopping nightclub gigs on Beale Street. In addition she has fans around the world as a result of her frequent appearances at blues festivals and European Tours. On the Memphis scene for over 25 years, Russell has released six independent CDs in the past ten years. Reba also works regularly in Memphis studios as a vocalist. She appeared on the U2 recording “Rattle and Hum” as a background vocalist; jammed with Ringo Starr in Memphis; has won 3 Recording Academy Awards as a “Premier Vocalist” and had singing roles in the films “Finding Graceland” and “Heart of Dixie”.

Her top notch Memphis band includes bassist Wayne Russell, born in Pontotoc, Mississippi to parents who picked cotton on family land. Both his mother and father came from homes where music was a part of daily life. Most of his family members played and sang in church as well as community gatherings. At the age of 5, Wayne and his family moved from Mississippi to Memphis Tennessee where Wayne’s love of art and music blossomed. He fondly remembers receiving art supplies and guitars each Christmas during his childhood, and by the time he completed High School he was voted most talented student. He has worked with such great blues artist as Tracy Nelson, Barbara Blue, and Mojo Buford, Jack Rowell. Drummer and vocalist Doug McMinn has been a professional musician for close to 3 decades. He started his career at the age of 15, growing up with both parents performing the blues. He worked with his father, Papa Don McMinn, opening and playing for over 9 years at The Rum Boogie Café on legendary Beale Street. He has also toured Europe and the UK extensively over the past 10 years. Don has worked with The Coasters, The Drifters, The Shirelles, Chuck Berry, Percy Sledge, Albert King, George “Mojo” Buford, Rufus Thomas, and Tracy Nelson to name just a few.

Featured on keys, harps and vocals is Robert Nighthawk Tooms, a 30 year veteran of Beale Street and the Blues. Robert is known for his “stylin threads” as well his authentic Blues harp. He started playing the piano at the age of 6 and by the time he hit his teens he had fallen in love with the Blues. He has been creating music with The Reba Russell Band since 1991 and also records and writes music with his own band, The Wampus Cats. He is endorsed by the Hammond-Suzuki organ company, makers of the B-3. Over the years he has worked with B.B. King, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Big Bill Morganfield, James Cotton, Rosco Gordon, Little Milton, Blind Mississippi Morris, The Memphis Sheiks, Tracy Nelson, Reverend Horton Heat, Bob Margolin and Jimmy Thackery.

Guitarist Josh Roberts may be young, but he is turning heads with his musicianship, talent and drive. Still in his twenties, he has recorded with Steven Segal at The House of Blues Studio in Memphis on a project with Blues greats, Pinetop Perkins, Bob Margolin, and Koko Taylor. He has played with a long list of contemporary Memphis musicians. He also plays bass, drums, piano and harmonica proficiently. His latest contribution is to the Reba Russell band’s “Broke Down But Not Out” and “Bleeding Heart” recordings which have made it to regular rotation on satellite radio. His specialty is slide guitar. His performances at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas last year, and Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero in Clarksdale, Mississippi are legend. He has played with the Reba Russell Band at blues festivals around the world.

Kim Wilson’s Blues All-Stars
featuring Billy Flynn and Kid Ramos

Friday August 19, 8:30PM
www.fabulousthunderbirds.com

Kim Wilson has proven to be a consummate performer and devoted blues lover. He’s primarily known as the front man for the Fabulous Thunderbirds, but it's in his solo work that he truly shines. A musician's musician, many consider Wilson to be one of the premier blues harmonica players in America. His style is grounded in the past -- as evidenced by the many classic blues and R&B tunes he covers -- but it's also uniquely his own. And his vocal style rivals -- or outshines -- any blues singer out there today: his tone is buttery and rich, slightly scarred, and never in a hurry. For nearly three decades, Kim Wilson has been the voice and soul of the Texas band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. He's also an accomplished solo recording artist, and in the minds of many people, the greatest harmonica player performing today.

Wilson grew up in a musical family. His parents both sang popular standards on the radio, and he studied the trombone and guitar as a youngster before discovering the blues while a senior in high school. In 1970, he decided to drop out of college to play the blues fulltime, learning the ropes from such San Francisco Bay Area blues musicians as Charlie Musselwhite, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Rhodes. In the mid-1970s he moved to Austin, where he met Jimmie Vaughan, with whom he co-founded The Fabulous Thunderbirds in 1974. Although Wilson has often been compared to legendary harmonica player Little Walter, he calls the analogy "sacrilegious." He says his biggest influence was Muddy Waters, whom he befriended after moving to Austin. Although he acknowledges the influence of many great blues harmonica musicians, he calls his own playing a "very modern" take on a traditional music form that is thoroughly his own."I think that you have so many influences and you steal so much stuff that finally it just gets mixed up into you," Wilson says. Imitating other great harmonica players is impossible, he says, because "the notes you're playing only happen once. A perennial winner at the Blues Music awards, Kim is nominated again as “Harmonica Player of the Year”.

For his show, Kim has recruited a band of incredible blues players that really live up to the billing of “Blues all Stars”.

Guitarist Billy Flynn hails from Green Bay Wisconsin and was born in the mid 50’s. He became a bona fide blues man at 14, after getting the chance to sit in with Jimmy Dawkins. Since then he has worked with many of the greats, including a stint with the Legendary Blues Band featuring Pinetop Perkins, Willie Smith and Calvin Jones.

David “Kid” Ramos rounds out the 2 guitar attack that will be part of the Kim Wilson Blues all Stars show. Possessing of one of the great guitar voices in the world today, Kid can be as smooth as silk or tear the paint off the walls at a moment’s notice. Best known for his work with such West Coast artists as James Harman, Janiva Magness, The Mannish Boys, Finis Tasby and many others, he also has his own project on the go these days. Los Fabulocos have released 2 discs of high energy Cali-Mex. Look for some real guitar pyrotechnics when Kid and Billy Flynn get together.

Randy Bermudes is in his early 40’s and plays bass for The Fabulous Thunderbirds. He’s also worked with Rusty Zinn, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Charlie Musselwhite, RJ Mischo, Steve Fruend, Mark Hummel, Chris Cotton and many others around the San Francisco bay area.

Drummer Richard “Big Foot” Innes is no stranger to audiences at Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival, having made it here with both the Mannish Boys and Hollywood Blue Flames. Born in Colfax, WA, Richard Innes divided his time in the bands of Rod Piazza, and the Piazza/George "Harmonica" Smith "Bacon Fat" band of the 1960's, in addition to touring with Little Richard, among others. Innes has forged a uniquely tasteful and economical drumming style that is unparalleled in modern Blues. Having seriously studied the music form, he is the originator of the modern West Coast drumming style and remains its’ finest practitioner. Innes claims influences such as Sonny Freeman, Fred Below, Odie Payne, Willie Steele, SP Leary and Earl Palmer. He is a much in demand recording and performing artist on the Blues circuit. Richard has been nominated 3 times in the last 5 years as “Drummer of the Year” at the Blues Music Awards.