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The guitarist, singer and songwriter has been playing and living the blues for close to 35 years. He’s played everything from 30 seat coffeehouses to concerts and festivals for thousands of appreciative fans. From Victoria to St. John’s, through Europe and the United States Morgan Davis has made friends and fans wherever he goes. Originally from Detroit, Morgan came to Toronto via California in the late 60’s. He played with the first David Wilcox Band before forming his own trio in the early 70’s. He’s backed and worked with James Cotton, Sunnyland Slim, Hubert Sumlin, Snooky Pryor, Mel Brown, Elvin Bishop, Muddy Waters, Dr. John and Willie Dixon and a host of others. He’s released 6 albums over the course of his stellar career. His latest, “Painkiller” won 4 Maple Blues Awards (including “Album of the Year”) and also took the 2004 JUNO Award as the “Blues Recording of the Year”. For his Blues Festival appearance, Morgan will be fronting a four-piece band featuring extraordinary drummer and long time band mate Andy Graffiti, Calgary-based keyboard ace Ron Casat and bassist Bill Eaglesham. Currently a resident of Nova Scotia, Morgan will be making a special trip to Alberta this summer to open Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival, Friday August 20th. Don’t miss your chance to see and hear one of Canada’s top blues men.
“Growing up with this kind of music in this kind of culture was a blessing”, says the native of Broussard, Louisiana, “It’s an honour to know that I’m the third generation of zydeco musicians in my family.” After his stint in the Simien band, that included appearing in the film “The Big Easy”, Carrier formed his own band and has been touring the world since. He’s spreading his own unique, high-energy zydeco sound. The Carrier blend of funk, soul, R&B and gospel is as spicy as any Louisiana gumbo, zydeco with meat on its’ bones. As Carrier says, “…When people hear this music, they go ape nuts, man. They lose their mind. They eat up that stuff because they’re always looking for something new. That’s what makes this world go round. And zydeco, you can definitely put that on your menu. It’s gonna make you go ‘round brother and come back for more!” Carrier’s latest recording “Ain’t no Party Like a Chubby Party, ‘Cause a Chubby Party Don’t Stop” says it all. Bring your dancing shoes and get ready to sweat the good sweat. Zydeco the night away, Friday at Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival.
By the time he was nine, both his parents had passed away and Cotton was taken to Williamson by his uncle. When they met, the young fellow wasted no time and began playing the Sonny Boy theme on his treasured harp. Cotton remembers that first meeting. “I walked up and played it for him…And I played it note for note. He had to pay attention.” The two harp players were like father and son from that time on. Cotton became the opening act for Sonny Boy Williamson at the many juke joints Williamson worked across Mississippi. Because Cotton was too young to actually go inside, he would open by playing on the steps of these juke joints. One morning Sonny Boy split for Milwaukee and left his band to Cotton. “He just gave it to me”, Cotton comments, “But I couldn’t hold it together ‘cause I was too young and crazy in those days an’ everybody in the band was grown men.” With no home to go to, Cotton headed for Beale Street in Memphis to make his living as a musician. There he met Howlin’ Wolf. The pair got along from the very start, and Cotton was tutored in the ways of the road by another legend as Wolf and Cotton played the juke joints up and down highway 61. By the time he was 15, Cotton had cut 4 sides for Sun Records and in 1952, at the age of 17, he got his own radio show in KWEM in West Memphis, Arkansas. One afternoon in 1954 Cotton was going into his regular Friday “Happy Hour” gig at the Dinette Lounge when a stranger walked up to him and introduced himself. “I’m Muddy Waters”, the stranger said. Cotton joined Muddy’s band and spent the next 12 years there. But Cotton had the goods to be a front man and he knew it. “Muddy was a very sweet guy. I loved and respected Muddy very much. But I did all I could there and I moved on to something else.” The year was 1966. His star was on the rise and he cut 6 albums before the 70’s arrived. In the 70’s he was “discovered” by a generation of blues rockers and opened shows for Janis Joplin, Steve Miller, The Grateful Dead, Steve Miller and Santana along with such blues greats as Freddie King and BB King. He’s recorded 2 dozen albums, won numerous W.C. Handy Awards, a Grammy, and the love of fans the world over. 2004 is Cotton’s 60th anniversary in show business. Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival is honoured to present the one and only “Superharp” Friday August 20th.
Donald Ray was born in Bryan Texas in the late 40’s and was introduced to music He was introduced to the “Traps” (drums kit) by the band director in his high school in 1961 and by the time he was 14, Donald Ray was playing the drums professionally with blues piano legend Nat Dove. Through his teen, Donald Ray worked with two local blues men, organist Joe Daniels and guitarist Lavernis Thurman. After a stint in the US Navy, Johnson relocated to San Diego in the late It was at this time that Johnson met producer Perry Kibble,
who was Johnson moved to Calgary in the 80’s and in his time in Alberta has become a well-respected member of the blues community. His skills as a drummer, and especially as a vocalist, shine and he was named “Best Canadian Male Blues Vocalist” in 1997 by Real Blues Magazine. In 1997 and 1998 he was nominated by the Toronto Blues Society as “Best Blues Drummer” and “Best Blues Vocalist”, respectively. Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival is pleased to bring this world class, Alberta-based, talent to our stage. Donald Ray Johnson kicks things off, Saturday August 21st.
Ed, along with his bass playing half-brother James “Pookie” Young, grew up steeped in the blues tradition receiving lessons and support from their famous blues-playing Uncle, J.B. Hutto. “J.B. taught me everything I know”, Ed says, “I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.” Ed and Pookie formed the first incarnation of the Blues Imperials in 1975, and worked the clubs of Chicago tirelessly for a decade before commanding the attention of Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records. “I knew Ed was a hot slide player…Their music reminded me of Hound Dog Taylor and J.B. Hutto, two of my favourite musicians. I asked them to come into the studio to be part of my “New Bluebloods” recording.” What happened is the stuff of legends. Having never been in a studio before, the band treated the event like a club gig…playing live for Iglauer complete with Ed’s signature toe walking and back bends. After two songs Iglauer signed them to their first recording contract on the spot. They recorded 30 songs in three hours with no overdubs or retakes. The band’s debut album, “Roughhousin’” consisting of 12 of those songs was released soon after. The press went wild for “Roughhousin’ ” with feature stories in Spin, Musician, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and dozens of other publications. The Village Voice declared “Roughhousin’” the album of the year. Five albums and countless appearances later at clubs, concerts and festivals around the world followed, as did a legion of fans that call themselves “Ed Heads”. Join us Saturday afternoon at Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival for a truly incredible taste of genuine, raw, Chicago blues. As Guitar Player magazine says, “With a jumping band behind him, Lil’ Ed blasts a wild, passionate, blazing-hot slide…powerful, raucous boogie blues that’s utterly devoid of rock, jazz or fusion influences.”
You’ll find Sugar Ray as the singer, harmonica player and songwriter on many Ronnie Earl recordings. In 1991 Sugar Ray joined the world renowned band Roomful of Blues. He performed over 200 dates a year around the world with Roomful. During his tenure as front man for Roomful the band was nominated for countless awards, recorded four critically acclaimed albums and made numerous appearances on the Billboard charts. During this time Ray also recorded with Michelle Wilson and was singer and harmonica player on two award-winning albums by U.K. based guitarist Otis Grand. In 1999, Ray was featured on the Grammy nominated “Super Harps” CD that also included James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite and Billy Branch. The disc features three Sugar Ray original songs and was nominated in the “Best Traditional Blues Album” category. Kim Wilson says “Sugar Ray is the real deal! There’s nobody better to represent this music.” Sound Waves magazine raved “…it remains clear that Norcia is one of the most powerful, expressive blues vocalists and harp players out there today.” Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival is proud to bring Sugar Ray & the Bluetones to Alberta for the first time, Saturday August 21st.
As an avid fan of the blues she had checked out the scene in Chicago, San Francisco and Austin, but her blues epiphany came in a down-home black Texas church service. That moment convinced her to follow her heart and lift her voice to testify through the blues. Angela fronted a series of Texas based blues bands through the 70’s, but it was when Clifford Antone opened his first club in downtown Austin in 1975 that things started to come together. Antone started bringing such artists as Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed and Bobby Bland to Austin and Angela had the opportunity to work with and learn from these masters. At the same time young Austin artists like Kim Wilson, Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan were coming up. “It was an amazing time. As things turned out, the people who encouraged me the most were the very masters I was trying to emulate. They recognized in us a sincere desire to learn blues directly from the originators. Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Big Walter Horton, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy and Albert King were all part of this process.” The blues muse has been leading Angela Strehli ever onward. She’s appeared on more than a dozen uniformly excellent albums, including the very special “Dreams Come True” that she recorded with Marcia Ball and Lou Ann Barton. After relocating to the Bay area in the early 90’s Angela went about putting together the band she has now been working with for close to a decade. It includes the precise drumming of Paul Revelli, driving bass of Steve Erhmann, and guitarists Mike Schermer and Gary Vogenson, who doubles on harmonica. Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival is pleased to be able to bring the unique, Texas-bred; Chicago influenced, original blues of Angela Strehli to Edmonton for the very first time, Saturday August 21st. The great Count Basie called them “the hottest blues band I’ve ever heard.” Downbeat said the band is “in a class by itself”. Roomful of Blues, celebrating its’ 35th anniversary last year, is all that and more. Since 1967, the band’s deeply rooted; horn-driven blend of swing, jump, blues and soul has earned it four Grammy nominations and a slew of other accolades, including two W.C. Handy Awards. With an almost non-stop worldwide touring schedule, Roomful of Blues has legions of fans to go with the critical, popular and radio success they have deservedly earned. It all began in Rhode Island in 1967 when Duke Robillard and keyboard player Al Copley started a band that played Chicago blues. They soon began exploring the swinging jumping blues, R&B and jazz of the 1940’s. The horn section was added in 1970 and soon Roomful came to be known as the best “little big band” in New England. They performed with Count Basie in 1974 and legendary songwriter Doc Pomus got them their first record deal. Over the years there have been at least 43 members of Roomful of Blues, each bring their own unique vision to the band. The current eight member line up features guitarist Chris Vachon, Brad Hallen on bass, drummer Jason Corbiere and keyboard player Mark Stevens. Trumpeter Bob Enos and tenor/alto player Rich Lataille anchor the legendary horn section. Baritone/tenor player Mark Earley joins them. The newest member of the band is vocalist and harmonica player Mark DuFresne. With the release of “That’s Right” last year Roomful joined the Alligator Records family. “That’s Right” swings with ferocity and rocks with urgency and purpose. Saturday evening at Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival Roomful of Blues will
close the show and bring down the house with what
USA Today calls “Excellent, marvelous wall-to-wall grooves…between
the wicked guitar work and the brassy horn section, things never stop
swinging.”
Steve James was born in New York in 1950 and began playing guitar in high school. He worked as a guitar builder and in 1977 moved to Memphis where he met and played with Furry Lewis, Lum Guffin and others. After moving to Texas in 1978 he played solo and led small combos that backed and worked with the likes of Bo Diddley, John Hammond, Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker. Since 1988, when he relocated to Austin, James has worked as a solo artist, honing his craft. Dirty Linen magazine recently said of James that “The old masters clearly passed on the secret of achieving the blues musicians goal “oneness”- that state of grace where voice, hands, guitar, bottleneck and feet coalesce and the fingers finish phrases the voice begins. Flawless finger picking and slide guitar paired with an idiosyncratic writing style and an exuberant performance persona makes Steve James come on like a full band.” The praise is well deserved. James can hold an audience like few acoustic performers. One part raconteur, one part player and all blues man, Steve James has been playing the blues for over 30 years with an active schedule that sees him in demand at clubs, concerts and festivals in the U.S, Europe, Australia and Canada. He’s been interviewed and featured in Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Player, Blues Revue and Folk Roots magazines to name just a few and he’s been heard on “The House of Blues Network” and “A Prairie Home Companion” as well as many other syndicated radio programs world wide. Once you’ve seen Steve James you’ll understand why David Oberman of KUT Radio in Austin dubbed him “One of the high priests of Austin’s Blues Shamans!” Don’t miss Steve James when he opens Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival, Sunday August 22.
Primich took up the harmonica in his teens and went right for the “stuff”.
Sonny Boy Williamson I and ll, Little Walter and Big Walter were the players
he admired and it wasn’t long before he was going to the South Side of
Chicago to first listen to, and then play, the blues along Maxwell Street.
After a visit to Austin in the 80’s where he heard Otis Rush at Antone’s nightclub, Primich decided that was where he had to live. In the late 80’s he started the Mannish Boys with former Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black. After two albums with the band for Amazing Records, Primich struck out on his own. He cut 8 albums for 4 labels over the next dozen years. “Dog House Music”, his latest for Antone’s Records is his best to date. Filled with brilliant original songs and incredible playing the recording has its’ feet firmly planted in tradition while showcasing Primich’s own unique style. Charlie Musselwhite says of Primich, “I really like his approach, his tone and the way he stretches out- he’s not just playing the same old stuff we’ve heard way too much of.” Welcome Gary Primich back to Edmonton for his first show in a dozen years Sunday August 22nd at Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival.
Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne is quite likely the best blues pianist in Canada. He’s been nominated for 3 blues JUNO’s, won 2 Maple Blues Awards as “Piano Player of the Year”, and has been an integral part of the Vancouver blues scene for 15 years. Kenneth Wayne Spruell came of age in Los Angeles in the 1950’s. The son of a preacher, Kenny was encouraged from a young age to play gospel, but it was totally against the rules to play blues and/or boogie-woogie. But it was in him and it had to come out. On the radio through the 50’s, young Kenny was listening to Amos Milburn, Floyd Dixon and Fats Domino. By the time he reached his teens he was an accomplished pianist and his first gig came in 1962 when he backed Jimmy Reed at the Alpha Bowling Club. All of Reverend Spruells’ predictions about “The Devil’s Music” came true that night as Jimmy Reed was inebriated and a vicious brawl broke out. The elder Wayne grabbed his son and ran him out the back door. “That was the end of my blues career for about 20 years”, says Kenny. It was not however, the end of his music career. Through the 70’s and 80’s, living in Los Angeles, Kenny became a first call studio pianist working with Delaney and Bonnie, Billy Preston and the Doobie Brothers. He moved to Vancouver in the late 80’s. Kenny Wayne became Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne in 1994 after a tour of Europe, where Kenny experienced an incredible response to his boogie-woogie playing. His first solo album followed in 1995. “Alive and Loose” featured 11 original plus covers of Jimmy Reed and Fat Domino tunes. The CD received a JUNO nomination plus rave reviews from blues press all over Europe and North America. 1997 saw the release of Kenny’s second JUNO nominated CD “Blues Boss Boogie”. 2002’s release “88th and Jump Street” showed a blues and boogie pianist at the peak of his power, and as Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne says, “I want to carry on that old tradition and bring it into the new century.” He’ll show us how, Sunday August 21st at Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival when he brings his crack, four-piece band to the stage.
An accomplished songwriter as well as powerful vocalist and energetic performer Sista Monica Parker has worked major festivals in Europe, Mexico, Turkey, Romania, Canada and across the United States. She has shared the stage with BB King, Buddy Guy, Gladys Knight, The Neville Brothers, Etta James and a host of others. Because of her high spirited energy she was asked to headline the Montreal Jazz Festival blues night with Ray Charles and Taj Mahal as part of the bill. The Baptist church in Gary Indiana is the place where Sista Monica Parker started singing. Her musical influences included Otis Redding, Al Green, Gladys Knight, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson BB King, Albert Collins, The Staples, James Brown and Aretha Franklin. She moved to California in 1987 and made music her full time career in 1992. She has recorded 5 albums for her own independent label, Mo Muscle Records, is her own producer and writes her own material. Kathleen Lawton of KCSM Radio says of her “She is a fierce force of nature on the modern blues scene-alternately attacking and caressing, dynamic and seductive. She rocks as powerfully as the great vintage blues divas and rolls you with her devastating wit. She can scorch you-and move you to tears. A blues hurricane of emotional intensity…Look out for Sista Monica.” Edmonton’s Labatt Blues festival is proud to present the
Alberta debut of
this incredible performer. Catch Sista Monica Parker, Sunday August 22.
Growing up just south of Dallas, Vaughan was weaned on classic rock, vintage blues, early Rock’ n’ Roll and the deepest rhythm and blues and jazz of the day courtesy Texas border radio. “I never got over that stuff, and never I never will.” Vaughan took up guitar at age 13 after being hurt playing football. “It was like he played it all his life”, his mother recalls. He also began tutoring his younger brother Stevie, who would cite Jimmie as his biggest inspiration and influence throughout his career. At 15, Vaughan started his first band, and was soon playing the Dallas nightclub scene many nights a week. At 16 he joined The Chessmen, the biggest act in Dallas at the time, and was opening concerts in Dallas for the likes of Jimi Hendrix. But it was hearing Freddie King and Muddy Waters during that time that sent Vaughan to delve deep into the blues. Vaughan formed The Fabulous Thunderbirds with Kim Wilson in the mid-70’s and when Antone’s Nightclub opened in 1975, the Thunderbirds became the house band, sharing the stage with Buddy Guy, BB King, and a host of others. His fondest memory of that time is of opening for Muddy Waters. “I thought, okay, I’m going to do this Muddy Waters slide thing and see if I can get a reaction from him. And the next night I did it again. And he came out behind me and grabbed me around the neck, and said he like it. He told me, “When I’m gone, I want you to do that, and show everybody that’s what I did. I want you to do it for me.” Vaughan recorded eight albums with the Thunderbirds and had just finished recording “Family Style” with his brother Stevie when Stevie was killed in helicopter crash in Wisconsin. Jimmie was devastated and took three years off from performing and recording but was lured back to the stage by Eric Clapton who had him open a series of 16 concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in 1993. Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival is honoured to present Jimmie Vaughan and his eight-piece band featuring Lou Ann Barton, Sunday August 22nd. Please Note: the Festival is a cash only event, there is an ATM on-site for your convenience. [Contact Us] [Blues Links] [Past Festivals] [Sponsors] [Home]
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