Scary Pockets
An Incredible Cover Band From The LA Music Scene
Scary Pockets are a dynamic funk band formed from the LA music scene (Los Angeles, USA). The band consists of Ryan Lerman and Jack Conte who are joined by a continuously rotating line up of quality musicians to form Scary Pockets.
Ryan Lerman spent his twenties touring as a bassist for the American singer-songwriter, Ben Folds. He also has performed as a guitarist for Micheal Bublé and as a musical director for John Legend. A very impressive back catalog of performance history. The other half of Scary Pockets, Jack Conte, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, disc jockey, entrepreneur, and filmmaker. When these two talented individuals mix their skills together, along with some of the best session musicians from the LA music scene, the results are phenomenal.
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Hiss Golden Messenger
Describing the Durham-based Hiss Golden Messenger is like trying to grasp a forgotten word: It’s always on the tip of your tongue, but hard to speak. Songwriter and bandleader M.C. Taylor’s music is at once familiar, yet impossible to categorize: Elements from the American songbook—the steady, churning acoustic guitar and mandolin, the gospel emotion, the eerie steel guitar tracings, the bobbing and weaving organ and electric piano—provide the bedrock for Taylor’s existential ruminations about parenthood, joy, hope, and loneliness—our delicate, tightrope balance of dark and light—that offer fully engaged contemporary commentary on the present. And then there’s an indescribable spirit and movement: Hiss Golden Messenger’s music grooves. There’s nothing else quite like it. Merge Records
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Jimmy Carpenter
Jimmy Carpenter
Jimmy Carpenter is on a roll. For over 40 years Carpenter has plied his trade as Saxophonist, singer-songwriter, and arranger. Having won the 2021 and 2022 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist/Horn, he is nominated again in ’23, his 8th nomination overall. He is also a Grammy-Winning Composer, for a composition he contributed to the New Orleans Nightcrawlers’ winning album, Atmosphere. After many years living and working in New Orleans, Jimmy now resides in Las Vegas, where he serves as Musical Director of The Big Blues Bender.
Praise for The Louisiana Record, Released September 2022 on Gulf Coast Records:
The Louisiana Record is the kind of set that will get your whole neighborhood dancing if played loud enough. Get it and get going! Mike O’Cull, Rock and Blues Muse“I enjoyed this album from start to finish. Carpenter does a great job on vocals and tenor saxophone throughout and the bands does an exceptional job, too!” Steve Jones, Blues Blast Magazine
“Carpenter’s singing seems to get more soulful with every outing..” Grant Britt, No Depression
“This has really become an album that can really get a party started.” Bluestown, The Netherlands
“Tenor sax man Jimmy Carpenter reminds me of 50s and 60s R&Ber King Curtis, with his big sound grooving through vintage juke box tunes of that period.” George W Harris, JazzWeekly.com
“I have been a Jimmy Carpenter fan for 20 years, from the first time I heard him play with Jimmy Thackery. He’s always been one of the premier sax players around. But Jimmy is also a stellar songwriter and singer. His voice is at its best on ‘Soul Doctor’, Jimmy’s best record to date. This album oozes cool and rocks hard with a classic sound that only Jimmy Carpenter can bring to the table.” — Mike Zito
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The Boneshakers
The Boneshakers w/Jenny Langer
The iconic band lead by world-renowned guitarist Randy Jacobs of Was (Not Was). The Boneshakers and members have toured and recorded with Bonnie Raitt, BB King, Seal, Keb Mo, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Mindi Abair, Bootsy Collins, Tears 4 Fears, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Iggy Pop…just to name a few. STORIED CAREER Flashback to 1980 — During his maiden session for Don and David Was, Randy Jacobs meets Sweetpea Atkinson on a cold night in the Motor City at Sound Suite Studio (the recording home of the fledgling band Was (Not Was). The connection was immediate and a bond was forged between the two artists. Their combined talents would help Was (Not Was) become a successful act during the 80’s and into the early 90s culminating with the worldwide hit “Walk The Dinosaur ” co-written by Jacobs. After their European tour with Dire Straits in 1992, the Was Band went on hiatus and Randy started playing and recording with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, BB King, Seal, Paula Abdul, Kris Kristofferson, Ofra Haza, Tears For Fears, Warren Hill and others. Sweetpea was in Los Angeles adding background vocals to artists like Neil Diamond, Bonnie Raitt, Keb Mo, and Bob Segar. When Atkinson heard that Jacobs was putting together a new project, he jumped at the chance to be a part of it. It was Bonnie Raitt who inadvertently gave them their name “Boneshakers” while they were working on her “Longing In Our Hearts” CD. In 1996, the two were signed to Pointblank/Virgin Records and produced two CDs for the label: “Book Of Spells” (1997) which included Randy’s rockin’ swing arrangement of James Brown’s “Cold Sweat” and the powerful “Shake The Planet” (1998). Over the years, The Boneshakers released another four successful albums. Additionally, they joined forces with sax queen Mindi Abair and released Live in Seattle on Concord Records. Two more albums were credited to Mindi Abair and The Boneshakers: The EastWest Sessions (2017) and All I Got for Christmas Is the Blues (2018).
In 2020, the band suffered an unimaginable loss with news of the passing of Sweetpea. THE LEGACY CONTINUES Now in 2022, as The Boneshakers celebrate the 25th anniversary of their first release, a new energy and excitement has emerged. Producer John Wooler, who originally signed The Boneshakers in 1997, connected Randy and the incredible Jenny Langer– a powerhouse singer who was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (NYC and VA) at the age of 28 and won the 2020 Int’l Blues Challenge for Best SelfProduced Album. What started as a few tracks for her project quickly morphed in a new album with The Boneshakers featuring no-holds-barred funk, blues, and rock that marries the sounds and spirits of Detroit Rock City, Memphis, and Mussel Shoals. Produced by Wooler, it is back to the original vision of The Boneshakers’ fiery sound, with the vocal dynamo Jenny Langer behind the mic and original musicians from “The Book Of Spells” Sergio Gonzales (Drums), Nathan Brown (Bass), Jon Gilutin (Keys), The Texacali Horns (Joe Sublett, Mark Pender, and Randy’s former band mate from Was (Not Was) Sir Harry Bowens on vocals.
BAND MEMBERS:
Randy Jacobs (Guitar/Vocals)
Holly Montgomery (Bass/Vocals)
Arthur Thompson (Drums/vocals)
Jenny Langer (Vocals)
