Mingo Fishtrap
is a soul and funk band based in Austin, Texas.They were formed in the mid-1990s in Denton, Texas. The band consists of Roger Blevins, Jr. Guitar/Lead Vocals, Chip Vayenas Drums/Vocals, Dane Farnsworth Organ/Keyboards, Roger Blevins Sr. Bass, Steve Butts Trumpet/Flügelhorn, Dan Bechdolt Tenor Saxophone. They have, with a few personnel changes over the years, released six albums and one concert video.
-
Peter Wolf
A Cure for Loneliness manifests the same vibrant passion for music that’s motivated Peter Wolf for most of his life. Growing up in an artistic, politically engaged family in the Bronx, he became an early rock ‘n’ roll convert after attending an Alan Freed rock ‘n’ roll revue that included performances by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Frankie Lymon. His thirst for new and old sounds drove him to exploring blues, soul, country, folk and jazz, inspiring weekly visits to Harlem’s Apollo Theatre and leading to acquaintances with many of the music’s surviving originators.
Wolf’s talent as a painter won him a grant to study at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. While a student there, he experienced a life-changing epiphany after jumping on stage to sing with a blues band at a loft party. He soon talked himself into membership in that band, The Hallucinations.
“I didn’t join a band to meet girls,” Wolf recalls. “I joined my first band to meet musicians. Painting was a fascination for me, but I was a music fanatic, and sitting in with that band was a born-again type of experience for me. I was transfixed, and myself and some of the guys in the band would check out performances by the musicians we admired so much, like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker and John Coltrane and Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers. Those roots stayed with me.”
Wolf’s natural loquaciousness won him a job as an all-night DJ on the fledgling FM rock station WBCN. Adopting the persona of “the Woofa Goofa,” he spun raw rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm ‘n’ blues, channeling the spirit of the flashy, fast-talking DJs he’d grown up listening to.
Wolf’s encyclopedic musical knowledge came in handy when he and some like-minded Boston players formed the J. Geils Band, much of whose early repertoire was drawn from Wolf’s vast record collection. The band soon became a local favorite injecting a much-needed jolt of raw, uninhibited rock ‘n’ roll into the ’70s scene and was soon signed by Jerry Wexler for Atlantic Records. Between 1970 and 1983, the J. Geils Band released 13 influential albums, topped the pop single charts with 1981’s “Freeze Frame,” “Love Stinks,” “Centerfold,” and earned a reputation as one of rock’s most exciting live acts, thanks in large part to Wolf’s flamboyant, hyperactive stage presence.
After going solo with 1984’s Lights Out, Wolf continued to stake out new musical territory with the subsequent releases Lights Out, Come As You Are, Up to No Good, Long Line, Fool’s Parade, Sleepless and Midnight Souvenirs, and A Cure For Loneliness. His solo work has seen him collaborate with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Merle Haggard, John Lee Hooker, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Little Milton, Wilson Pickett, Shelby Lynne and Neko Case. Wolf temporarily reunited with his J. Geils Band cohorts for live shows on several occasions between 1999 and 2015, but his solo career has remained his creative focus, as A Cure for Loneliness makes clear.
-
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) -
Joan Osborne
Joan Osborne
also see: Trigger Hippy
Joan Elizabeth Osborne is an American singer, songwriter, and interpreter of music, having recorded and performed in various popular American musical genres including pop, soul, R&B, blues, and country. She is best known for her recording of the Eric Bazilian song “One of Us”, from her debut album Relish. Wikipedia
Recent Video showing her heart and feeling....Great American Cities
News from her website:
Joan Osborne is back with Nobody Owns You, out today on Womanly Hips Records and produced by Ben Rice (Valerie June, Norah Jones). While the Grammy-nominated singer’s highly praised 2020 release Trouble and Strife took a frank and honest look at our socio-political landscape, Nobody Owns You finds Osborne in a very personal place, contemplating life’s major questions. The introspective collection highlights Osborne’s songwriting prowess, and offers inspiration, optimism and hope, surrounded by a rootsy and deeply soulful sound.
As the writer and co-writer on all twelve new songs, Osborne shares her profound personal beliefs but still has much to say regarding the current climate in the US. The first offering off the album is “Great American Cities,” a rebuttal of right wing TV pundits disparaging America’s urban centers.
Osborne shares, “I go to these cities all the time, and while they have issues like anywhere, they are full of life and energy and creativity and joy. This song came from my desire to celebrate America’s big cities and challenge the disinformation that’s being put out about them.” Listen to Nobody Owns You HERE.
