Billy Price
Billy Price
Billy Price is a legendary soul-blues vocalist who has spent over five decades as a cornerstone of the Pittsburgh music scene. He first gained national prominence in the mid-1970s as the lead singer for guitar virtuoso Roy Buchanan, appearing on acclaimed albums like That’s What I’m Here For and the high-energy Live Stock. This early exposure established Price as a premier interpreter of “blue-eyed soul,” a reputation he solidified after forming the Keystone Rhythm Band in 1977. Throughout the 1980s, the group became a regional powerhouse, blending gritty urban blues with the smooth, rhythmic phrasing of Southern soul.
In the years following the Keystone Rhythm Band, Price continued to refine his craft with the Billy Price Band. A career pinnacle arrived in 2016 when he won a Blues Music Award for Best Soul Blues Album for This Time for Real, a collaborative project with his long-time idol, Otis Clay. Price has remained remarkably prolific in his later years, releasing celebrated albums such as Reckoning and Dog Eat Dog, both of which earned further award nominations. His 2024 release, Person of Interest, marked a significant creative milestone as his first collection consisting entirely of original material. Beyond his musical life, Price maintained a long-term professional career in corporate communications at Carnegie Mellon University until 2023. Now fully retired from his “day job,” he continues to tour extensively across the United States and Europe, remaining a vital force in the international blues community.
Peter Himmelman
Peter Himmelman
is a man of many talents and accomplishments who is known to those who have heard of him, but haven’t heard him, as Bob Dylan’s son-in-law. He has been playing in and with bands since sixth grade in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. (Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, Sen. Al Franken, and New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman are also SLP natives.) He has released a dozen rock albums since 1986�the first half dozen on major corporate record labels, others on smaller indies, others self-released�all of which have received love from critics and none of which have sold well. The only Billboard chart on which he has ever appeared is the Heatseekers chart, limited to artists who have never had an album in the top 200. But the quality of his work has never flagged, and lately he has released some of his finest work, including Imperfect World (2005) and The Mystery and the Hum (2010). There is also an intentional oddity called Flimsy (2011), a collection of spoken-word songs ranging from the absurd to the heartbreaking. His new album, The Boat That Carries Us, now available on his own Himmelsongs label, is about motion, or being in motion, by air (“33K Feet”), by car (“Green Mexican Dreams”), or in spirit (“Angels Die”). (Read more at peterhimmelman.com)
Michael Oberman
Michael Oberman
Author and Photographer
Michael Oberman’s photographs are on permanent display in U.S. National Parks including Steigerwald and Modoc and in museums including the Utah Museum of Natural History and the Ontario Science Centre (Toronto).
Six photos are on a five year tour of U.S. and Canadian museums in an exhibit called “Imaginate”…under the auspices of the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto (where the same six photos are on permanent display).
Before photography, he spent his life in the “music business.” Michael started as a music columnist for the Washington Star and a six year period interviewed more than 300 major recording artists…including David Bowie, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, James Brown…the list is too long for this page. He later worked for a record company and managed artists. Now he is back to his true love: Photography.
In 2019, Oberman was signed to a publishing contract for a book about his life in the music business. He spent eight months writing “Fast Forward, Play, and Rewind.” It will be out on October 15, 2020 in the U.S. and December 1 in Great Britain. (adapted from web site)
Chuck Prophet
Chuck Prophet shapes his restless career with inimitable subtle flair: a vivid parade of razor-edged one-liners camouflaged in a slack-jawed drawl, songs about heartbreak and everyman heroism, drenched in twisted lines of rude Telecaster.
Leon Bridges
Leon Bridges
Leon Bridges (born Todd Michael Bridges on July 13, 1989) is an American gospel and soul singer, songwriter and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas.
Bridges began performing in and around Fort Worth, Texas and stirred up music industry interest with analog recordings, produced by Justin Block and Austin Jenkins, which were uploaded to his SoundCloud page. Signed to major-label Columbia, his first singles – including a rich ballad written about his mother – appeared in February 2015 with a sound that evoked mid-to-late ’60s soul. The following month, Bridges caught more attention with performances at SXSW, roughly 200 miles south of his home base. His debut album, Coming Home, was released in June 2015.
Luke Brindley
Luke Brindley
“The rambling acoustic environment of New Morning—era Dylan and the smokiness of early Townes Van Zandt…his own compelling musical voice.” – Acoustic Guitar
In his own words…
I’ve been obsessed with writing songs and the guitar for as long as I can remember. I married young, am an adoptive parent, and the son of a preacher man. I toured a lot for years and put out a few records as Luke Brindley, Brindley Brothers, and Native Run. I spent a lot of time in Nashville writing with some of the top writers in the business. I never quite fit into (or cared about) “the business”. I grew up in New Jersey but live outside of Washington, DC. Along with my brothers, I run Jammin Java in Vienna, VA – one of the Top 100 Clubs In The World and Union Stage in Washington, DC
The songs have a definite focus on the lyrics and hopefully offer a kind of deeper perspective. I tend to gravitate toward the larger worldview questions such as, Why are we here? What are we supposed to be doing? What does it mean to know another person? To love someone?
