MOHAWK VALLEY BLUES Festival Info

2008 Mohawk Valley Blues Festival

The Mohawk Valley Blues Society has selected a diverse lineup of artists to perform for the 2008 Mohawk Valley Blues Festival, on August 2nd, This years headline act is Blind Pig recording artist and Chicago legend, Magic Slim and The Teardrops. In addition we have booked an outstanding selection of diverse acts including the soulful vocals and harp playing of Severn recording artist, Darrell Nulisch… the rockin’ gospel inflected blues of Electro-Fi recording artist, Sharrie Williams & the Wiseguys… the contemporary blues and R&B sound of Severn recording artist, Clarence Spady… the incredible story telling country blues of Americana singer/songwriter, Jeremy Wallace plus Central New York favorites… Blueprints… Tom Townsley… the Lomeo Brothers... Tas Cru and the Slow Happy Boys and several workshops.

A Portion of the Proceeds will Benefit Operation Sunshine

FOR TICKET AND FESTIVAL INFO CLICK HERE

Festival Sponsors

Sample Main Stage Bands Here!

“MAGIC SLIM & THE TEARDROPS”

Morris Holt, a/k/a Magic Slim was born in Torrence, Mississippi on August 7, 1937. He took an early interest in music, singing in the church choir. His first love was piano but, having lost a finger on his right hand in an accident, he found it difficult to play properly and switched to guitar. He worked in the fields during the week and played the blues at house parties on the weekends.

At age 11 Slim moved to Grenada, Mississippi where he later met and became friends with Magic Sam (who, years later in Chicago, gave him the name Magic Slim). Sam gave Slim some pointers on guitar when they were still youngsters. When Slim made his first trip to Chicago in 1955, Sam hired him to play bass in his band. Slim returned to Mississippi for 5 more years, perfecting his craft before he again returned to Chicago.

Slim gained national and international attention when he began playing regularly at Florence's on Chicago's south side in 1972, filling in occasionally for Hound Dog Taylor, and taking over the gig when Hound Dog moved on to a more lucrative career on the road. He formed his own band called the Teardrops, consisting of his younger brothers, Nick(whom Slim had taught to play bass) and Douglas, the drummer along with Junior Pettis on rhythm guitar. Slim's raw, rough-edged slide guitar playing, with a pounding bass line overlaid with his fiery guitar riffs and gruff, good natured vocals, was the perfect complement to the often rowdy and sometimes violent atmosphere at Florence's.

Eventually Slim left Florence's to launch a career that has taken him across the country and overseas where he is even better known then in the U.S. In 1989, he toured Europe, Japan and Brazil, becoming an instant hero in Brazil. He opened up for Buddy Guy, Etta James and Albert Collins on the first blues festival staged in Brazil and the media said he stole the show from all the illustrious competition. He then appeared on television there and dozens of magazine articles as well as every newspaper in the country. In 1990 he returned there selling out venues in 4 cities, three of which had never seen a blues show before. In 1994 Eddie Vedder personally selected the band to open a show for Pearl Jam at the New Regal Theater in Chicago.

Slim recorded a record for Wolf Records in Germany while touring in 1990 and again in 1991. Both were awarded the W.C. Handy award for the best foreign traditional blues record for the years 1990 and 1991.

At the 24th Annual W.C. Handy Blues Awards May 22, 2003, Magic Slim and the Teardrops were voted the Blues Band of the Year and Magic was the only performer to be nominated in the top five categories:
• Blues Entertainer of the Year
• Blues Band of the Year
• Blues Instrumentalist-Guitar
• Traditional Blues Album of the Year
• Traditional Blues-Male Artist of the Year….

Again in 2006 Magic Slim & the Teardrops were the only artist/band to be nominated in the top 5 categories.

Magic Slim & the Teardrops have been nominated for “Blues Band of the Year” for 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, making it an almost annual event.
"Thanks so much for making the show with Magic Slim happen. It was easily one of the finest displays of Chicago blues I have ever heard." John Paul Brophy, Producer Blues & Brews Festival 2005 Salt Lake City
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"Magic Slim consistently offers no-frills houserockin’ blues. He and his band are a national treasure." Living Blues Magazine

"Magic Slim is pure 100% blues. When audiences have the opportunity to see/hear a band like this in action then there is little chance of them being conned by the many pseudo-blues acts out there. Magic Slim & the Teardrops should be the standard by which we compare all others." Andy Grigg Real Blues Canada "Chicago’s Last 'Real'Blues Band" Brian Owens Boston Blues Society

"Make no mistake, big guy Magic Slim (Morris Holt) and his gang of three are the premier Chicago blues band on the road and in the recording studio today." Frank-John Hadley Downbeat

"These guys are simply the best at what they do—playing unrefined and unadulterated electric Chicago bar room blues" Twin Cities Blues News

For more info go to: www.magicslimblues.com
 

The Darrell Nulisch Blues Band

Growing up in Dallas, Darrell was surrounded by blues and soul music at an early age. "My Dad and Mom used to take me to these honky tonks sometimes when there would be live bands on Sunday afternoons," he recalls. Jimmy McCracklin and Freddie King were early favorites, along with a kid in the neighborhood named Jimmie Vaughan. "One of his first bands, the Chessmen, used to practice down in the park about three blocks from my house," says Nulisch. "I would ride my bicycle down and watch those guys play."
From the beginning, Darrell exhibited a natural flair for phrasing a lyric, a quality that underscores his relaxed, soulful performances today. He began singing full-time in 1978 as one of the founding members of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets. Their 1981 recording, Talk to You by Hand, was the first album in the catalog of New Orleans-based Black Top Records. After spending seven years as front man for the Rockets (also appearing on 1985's She Knocks Me Out!), Nulisch put in a year with Dallas-based Mike Morgan and the Crawl before joining forces in 1987 with Boston-based Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters. He cut two albums as their front man (Soul Searchin' and Peace Of Mind) before leaving in 1990 to form his own band, Texas Heat (Business as Usual).

Nulisch continued to mix blues and soul on aptly named Bluesoul, a 1996 release, and on The Whole Truth, his debut for Severn Records in 1998. He takes that earthy formula to a new level on I Like It That Way, delivering bluesy and sweet soul music with an authoritative and refreshingly unaffected voice.
"I never tried to beat anybody over the head with my stuff," says Nulisch of his relaxed, emotionally rich style. "I've tried at times to push a little bit harder, but it doesn't work for me. I don't feel comfortable doing it and I don't think it's a true representation of my style or what I am. You have to be who you are and just hope that people catch on to what it is. And the people who get it really dig it." Blues and soul fans will have lots to dig on I Like It That Way.
For more info go to: www.darrellnulisch.com

Clarence Spady Band

New CLARENCE SPADY CD due out May 20th, 2008 entitled “Just Between Us” on Severn Records
9 ALL NEW ORIGINAL CLARENCE SPADY COMPILATIONS

The former W.C. Handy Nominee for Best New Artist '97 has been an underground marvel since his initial and only worldwide release "Nature of the Beast" in '96. He received international recognition as one of Living Blues Magazine's "Top 40 Blues Artist Under 40”, and received the ’98 France Blues Trophie for Best International Blues Artist of the Year. Once described as "the future of the blues" by Bill Dahl, of the Chicago Tribune, his sound is now even more distinguishable.

The Jazz Café in Hong Kong touted Clarence “ as a soulful singer and hot guitarist who takes the blues of BB King and Albert Collins, and mixes it with the soul of Ray Charles and some funk of James Brown”… The grass roots following that is building for Spady and awaiting his debut release on Severn Records will testify…” Once you've seen and heard Clarence, you know you've been witness to one of the great guitar players of our time. He plays with a depth & sensitivity that can’t be taught. Effortlessly, combining blues, jazz, funk, and rock ; the music seems to emanate from his soul, flow through his guitar, & encompass the audience”. In short, Clarence is one of those artists that can actually move people. He brings out a range of emotions in you throughout his performances and recordings.

For more info go to www.myspace/clarencespadyband

Sharrie Williams & the Wiseguys

2008 Blues Music Award Nominee For Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year! #7 IN November 2007 Living Blues Radio Charts #9 in December 2007 Living Blues Radio Charts… Electro-Fi recoding artist… Sharrie Williams.
Pronounce Shar rie” knows how to sing the Blues…. Because she’s lived the Blues….
Born and raised in the projects of Saginaw, Michigan, Sharrie grew up surrounded by music and singing her entire childhood, being raised in a musical family. “My Aunt and Grandma were jazz singers, my father was a gospel/jazz singer in the 1950’s and 1960’s, my brother is a gospel singer and my mother was a gospel singer. Our house was like a Juke Joint…..Singing, drinking, dancing and the blues playing, with chicken and fish fryin.”She teamed up with The WiseGuys in 1997, and began appearing regularly at Chicago’s renowned Blues Clubs such as Kingston Mines and Buddy Guy’s Legends.
By 1998 Sharrie Williams and The Wiseguys were on their way to Europe. They started with performances in Germany, and by 2004 they had toured Holland, France, Italy the Netherlands, Spain, Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada and Great Britain. In April 2004 Sharrie released “Hard Drivin’ Woman “on the German label Crosscut Records, to international acclaim throughout Europe and the United States.
Word spread back to the US about her captivating performances and rock solid recording. She performed at US festivals including the Chicago Blues Festival and the Pocono Blues Festival soon thereafter. Her CD sales at the Pocono Blues Festival were at the top of sales records for this storied event, a major contributor in introducing her to the American blues market.
Over her years Sharrie has had the opportunity to collaborate with national recording artists such as Larry McCray and Ron Prince. Her influences are Koko Taylor, Etta James, Pattie Labelle, Aretha Franklin and the legendary Billie Holiday - they have all helped form her unique style. She is poised for the next level. “I love what I do! I can play for five people and feel like I played for 60.000.”
Sharrie’s unique style of “Rockin’ Gospel Blues” is surrounded by strong and powerful vocals and arrangements, with songs that grab your soul, like “Hard Drivin’ Woman,” “Travellin’” and “Blues Lover”. Sharrie touches souls with her talent and passion for her music, combined with her smoky, sexy and imitable style she always leaves her audience calling for one more song. She emerges with grace as a humble and rock solid professional, a talented songstress that stands on her own.
For more info log onto: www.sharriewilliams.com

Jeremy Wallace Trio

Jeremy Wallace is "Americana with a Bite!" His work has been described as, "a little folk, a tinge of rock, some country and loaded with gritty blues." Wallace's dynamic songs and style bring "a fresh voice and attitude to traditional American music." He has been compared to Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. It is his songwriting that places him in the company of the aforementioned. If we're lucky, once or twice a decade, an artist with such detailed storytelling and dynamic phrasing, comes along.
One of Dylan's early influences was legendary acoustic musician, Dave Van Ronk. The late Van Ronk says of Jeremy, "He's one of the most arresting new talents I've ever heard. When I hear him I get the feeling I got the first time I heard Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie."
Jeremy Wallace started writing songs the way many singer-songwriters do: he culled personal experiences from volumes of journals packed into milk crates. Somewhere along the line, Wallace’s personal lyrics merged with the lives of lonely fictional characters – the unlucky, the heartbroken, blue collar joes who drank too much, smoked too much, loved too much for their own good – and his music took a turn. A mature narrative voice emerged, one that reflected his world and connected with ordinary people. When audiences hear Wallace’s music, they see themselves in the stories he weaves.
Perhaps that’s because Wallace himself is an everyman. Even with two albums under his belt, ("My Lucky Day" on Palmetto Records and his second release "She Used To Call Me Honey") Wallace still types everything he writes on a well-worn Smith-Corona, drinks his Budweiser from a can, paints houses when he's not performing, and drives an old Dodge Coronet. He connects with an audience through honest, simple stories of hope found and lost, of small moments that shape lives.
Look for his new CD due out soon, entitled “Suicide Suitcase”
For more info log onto: www.jeremywallace.com or www.myspace/jeremywallace

Tas Cru & the Slow Happy Boys

Original blues from this edgy eccentric singerccentric singer/songwriter have earned Tas Cru the attention of industry media. Right now his latest CD is getting heavy airplay on XM Radio's Bluesville as a "Pick to Click". (week of April 20, 2008) The CD is featured in reviews in the next issue (June/July 2008t) in both of the nations premiere blues magazines - Blues Revue and Living Blues.
Tas Cru is a rough Quebecois rendering meaning - Raw Potato. Credit for the name goes to an avid young fan who admires Tas' raw-edged vocals and peeled-bare slide guitar. Given Tas' bent on bowing to his home region's Quebecois influence the moniker was not much of a stretch, especially since much of Tas' early career was spent playing Quebec's small cities and towns along the St. Lawrence river from Montreal to Riviere du Loup. Cru is currently based out of Albany, New York but has performed at festivals and clubs throughout the Mid South including shows in Tulsa, Memphis, and the Mississippi Delta. He has shared the stage with a growing list of well known blues artists that includes Buddy Guy, Shemekia Copeland, Willie Smith, Marva Wright, Mem Shannon, Kenny Neal, Jimmy Thackeray, Danny Kalb, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Nora Jean Bruso, Albert Cummings, Bob Margolin and others. Also to his credit include frequent appearances at Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi and on Sunshine Sonny Payne's King Biscuit Radio program on station KFFA in Helena, Arkansas.
Tas' latest CD, gravi-Tas � 2008, that Blues Revue calls a "swirling, hypnotic blues blend," builds on the traditional flavor of his solo acoustic 2006 Biscuit, but thickened by the young power blues trio, the Slow Happy Boys, and seasoned with the keyboard work of longtime sideman, G.C. Lamson.
For more info go to: http://www.tascru.com

Blueprints

Blueprints plays real American music - a stew of blues, rock, swing, boogie and folk. They deliver great songs with solid vocals and dynamic interplay
between guitar, piano and a rock-steady rhythm section. With memorable original songs composed by the band's three talented songwriters, combined
with classics by great American masters like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and Louis Jordan, they're a band you can sit and listen to or dance the night
away with. Original members, guitarist George Deveny, bassist Don Paul Way and keyboardist Dave Liddy are now joined by drummer Oscar Crandall.

Tom Townsley

Tom is one of the better known and most visible Blues harpists on the Central New York Blues Scene. He is a harmonica virtuoso and founding member of the Cold Shot Blues Band and Tom Townsley and the Backsliders. Tom has been the host of Sunday Night Blues on WAER-FM 88.3 and the founder of Syracuse’s annual Harmonica Blow-off. Tom is originally from Hershey, Pennsylvania and came north to grad school at SU in 1979 and has been here ever since.
He has written for Blues Review magazine he has released 2 CD’s on Poverty Records… a CD in 1998 titled “Moonlight Worker” and another titled "Twice Too Much" in 2002. Get ready to boogie your *ss… err, your shoes off when Tom takes the stage

The Lomeo Brothers

The Lomeo Brothers made music history and received national attention on MTV with their Woodstock 99 performance as the youngest band Michael Lang ever invited to perform. Matt was 10 and Adam was 12.

The Lomeo Brothers performed in CNY with national recording artists Sugar Blue, Little Charlie & the Nightcats, Ernie Williams & the Wildcats and Blue Highway. They have shared the stage with The Iguanas, Chris Beard, Joe Beard, John Mooney and Coco Montoya. 

Matt and Adam Lomeo performed five years in a row at the Harmonica Blowoff at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Q in Syracuse and at the Chenango Blues Festival. They performed at the Oswego Harbor Fest, the Backwoods Blues Bash, the Mohawk Valley Blues Fest and the Finger Lakes Wine Fest.

The Lomeo Brothers released their first CD in 2000, entitled 21st Century Blues. They have since gone back into Norpa Studios for further recording. Bruce Iglauer from Alligator Records has shown interest in the Lomeo Brothers. Adam is attending William Patterson University for the Jazz guitar program and Matt is a student at Mohawk Valley Community College.