2012 Performing Artists
Billy Cox
Billy Cox met Jimi Hendrix when they were serving in the Army at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in 1961. Ducking into Service Club #1 to get out of a sudden rainstorm, he heard guitar playing inside. Impressed with what he heard, he introduced himself, told Jimi he played bass, and they were jamming soon after.
They became, and remained, fast friends. They left the military around the same time and they played clubs around the area, finally settling in Nashville. They formed a group now known to history as the King Kasuals. They played at Nashville clubs and traveled all over the southeast and as far north as Indianapolis playing what was called the "Chitlin' Circuit".
Jimi eventually left Nashville and continued to struggle all over the country until he was discovered by Chas Chandler in New York. Chas took Jimi to England, (and the rest is history) but before Jimi left, he called Billy and asked him to join him. Billy (in his own words) "Only had three strings on my bass" and no money to travel to New York, so he thanked Jimi and wished him well.
Destiny had other plans for Billy. He continued to play, backing some of the greats in R&B until the Jimi Hendrix Experience broke up in mid 1969. Jimi then called his old friend Billy who joined him in the recording studio; Billy went on to play at Woodstock and played a series of shows with Jimi and Buddy Miles as the Band of Gypsys.
After Jimi's death, Billy played for a time with the Charlie Daniels Band. Following that he continued to perform sessions and club dates. He later reunited with Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, and guitarist Gary Serkin and did a series of shows under the name Gypsy Sun Experience.
As of November 2008, Billy is the only surviving member of both The Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Band Of Gypsys. He recently was inducted into the Musician's Hall of Fame and continues to honor is friend, performing dates with the Experience Hendrix Tour.
Buddy Guy
Any discussion of Buddy Guy invariably involves a recitation of his colossal musical resume and hard-earned accolades. He's a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a chief guitar influence to rock titans like Hendrix, Clapton, Beck and Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago's fabled West Side sound, and a living link to that city's halcyon days of electric blues.
Guy’s legend has only grown throughout the Nineties and the early 21st century. Subsequent releases like the eminently satisfying Live: The Real Deal (1996), the daring Heavy Love (1998) and 2001′s Sweet Tea have demonstrated that Guy, while firmly ensconced in his blues roots, has always tried to keep his music looking forward—even at the risk of alienating lovers of traditional blues sounds. And now, the story continues with Bring ‘Em In, which finds the 71-year-old Guy trading licks with the likes of Carlos Santana (“I Put a Spell On You”) and John Mayer (on the Otis Redding-penned “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember”) and his first ever box set “Can’t Quit the Blues” which has an incredible collection of material, some of it never before released, spanning 50 years of Guy’s career over three CDs and one DVD.
Internationally acclaimed, a Grammy winner and now an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Guy has firmly cemented a blues legacy that places him squarely in the company of his heroes who came before. “This all reminds me of something my mother used to tell me,” Guy says of his current-day status as a music icon. “She said, ‘If you got the flowers for me, son, give ‘em to me now so I can smell ‘em, ‘cause I’m not gonna smell ‘em when you put ‘em on the casket.’
Jonny Lang
Jonny Lang started playing the guitar at the age of twelve, after his father took him to see the Bad Medicine Blues Band, one of the few blues bands in Fargo, North Dakota. Lang soon started taking guitar lessons from Ted Larsen, the Bad Medicine Blues Band's guitar player. Several months after Lang began, he joined the Bad Medicine Blues Band, which was then renamed Kid Jonny Lang & The Big Bang.
The band moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and independently released the album Smokin' when Lang was fourteen. Lang was signed to A&M Records in 1996. He released the critically acclaimed multi-platinum Lie to Me on January 28, 1997. The next album, Wander this World was released on October 20, 1998 and earned a Grammy nomination. This was followed by the more soulful Long Time Coming on October 14, 2003. Lang also made a cover of Edgar Winter's "Dying to Live". Lang's album, the gospel influenced Turn Around, released in 2006 won him his first Grammy Award.
In more than ten years on the road, Lang has toured with the Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, Aerosmith, B.B. King, Blues Traveler, Jeff Beck and Sting. In 1999, he was invited to play for a White House audience including President and Mrs. Clinton. Lang also makes a cameo appearance in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as a janitor. In 2004, Eric Clapton asked Lang to play a the Crossroads Guitar Festival to raise money for the Crossroads Centre Antigua.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Utter the phrase "young blues guitarist" within earshot of anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the modern
musical vanguard and the first name they are most likely to respond with will be Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
Still barely in his 30s, the Louisiana born axeman and songsmith has been selling millions of albums, throwing singles
into the Top 10, shining a light on the rich blues of the past and forging ahead with his own modern twist on a
classic sound he has embodied since his teens. He met Stevie Ray Vaughan at 7, shared the stage with New Orleans
legend Bryan Lee at13. As an adult, he continues to create genre-defining blues-infused rock n' roll.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd's newest album, How I Go not only serves as a strong reminder of the chops that
caused Guitar World to place him right behind B.B. King and Eric Clapton on their list of blues guitarists,
but it's the strongest indication yet of his gifted songwriting talent. The album pairs Kenny's deeply soulful
and impassioned takes on classic material like Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues," Albert King's "Oh,
Pretty Woman" and The Beatles "Yer Blues" alongside the strongest writing and co-writing of his career thus far.
Robert Randolph
A virtuoso on the pedal steel guitar, Robert Randolph set the music world on fire in 2000 when he began playing his first club dates in New York City. Randolph started playing the instrument as a church-going teenager in Orange, NJ, a small city just outside of Newark. He regularly attended the House of God Church that had been implementing steel guitars (or "Sacred Steel") in services since the '30s, with the pedal steel in particular being introduced during the '70s. Randolph learned to play by watching other steel players during church services; years later, he updated that sacred basis with a secular mix of funk and soul, giving a new multicultural facelift to an instrument that had often been associated with country music.
In 2010, Randolph teamed-up with producer T-Bone Burnett and released the album We Walk This Road which featured guest appearances from Ben Harper, Leon Russell and Doyle Bramhall II. This record is a celebration of African-American music over the past one hundred years and its social messages from the last thirty. Although a variety of eras are featured on the album, what ties the songs together remain their message of hope, their ability to uplift.
Robby Krieger
of The Doors
Robert Alan Krieger, born January 8, 1946, in Los Angeles, is a musical performer and The Doors guitarist. He attended UCLA. "The first music I heard that I liked was Peter and the Wolf. I accidentally sat and broke the record (I was about seven). Then I listened to rock 'n' roll - I listened to the radio a lot - Fats Domino, Elvis, The Platters.
"I started surfing at fourteen. There was lots of classical music in my house. My father liked march music. There was a piano at home. I studied trumpet at ten, but nothing came of it. Then I started playing blues on the piano?no lessons though. When I was seventeen, I started playing guitar. I used my friend's guitar. I didn't get my own until I was eighteen. It was a Mexican flamenco guitar. I took flamenco lessons for a few months. I switched around from folk to flamenco to blues to rock 'n' roll.
"Records got me into the blues. Some of the newer rock 'n' roll, such as the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. If it hadn't been for Butterfield going electric, I probably wouldn't have gone rock 'n' roll.
Cesar Rosas & David Hidalgo
of Los Lobos
David Hidalgo (songwriter and multi-instrumentalist) and Cesar Rosas (singer, songwriter and guitarist) are founding members of Los Lobos, the eclectic “band from East L.A.” Formed in the late-70’s, the band began as a traditional acoustic Mexican group, but under the influence of the early ‘80s punk rock scene in L.A., they chose to go electric, thus incorporating their various influences... Blues, R&B, Tex-Mex, and rock... into a more energized, rockin' sound.
Hidalgo has been involved in a myriad of side-projects, most prominently with Cesar Rosas, in Los Super Seven, a Grammy-winning Mexican folk-reinterpretation band, as well as his work with Lobo Louie Perez in The Latin Playboys, an experimental roots music ensemble. Hidalgo's songs have been covered by the Jerry Garcia Band, Waylon Jennings, Bonnie Raitt and others. David has also collaborated with a who's who of artists, including Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, John Lee Hooker, Buckwheat Zydeco, T-Bone Burnett, Gov't Mule and G. Love & Special Sauce.
César Rosas’ rootsy compositions, fiery guitar playing, and gritty vocals act as an important counterweight in Los Lobos’ sonic blend. Primarily working from a blues-based foundation, Rosas' compositions for Los Lobos include the hard-rocking "Don't Worry Baby" and "I Can't Understand", co-written with blues giant Willie Dixon which appeared on The Neighborhood (1990).
Perhaps the most recognizable member of Los Lobos, Rosas is known for his trademark black sunglasses and slicked-back, black hair. His singing voice is reminiscent of Chicago electric blues legend Howlin' Wolf while his guitar playing is influenced by Jimi Hendrix. In addition to his role in Los Lobos, Rosas was a member of Los Super Seven.
Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson’s stature as one of the premier guitar players in contemporary music is his artistic trump card, backed by a Grammy Award and five nominations, platinum album, Top 10 hits like “Cliffs Of Dover,” praise from critics and the esteem of his peers. But the full hand of his talents marks him as well as a gifted songwriter, dynamic live performer, singer, pianist, song interpreter, and creator of a rich and diverse musical legacy.
His myriad and distinctive musical gifts are vividly evident on Johnson’s aptly titled new album, Up Close, released on his own Vortexan Music label via EMI Distribution. The new 15-track disc finds the noted master craftsman cutting loose, roaming through variations on the rock, blues, pop, country and jazz all found at the core of his sound, pushing the dynamic range of his artistry, and mixing it up with such friends and peers as guitarists Jimmie Vaughan and Sonny Landreth and guest singers Steve Miller, Johnny Lang and Malford Milligan.
Johnson leapt to the forefront of contemporary music some 20 years ago as “an extraordinary guitar player accessible to ordinary music fans,” as the Memphis Commercial Appeal hails him, with his landmark million selling 1990 album Ah Via Musicom. Lauded as a “recording [that] has reached near-classic proportions within the guitar community” by All Music Guide, it was preceded by dedicated groundwork as a live performer that marked him as a talent bound for great things. And it’s been followed by a diverse and fascinating musical journey that inspired The New Age Music Guide to rave that “Eric Johnson plays guitar the way Michelangelo painted ceilings: with a colorful vibrancy that’s more real than life.”
Keb' Mo'
Mo's music is also a purely post-modern expression of the artistic and cultural journey that has transformed the blues, and his own point of view, over time. His distinctive sound embraces multiple eras and genres, including pop, rock folk and jazz, in which he is well-versed. In total, it owes as much to contemporary music's singer-songwriter movement, encompassing his longtime friends and collaborators Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, as to the spirit of blues godfather Robert Johnson that dwells in his work. For Keb' Mo', the common bond between these influences is the underlying storytelling ethic, the power of song to convey human experience and emotional weight.
Through all the changes of the past several years, Keb Mo found time to play a couple of hundred shows on several continents. He composed and recorded music for the acclaimed TNT series "Memphis Beat," starring Jason Lee and Alfre Woodward. And he wrote some of the best songs of his career for The Reflection – material strong enough to attract such notable guests as country music superstar Vince Gill ("My Baby’s Tellin’ Lies"), nouveau–soul chanteuse India.Arie ("Crush On You"), saxophonist Dave Koz ("One Of These Nights"), and veteran session guitarist David T. Walker ("All The Way," "The Reflection," "The Whole Enchilada").
Dweezil Zappa
Dweezil Zappa was born on September 5, 1969 in Los Angeles—the son of Frank and Gail Zappa, it was inevitable that from the moment of his birth his life would be filled wall-to wall with music (his father having listed his religion as “musician” on Dweezil’s birth certificate). Dweezil’s early years were spent largely away from the spotlight—something of a rarity for the child of a celebrity, but perfect for cultivating a close relationship with his family.
Having watched his father perform concerts from the side of the stage since he was in diapers it was no surprise that he began to show an interest in music early on. At 6 years old he received his first guitar, a Fender Music Master from his dad.
Constantly learning and evolving his guitar art, Dweezil Zappa is both the modern face of Zappa music and the person who can bring it fully-formed into the future.
Brad Whitford
of Aerosmith
Brad Whitford is the rhythm guitarist for the hard rock band Aerosmith. He graduated Reading Memorial High School in 1970. After attending the Berklee College of Music, Whitford played in local bands Cymbals of Resistance, Teapot Dome, Earth, Inc., and finally a band called Justin Thyme before joining Aerosmith in 1971, replacing original guitarist Ray Tabano. Aerosmith would go on to be one of the most successful bands of the 1970s; however, following a string of less successful albums in the late 1970s, Whitford left the band in 1981 to work on his own project with singer Derek St. Holmes. Simply called Whitford/St. Holmes, the project was dissolved after a sole self-titled album was released in 1981. Whitford rejoined Aerosmith in 1984.
Whitford also served as a producer for a well-known Boston band, The Neighborhoods, who were led by a rabid Aerosmith fan, David Minehan. When, in 1994, Whitford was forced to leave unexpectedly in the middle of an Asian tour due to family illness, Minehan was flown to Japan where he performed in Whitford's place for several days until Whitford returned.
Along with fellow Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, Whitford was included in the Guitar World book The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2007. Whitford has made significant contributions to the band's repertoire over the years. This includes co-writing Aerosmith's hit "Last Child" as well as some of Aerosmith's heaviest songs: "Nobody's Fault" and "Round and Round", and playing lead guitar on "Back in the Saddle" (on which Perry plays six string bass) and on the ballads "You See Me Crying" and "Home Tonight".
Taj Mahal
Composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Taj Mahal is one of the most prominent and influential figures in late 20th century blues and roots music. Though his career began more than four decades ago with American blues, he has broadened his artistic scope over the years to include music representing virtually every corner of the world – west Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the Hawaiian islands and so much more. What ties it all together is his insatiable interest in musical discovery. Over the years, his passion and curiosity have led him around the world, and the resulting global perspective is reflected in his music.
Born Henry St. Claire Fredericks in Harlem on May 17, 1942, Taj grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts. His father was a jazz pianist, composer and arranger of Caribbean descent, and his mother was a gospel singing schoolteacher from South Carolina. Both parents encouraged their children to take pride in their diverse ethnic and cultural roots. His father had an extensive record collection and a shortwave radio that brought sounds from near and far into the home. His parents also started him on classical piano lessons, but after only two weeks, young Henry already had other plans about what and how he wanted to play.
In addition to piano, the young musician learned to play the clarinet, trombone and harmonica, and he loved to sing. He discovered his stepfather's guitar and became serious about it in his early teens when a guitarist from North Carolina moved in next door and taught him the various styles of Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed and other titans of Delta and Chicago blues.
Bootsy Collins
Grammy winner Bootsy Collins was born in Cincinnati OH., where he still resides. At the tender
age of 15, he became a staff musician at the very prestigious King Records and soon afterwards, he was touring
the world with Hank Ballard and the hardest working man in show business, Mr. James Brown.
Bootsy went on to collaborate with George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, (P-Funk) where the One was
established along with many gold and platinum hit records. Then came Bootsy’s own off shoot legendary
monster group Bootsy's Rubber Band. This is where Bootsy became Bootzilla and a whole host of other
characters. In 1991, Collins received a video in the mail. It was from a guy with a bucket on his head
who called himself Buckethead, the two proceeded to record Buckethead’s first Album called Buckethead
Land. Soon after that Dee-lite sent a Boot-signal high in the sky and Bootsy answered, which led to
recording Groove is in the Heart. Collins subsequently hooked up and recorded with artists such as
Snoop Dogg, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phil Ramone, Keith Richards, Victor Wooten, Dave Stewart,
Fatboy Slim, Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Ice Cube, Afrika Bambaataa and Bill Laswell, Motown’s
Funk Brothers. In 1997, Bootsy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received his first
Grammy in 2002 with his friend FatBoy Slim.
In 2004, Bootsy Collins performed on the title track to the critically acclaimed album Power Of Soul: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix
and in 2010, he narrated the documentary film Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child which was included as part of the
West Coast Seattle Boy deluxe box set.
Chris Layton
of Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
Chris "Whipper" Layton was the drummer for the electric blues band Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble. Born in 1955 in Corpus Christi, Texas, Chris moved to Austin, Texas in 1975. Chris has played with various artists since the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1990, includingL the Arc Angels, with Charlie Sexton, Doyle Bramhall II and fellow Double Trouble alum Tommy Shannon; Storyville, also with Shannon, vocalist Malford Milligan and guitarists David Grissom and David Holt; the Laura Love Band; Kenny Wayne Shepherd; and most recently a Double Trouble recording with various guest stars.
In 2004, Whip joined old friends Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar) and "Big" Ben Richardson to form Grady in Austin TX. The band released Y.U. So Shady in 2005 and toured to support the album through 2006. In early 2006, Chris left the band to pursue multiple music projects, and was replaced by Billy Maddox in Grady. He and Tommy Shannon played on Jimmy D. Lane's It's Time. In 2007 he drums for the Kenny Wayne Shepherd band on the Ten Days Out Legends Tour.
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The Slide Brothers
The Slide Brothers are Darrick & Chuck Campbell
Darick Campbell first made his mark in music as a drummer. For several years Darick was the premier drummer of the General Assembly, the National Convocation of the House Of God Church in Nashville, Tennessee. His choice of the Lap Steel is a reflection of the influences he has blended to become the most emotional player of The Campbell Brothers musical tour d' force. His renditions of End of My Journey have caused audiences throughout the world to weep in heartfelt response to his playing.
It is argued that his most definitive work was his solo work on The Storm is Passing Over. Darick brings the added dimension of being the vocal leader on the Campbell Brothers' What's His Name which often leaves audiences everywhere dancing on a spiritual high.
Chuck Campbell began playing the lap steel guitar at the age of 12. At the age of 17 he became one of the first players to utilize the Pedal Steel guitar in the House of God Church, Keith Dominion. Chuck is renowned for his innovative approach to the instrument both technically and musically. His use of effects such as distortion, and wah pedal and his picking techniques enable him to emulate the human voice in an uncanny fashion.
Early in his career Chuck became recognized for becoming the first steel player to be accomplished in the Sacred Steel styles of Calvin Cooke, Ted Beard and Henry Nelson. Chuck's inventive blending of those methods along with his ground breaking use of complex chords and fast picking formed the musical style which is the most emulated among young Sacred Steel players today.
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Billy Cox
Buddy Guy
Jonny Lang
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Robert Randolph
Robby Krieger
Cesar Rosas & David Hidalgo
Eric Johnson
Keb' Mo'
Dweezil Zappa
Brad Whitford
Taj Mahal
Bootsy Collins
Chris Layton
The Slide Brothers
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