Artists

David Honeyboy Edwards

Born in the Mississippi Delta in 1915, David Honeyboy Edwards, the son of a sharecropper, is one of the last of the original Delta Bluesmen who traveled the South as hobos in the 1930s and who shaped our early folk music into what later generations turned into rock ‘n’ roll.

Allan Lomax recorded Honeyboy for the Library of Congress in 1942. In 1956, he moved to Chicago, where he quickly became known as one of the city’s finest slide guitarists. During his long career, he recorded for Sun and Chess, among many other labels; he has four albums on the Earwig label.

Still touring internationally as he approaches age 94, he is in demand today as much for his sharp memory as a purveyor of the oral history of the blues as for his music, performing at festivals, arts centers, colleges, clubs and special events.Honeyboy’s many awards and honors include the Blues Foundation’s W.C. Handy Award, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award, and the national Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship award. He is a 2008 Blues Music Award Nominee in two categories—Traditional Blues Album of the Year and Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year—for his Earwig release, Roamin’ And Ramblin’. www.davidhoneyboyedwards.com

John Primer

John Primer grew up with the sounds of Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Little Milton, Elmore James, and B.B. and Albert King reverberating through his grandmother’s tube radio. Hooked on the blues at the age of eight, he borrowed his first guitar and began to strum.

In 1963, at the age of 18, he left his hometown of Camden, Mississippi, to follow the path of his mentors to Chicago. He quickly found work in the era when modern electric blues and the West Side and South Side sounds were first taking shape. In the ensuing years, he enjoyed success with his own bands, including a stint as the house band at Theresa’s Lounge, and played with such originators as Sammy Lawhorn, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Smokey Smothers, and Lonnie Brooks.

In 1978, he joined Willie Dixon and his Chicago All Stars.Touring with Dixon, John developed his skills as a rhythm guitarist, lead slide player, and vocalist. He caught the attention of Muddy Waters, who recruited John as a guitarist and opening act. After Waters’ death in 1983, John signed on with the legendary Magic Slim, whom he toured with for 14 years. John recorded his first US release as a leader, Stuff You Got To Watch, for Earwig in 1993, and has subsequently recorded solo albums for Wolf Records, Code Blues and his own label Blues House Productions. He has also recorded as a guitarist on numerous recordings. www.johnprimerblues.com

Bob Corritore

Bob Corritore is one of the most active and highly regarded blues harmonica players on the scene today. His style passionately carries forward the old school of playing that Corritore learned as a young man directly from many of original pioneers of Chicago Blues. His sympathetic, yet fiery harmonica playing is featured on over 35 releases to date. In 1999,

Bob released his first CD as a national recording artist, combining some of the highlights of his vaults. The CD was called All-Star Blues Sessions, and was released on the HighTone record label to great fanfare. This momentum created a long series of CDs on HighTone with Bob in the harmonica player/producer role.

Bob started breaking into the national circuit in festival appearances with Henry Gray and Louisiana Red. In 2005, Bob brought the Rhythm Room All-Stars featuring Big Pete Pearson to The Marco Fiume Blues Passions Festival in Italy, which opened a whole new world of European interest in Bob's harmonica artistry. This led to return visits to Europe for various festivals and performances, as well as an ever-growing world-wide fan base.

In 2007, the Mayor of Phoenix officially proclaimed September 29, 2007 to be "Bob Corritore Day" in honor of Bob's musical contributions to his community. Also that year, Bob received a "Keeping The Blues Alive" award from the Blues Foundation. Bob's 2007 collaboration with Dave Riley, Travelin' The Dirt Road, was nominated for a Blues Music Award. Bob also contributed harmonica work on the 2008 Grammy®-nominated CD/DVD by Pinetop Perkins, On The 88s. Bob contributed harmonica work on the 2008 release by Chris James and Patrick Rynn which won a Blues Blast Music Award.

Bob 's prolific activity with the Blue Witch record label as producer/harmonica player has garnered him additional notoriety. Bob has recently signed with the great Delta Groove record label for a 2010 release that will surely solidify Bob's strong standing as a major player in today's blues world. Bob performs regularly with The Rhythm Room All-Stars featuring Big Pete Pearson, and numerous side projects with Dave Riley, Louisiana Red, Henry Gray, Sam Lay, Tomcat Courtney, The Bob Riedy Blues Band, and others. www.bobcorritore.com

Rob Stone

CHICAGO BASED SINGER AND HARMONICA PLAYER — Rob Stone brings a hard-hitting, fresh energy to the Chicago blues sound. As a young Boston-born musician, unsatisfied with his violin, piano or guitar attempts, an underage Rob Stone snuck into a blues club to hear the great harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite. It was a moment of inspiration — Stone bought his first harmonica the next day, taught himself the instrument off of classic records, and soon began studying harmonica with such masters as Jerry Portnoy (former member of Muddy Waters’ band).

Within a year, Stone was performing with some of Boston’s finest blues musicians. At seventeen, Stone began a long-time musical relationship with Rockabilly legend Sleepy LaBeef when introduced by mutual friend, author Peter Guralnick. Stone moved to Colorado in 1990 and continued to gain experience working intermittently with local Colorado Springs blues musicians and steadily with a rock-blues band that mostly played in biker bars.

In 1993, Stone met blues drummer Sam Lay who invited him to sit in with his band (then comprised of Patrick Rynn and Chris James). In the spring of 1994, the harmonica spot in Sam Lay’s band opened up, and he immediately asked Stone to join. Stone packed up, headed to Chicago, and remained with Sam Lay for the next four years, touring top blues clubs and festivals internationally. During his tenure with Lay, Stone began to develop his singing and harmonica style based on the influences of Little Walter, James Cotton, Junior Wells, and Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller).

As Stone gained a national reputation, his talent earned him a Hohner endorsement and a place among the best of the blues players on stage today. After leaving Sam Lay’s band in 1998, Stone recorded and released “Rob Stone & the C-Notes – No Worries” (Marquis Records), to excellent reviews. Stone continued to perform around Chicago and the midwest and quickly gained a reputation as a new generation harp player, and one of Chicago’s top live blues acts. Stone’s Chicago experiences have been an apprenticeship in every facet of blues music, style, attitude, and showmanship.

Over the years, he has shared the stage with Etta James, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Jimmy Rogers, Phillip Walker, Hubert Sumlin, Henry Gray, Jody Williams, Rod Piazza, Eddie Shaw, David Myers (of the Aces), Willie Kent and the Gents, Pinetop Perkins, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Tail Dragger, Bruce Willis, Katherine Davis, Corky Siegel, Jim Schwall, Johnny B. Moore, Eddie Taylor, Jr., Aaron Moore, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Koko Taylor, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Eddie Kirkland, Dennis Binder, Billy Branch, Sugar Blue, and countless other top blues musicians. Rob continues to perform and record with his ensemble. www.robstone.com

Dave Specter

Blues guitarist, bandleader and producer Dave Specter has earned an international reputation as one of the premier young talents on the Chicago blues scene.

Since 1985 Specter has performed regularly at top Chicago and U.S. nightclubs, festivals and concert halls in addition to international appearances in Brazil, Israel, Spain, England, Holland, Norway, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Mexico and Canada. Before forming his own band in 1989, Specter toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe behind such blues greats as Son Seals, The Legendary Blues Band, Hubert Sumlin, Sam Lay and Steve Freund.

Specter has also performed and recorded with such blues and jazz artists as Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Jimmy Johnson, Jack McDuff, Johnny Adams, Snooky Pryor, Kim Wilson, Tad Robinson, John Primer, Johnny Littlejohn, B.B. Odom, Mighty Joe Young, Valerie Wellington, Magic Slim, Lonnie Brooks, Willie Kent, Ronnie Earl, Eric Alexander, Otis Clay, Floyd McDaniel, Pinetop Perkins and Sunnyland Slim. Among Dave Specter's critically acclaimed recordings, his 1991 release Bluebird Blues reached the #1 spot on both the Living Blues national radio charts and the Tower Records blues charts.

Blues Access magazine called his CD, Left Turn on Blue, "an absolutely gorgeous blend of vintage blues and jazz." Specter also appears on compilation CDs with artists such as Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Junior Wells. In its June 2000 issue, Illinois Entertainer named Dave Specter's "Blueplicity" album as one of the top 10 blues albums of the last decade by "young blues artists" (under 50). Specter's guitar playing can also be heard on national TV and radio commercials for Kraft Foods and Northwest Airlines.

Dave has recently been featured in Guitar Player and Downbeat magazines and has been a 5 time Critic's Choice in The Chicago Reader. He has also been interviewed on both NPR and BBC radio. Dave endorses Epiphone Guitars, Victoria Amplifiers and GHS Strings.  www.davespecter.org

Billy Flynn

billyflynn.com

Bob Riedy

In the midst of the massive volumes of material documenting the history of blues music and its creators in Chicago, there is a small but very unique story concerning an artisan whose apprenticeship caused a revival of Chicago blues that boosted the careers of nearly every active seminal blues artist in Chicago during the 1960s to the 1980s.

In the 1940s, born the oldest of 10 children on a working dairy farm in northern Wisconsin, Bob Riedy grew up to become for a while, one of the most active blues promoters, entrepreneurs, and piano players in the city of Chicago. While attempting to fulfill his apprenticeship among the inventors and masters of Chicago Urban Blues, his efforts helped bring new life to the whole genre. At one time or another, every seminal Chicago Urban Blues Master who was active during the late 1960s to the early 1980s (from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to the lesser known but integral Chicago Urban Blues Artists) was either a member of Bob's band or was backed by his band at one time or another.

He created jobs where there were none, putting together bands for himself and others even when it was not financially feasible to do so. He made recordings of the Chicago blues artists when the established record companies would not. Chicago Urban Blues artists played on Bob's recording sessions and he played on theirs. Many times he came to recording sessions with arrangements, backup musicians from his band, and even spare musical instruments he had repaired to make sure the session and artist had everything needed. By the early 80s, Bob found gigging and promotion increasingly difficult.

Neighborhood bars he developed into successful blues clubs over many years were now in their prime and ripe for take over by corporations and individuals who had an agenda different than his own. The result was that clubs that took years to build and become popular were now being rapidly harvested by those who did not share Bob's views on presenting blues. He realized that after nearly 20 years, he did not have the means on a musician's pay to stop the takeovers of any of the blues clubs.

Also, without the jobs he created, he could not continue maintaining a fulltime band on payroll. His philanthropic effort had run its course. Bob simultaneously gave up live performance, behind the scenes promotions and booking, left the hustle of Chicago, and ironically returned to a pastoral life in the rural Midwest. Today, even though he does continue work through his foundation; he rarely performs in public. But most every evening as you pass his farmhouse you can still hear Bob working at his craft. His apprenticeship continues. www.bobriedy.com

Bob Stroger

I was born in South East Missouri in a small town Haiti, where I lived on a farm. I moved to Chicago in 1955. I lived in the back of a night club on the West Side, where Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters played.

It looked like they were having a lot of fun and I made up my mind that what I wanted to do was play music. I got married at an early age and I used to watch my brother-in-law play music. His name was Johnny Ferguson and he and JB Hutto had a band they called the Twisters. They were working on 39'th and State Street in Chicago and I would carry them to work every night and watch them. Then at home I would try to teach myself to play. My cousin Ralph Ramey said that we should start a band and we did just that. We got my brother (John Stroger), who played the drums, to learn the songs we knew and in four months we were making some noise.

We went to a club and played two songs and the man said we had a job. It was one of the better clubs, where musicians like Memphis Slim worked. The owner wanted us to wear uniforms but we had no money to buy them, so we got black tams and put a red circle in the top and called the band the Red Tops and that was the way it started. We got so good that they wanted the band to travel, but Ralph's wife did not wont him to travel. so my brother formed a band with Willie Kent and myself and called it Joe Russel and the Blues Hustlers.

We played together for a while,but eventually I decided to move on, because i wanted to travel more and see the world and I found out you can make money doing this. I joined a jazz band and played with Rufus Forman for about 3 years, but we were doing very little work. Then I met Eddie King and we talked. I told him I was in a jazz band and we needed a guitar player that could play blues. He sead OK and joined our groop, and we started playing blues and RB and things took off. We called the band Eddie King and King Men, and we stayed together for 15 years.

Then we split up for about 2 years and later we started the band up as Eddie King and Babee May and the Blues Machine and we stayed together until Eddie King moved out of town. I quit playing for 2 years becouse we were so close I did not want to play with anyone but Eddie. Then I met Jessie Grean when I was playing with Morris Pejo and he liked the way I played bass and one night Otis Rush need a bass player, so Jessie said come and work with him. The rest is history. I have been playing music for 39 years and I am still having fun. web site

Willie "Big Eyes "Smith

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith was born in Helena, AR in 1936. At the age of 17 he ventured to Chicago where he heard Muddy Waters for the first time. Willie was hooked on the blues and the attraction to the music persuaded him to stay in Chicago.

In 1954 Willie, playing harmonica, formed a trio with drummer Clifton James. The trio built a following in Chicago and gigged around the area for a few years. During this same time, Willie played harp with several other artists including Bo Diddley, Arthur "Big Boy" Spires and Johnny Shines. In 1957 Willie joined Little Hudson's Red Devil Trio and switched to playing drums. After gigs or between sets, Willie started sitting in on drums with Muddy Waters' band. Muddy liked what he heard, and invited Willie to play drums on a 1959 recording session.

Willie began to fill in for Muddy's drummer Francis Clay, and continued to play recording sessions with Muddy. In 1961, Willie replaced Clay in Muddy's band and played with Muddy till mid-1964. During this period, as he solidified his Chicago sound, Willie recorded with James Cotton, Jo Jo Williams and Muddy Waters on a tribute to blues vocalist Big Bill Broonzy. The '60s were lean times for the blues and for a few years (mid-'64-'68) Willie packed up his drum kit and found himself doing odd jobs including working in a restaurant and driving a cab around Chicago. One night in 1968 Willie decided to go out and listen to Muddy. Rediscovering his desire to play, he asked to sit in with the band.

The next day Muddy asked Willie to rejoin his band. Willie played in Muddy's band till 1980 and appears on all of Muddy's Grammy-winning albums. After performing with Muddy Waters, Smith established his own niche within the tradition of the Delta Blues Sound by co-founding the Legendary Blues Band with Pinetop Perkins, Louis Myers, Calvin Jones, and Jerry Portnoy. The group was nominated for several Grammy Awards, recorded four critically acclaimed albums on the Ichiban label, backed up Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf and Junior Wells, toured with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. They played behind Muddy for the soundtrack of the movie The Last Waltz and appeared in the movie The Blues Brothers where they played street musicians backing John Lee Hooker.

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith traditional shuffle style has been regarded as the heart and soul of the Chicago blues sound, with Willie laying the beat behind many of the blues classics. But these days fans are just as likely to find Willie "Big Eyes" Smith holding on to a harmonica, his first instrument, as a drum stick. Turns out, this award-winning blues drummer is also an accomplished harmonica master and dynamic vocalist. Willie Smith reaches deep and delivers a virtual lesson on what the blues really are all about...there's something extraordinary here. www.williebigeyessmith.com

Grady Champion    2010 International Blues Challenge (IBC) Winner

Grady Champion is a young, blues singer and harmonica player, born October 10, that has been compared to Sonny Boy Williamson, and people can hear exactly why on his Shanachie debut Payin' for My Sins released August 24, 1999.

The album includes a version of "Don't Start Me to Talkin'" that really shows Grady's high-energy singing and harmonica playing and an update of the traditional blues lament "Goin' Down Slow" with an AIDS parable -- a hard-bitten vignette of modern life.

His revved-up, soulful vocalizing and the charm and insight he brings to his songwriting in numbers like the campy "My Rooster Is King" and the classic-sounding tale of infidelity "You Got Some Explaining to Do" (co-written by his producer Dennis Walker, who helped Robert Cray reach national fame) mark Grady as an important new talent. www.gradychampion.com

Charlie Love

CHARLIE LOVE, born on the South side of Chicago in 1956 was introduced to the blues by his mother and father and at an early age quickly fell under its spell. His father often played the harmonica while Charlie and his mother would dance and sing along to the sounds of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter and B.B. King.

For his parents the blues was a celebration of the human spirit and helped them to endure the stresses of everyday living. Its value and potential as a positive spiritual force was instilled in Charlie from a powerful place, a place from which he has never turned away. One could say the blues called on Charlie. It didn't take Charlie long to realize what he wanted to do with his life. He bought a guitar at the pawnshop and soon began accompanying himself.

Working in assorted factories around the Chicago, he always had his guitar on the job and his first performance came in front of his co-workers who would hear him play and sing during coffee breaks. Later they would ask him to perform at their house parties. There could be no better playground for Charlie than Chicago's exploding blues scene. It was Lefty Dizz and Buddy Scott, two of Chicago's blues greats that took Charlie under their wing and gave him his first opportunity to take the stage at the famed Checkerboard Lounge.

It wasn't long after Charlie began developing his powerful voice, playing four nights a week on the South Side with his own band, the Hotlinks. While leading his group he was frequently called on by blues stars like Mighty Joe Young and B.B. Odem to play guitar. Charlie caught the attention of Casey Jones, ex-drummer for the late great Albert Collins, who was fronting his own band at the Kingston Mines, one of Chicago's high profile blues clubs. It was while playing for the "Casey Jones Revue" that the proprietor heard Charlie sing. The club hired him under his own name and Charlie began being recognized as one of the Chicago's outstanding blues singers.

The distinct blend of silky smooth vocal savvy and distilled raw power that Charlie brings to his performance creates a soul-drenched marriage between beauty and abandonment that adds up to 100% rockin' Chicago blues. His ability to cover equally well a wide range of repertoire within the style is in evidence here and an important ingredient in Charlie Love's approach to music. When he steps to a microphone he serves up a Chicago blues stew that has been bubbling since his days hearing the music for the first time in his parent’s living room.

Whether he's singing the Muddy Waters classic, "Long Distance Call,' Sam Cooke's southern-flavored "Somebody Have Mercy," or a more contemporary title like the self-penned, "Blues Keeps Following Me," Charlie is still all the way at home. Charlie Love and the Silky Smooth Band have been one of Chicago's premier blues and dance bands on the scene, for many years. This Chicago showman was the winner of the "Best Unsigned Band" contest and is a consistent feature at the Chicago Blues Festival.

He is recognized as one of the Chicago’s outstanding performers and his sound keeps his audiences on their feet. Charlie Love and the Silky Smooth Band can be found around town at Kingston Mines, Blue Chicago, Buddy Guy's Legends, Reservation Blues and the Checkerboard Lounge.

Sherry Pruitt

Born in Beaumont Texas in 1956 into a devoutly religious family that includes ministers and gospel musicians, this god daughter of Mahilia Jackson, Blues Diva Sherry (Jackson) Pruitt made her musical debut in church at age six, with a solo rendition of ''Eyes On The Sparrow.''

Revealing an abundance of raw musical talent early on, Sherry stayed true to her calling and continued singing in church and at school throughout her formative years. In 1974 at age 18, she moved to Los Angeles with her family and began to pursue her dream of becoming a professional singer. Her abilities with gospel music translated handily to singing the blues as well as popular music and she soon began appearing around town in local night clubs and lounges.

Eager to improve at her craft and not satisfied to rely solely on her considerable natural ability, Sherry undertook vocal training with two of the best coaches in the business, Ronnie Hasley and Bill Collier, who helped her develop the polish and professionalism that is so evident in her performances. Sherry's musical odyssey has taken her all over the world. From Tahiti to South Africa when in 1991, a gospel booking fell through and left her stranded for three months. She was taken under the wings of two of that country's greatest popular entertainers, Blondie Makhene and Brenda Fassie.

While in South Africa, she absorbed a wealth of musical and cultural experiences and was able to turn a financial disaster into a tremendous opportunity for personal growth. By 1997 Sherry was ready to showcase her talent to the Peer Belgium Blues Festival. Performing on the same day as Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Ike Turner, John Mayall, Joe Louis Walker, Janiva Magness and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Sherry delivered a tour de force performance. Sherry returned home and throughout the mid 2000’s was the featured singer in many bands including The Bomb Squad and The BlueStone Revue featuring Jeff Stone and Makoto Mayashita.

This troupe played festivals throughout Southern California and was the feature band at one of Orange County, CA’s most prestigious blues clubs. In 2008 Sherry suffered a stroke while performing a gospel set with her mother at a nightclub in Liemert Park, Los Angeles. This could have ended her career, but with the loving support of her family and boyfriend, the special devotion of her daughter Akilah, the dedicated doctors and therapists at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, her strong faith in God and her own sheer determination and courage, Sherry won her way back to the stage within a year.

Sherry makes her home in Long Beach, California, but her musical home is on the band stand, performing for her audience. She is a popular figure at blues venues in Los Angeles, Pasadena and other Southern California communities, as well as Long Beach. She frequently appears with The Deacon Jones Blues Band, the Delgado Brothers Band and Southern California Blues Society events. Sherry has a CD recorded with guitarist Makoto Miyashita called, ''Big City Blues,'' which is available at CDBaby.com. The Southern California Blues Society named Big City Blues the Best Self-Produced CD of 2003.

Her newest album, which will soon be released on Cold 6 Records is called, ''Love Is.'' Sherry wrote all of the songs for this project and she performs them with a very modern, R&B ''Neo-Soul'' styling. Also on Cold 6 Records, Sherry lends her vocal expertise to a avante-garde project entitled, ''Terraplane - Untitled 1,'' which presents a unique fusion of Hip- Hop, Blues and Gospel.

Jeff Stone

Jeff Stone is a Blues and Gospel Harmonica player…pure and simple. His love and gift for the music is aptly attributed to the Lord and he will be the first to tell you that his music ‘is simply a channeling of God’s voice through his musical instrument.

Whether playing with his church brothers and sisters (Victory World Outreach, Denton, TX,) doing Gospel Shows with the Rev. K.M. Williams close to his North Texas home, touring with the great bluesman Zac Harmon (2002-2008,) playing with Chicago’s blues mainstay Charlie Love or any of his countless friends throughout the country, Jeff Stone will reach you with his music. With Zac Harmon, their band accomplished an impressive run since their formation back in 2003: 2004 Winner, International Blues Challenge, Best Unsigned Band 2005 XM Radio Best New Blues Artist (Zac Harmon) 2006 Winner, Blues Music Awards (W.C. Handy Awards) Best New Artist Debut In 2003, Stone, Harmon and Larry Davis founded BlueStone Records, a label devoted to the blues.

The 2005 release, ‘The Blues According to Zacariah," won the prestigious BMA (formerly W.C. Handy Award) for Best New Artist Debut Album. Winning the 2004 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN as part of Zac Harmon & the Mid South Blues Revue, was a gratifying, humbling and proud achievement. True to his Chicago roots, Stone is a bluesman in a traditional way and a Gospel musician in a spiritual sense. Though playing jazz, soul, R&B, funk and gospel had broadened his range, and allowed him to truly express what he hears and feels, it is through the blues that Stone expresses most truly. It is through Gospel that allows him to reach people with his music with an awakening effect.

It is the recent rediscovery of Gospel and Delta roots music that has allowed Stone to continue the evolution of what is to come through his deeply spiritual belief that God will direct what is to be musically achieved. ‘The Lord will show me what it is that he wants me to do…how it is to be done…and when it is to happen….my mission, is to be ready!’ http://www.jeffstoneblues.com/

Sam Lay

Sam Lay, Drummer, vocalist - is one of the most celebrated virtuoso drummers in blues history, and a mainstay since the late 1950's. He began his auspicious career in 1957 as drummer for the Original Thunderbirds and soon after became the drummer for the legendary harp genius, Little Walter.

In the early 1960's Mr. Lay began recording and performing with the founding fathers of blues,Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. The recordings Lay made during this time, (including Muddy Waters' Fathers and Sons album recorded in the 70's), are considered to be among the definitive works from the careers of Waters and Wolf. In the mid 60's Mr. Lay was persuaded to join with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and recorded and toured extensively with this important blues group.

Bob Dylan (with Sam Lay as his drummer) was the first performer to introduce electric-rock at the Newport Folk Festival. Lay also recorded with Dylan - most notably on the Highway 61 album. Mr. Lay's unique style of drumming can be heard on over 40 recordings for the famed Chess Records label with the most prominent names in the world of blues. He has recently toured the major Blues festivals around the US and Europe with the Chess Records All-Stars.

In the late 1980's Sam Lay was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis. He was recently inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in Los Angeles, and the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. He was nominated eight times for the coveted W. C. Handy Award for "Best Instrumentalist" including a recent 2005 nomination.

Mr. Lay has two very recent recordings with his own band on Appaloosa Records, Evidence Records, and a recording on Alligator Records with the Siegel-Schwall Band and was nominated in 2000 for a Grammy Award for his performances on the "Howlin' Wolf Tribute" CD and was honored by the Recording Academy January 2002 for the " Legends and Hero's Award" for his significant musical contributions. Mr. Lay was prominently featured on a PBS-TV broadcast of 7 episodes on the "History of the Blues" produced by Academy Award winning director, Martin Scorsese. http://www.chamberblues.com/ssb_bio_sam.html

Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith

Kenny was raised in the heart of the Chicago blues scene. While other babies listened to nursery rhymes, Kenny listened to the blues, and the blues in Kenny’s house were played by America’s finest: his father, Willie “Big Eyes”Smith, is one of the best-known living blues drummers.

Willie played in Muddy Waters’ band for some 30 years, and Waters and his band were like family to Kenny; they encouraged his music and were his mentors.

While Kenny acknowledges that his father taught him 99% of what he knows, he also has studied with such great drummers as Odie Payne, Fred Below, Earl Phillips, S.P. Leary, Francis Clay and Art Blakey.

Kenny has performed with an impressive list of blues legends, including Honeyboy Edwards, Pinetop Perkins, Henry Townsend, and Big Bill Morganfield, and has played on more than 50 albums, including several Earwig recordings, with blues luminaries such as Big Jack Johnson, Aron Burton, Lurrie Bell, Dave Myers, Junior Wells and Kim Wilson. He is the first call blues drummer in Chicago for session and club work.

New Revelation Community Children's Choir of Evanston

Chris James and Patrick Rynn

Chris James, guitarist, and Patrick Rynn, bass player, have been musically inseparable since 1990, when they encountered each other first at a jam at Chicago’s B.L.U.E.S. Etc. and then again three days later at a guitar emporium where Rynn worked.

Raised in San Diego, James, a child prodigy on the harmonica, hooked up with local bluesman Tomcat Courtney in 1980, when he was only 13, and played with him for the next decade. Chris delved deep into guitar two years later, and cites Freddy King, T-Bone Walker, Robert Lockwood, Luther Tucker and Elmore James as his first major influences.

Patrick’s bass-playing exploits began in 1984 in his native Toledo, Ohio, behind Art and Roman Griswold and Big Jack Reynolds. Patrick says that listening to a tape of Elmore James that he happened to pick up in a college bookstore was a real epiphany that inspired him to pursue a music career in the blues. Chris and Pat have recorded with Rob Stone as The C-Notes on Earwig’s Just My Luck, and they have been nominated for a 2008 Blues Music Award in the Best New Artist Debut category for their Earwig album, Stop And Think About It. This dynamic duo is the core of the Rhythm Room All Stars, the house band of the famous Phoenix, Arizona blues club. www.thebluefour.com