Saturday, March 13, 2010
Public Access |
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- Time:
- 8:00pm
- Description:
- Delta Moon and Leroy Powell and The Messengers
Doors @8:00 pm
Cover $10ADV/$10DOS
Delta Moon
The dual slide guitars of Delta Moon carry the listener deep into the heart of the American South, where sinuous Mississippi blues meets the gritty backwoods twang of Appalachia and winds around a rock-steady beat like kudzu on a barbwire fence. The American Roots Music Association named whiskey-voiced Tom Gray 2008 Blues Songwriter of the Year. His songs have been recorded by Cyndi Lauper (including the hit “Money Changes Everything”), Manfred Mann, Carlene Carter, Bonnie Bramlett and many others. Tom was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Virginia and Georgia, but home was always the family farm in the North Carolina mountains. In the 1980s he led a rock group, The Brains, that recorded two albums on Mercury Records. Originally a keyboard player, Tom picked up his first lap steel guitar in the late 1980s and hasn’t really put it down yet. While not born in the South, Mark Johnson did grow up in a trailer park in Ravenna, Ohio. His uncle owned a record store, and there was always music in the Johnson home. Mark played guitar in bands all through high school. In the early 1990s he moved to Atlanta, where he formed a band called the Rude Northerners. About that time he abandoned standard tuning and became obsessed with bottleneck slide. When Tom and Mark first met in an Atlanta music store, Tom tried to sell Mark a Dobro out of the back of his van. Tom remembers the girl with Mark whispering, “Let’s get out of here.” Mark didn’t buy the guitar, but the two exchanged phone numbers and soon were playing together regularly in coffee shops and barbecue joints around Atlanta. Mark came up with the name Delta Moon after a pilgrimage to Muddy Waters’ cabin near Clarksdale, Mississippi. When the band added bass and drums and started playing nightclubs and festivals around Atlanta and the South, they quickly gathered a wall full of local “best” awards. After winning the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2003, Delta Moon widened its travels to include the US, Canada, and Europe. Drummer Darren Stanley and bassist Franher Joseph joined Delta Moon in 2007. Darren, originally from Stone Mountain, Georgia, and Franher, from Haiti by way of Jonesboro, Georgia, have played together off and on since they first met in the University of Georgia Redcoat marching band, when Darren played snare and Franher played Sousaphone.
Leroy Powell and the Messengers
He grew up in Redlands, Ca, where his father started him out singing and playing guitar at the age of ten. Powell would later learn to play bass, drums, harmonica, fiddle, and pedal steel. He moved to Los Angeles in 1998 and started singing and playing with Funk, R&B, blues, and rock bands including members of Spearhead, Fishbone, Gene Loves Jezebel, Blink 182, and Ike Turner. In 2001 Leroy started to focus on a more countrified sound and began to experiment with adding all of his other musical influences blending classic country with psychedelic rock and blues. Leroy played with Shooter Jennings from 2004-2007. They recorded four albums together and toured across the country. Albums include - Put the “O” Back in Country, Electric Rodeo, Live at Irving Plaza, and The Wolf. Leroy wrote many songs for that project including “Lonesome Blues,” “Busted in Baylor County,” “Hair of the Dog,” “The Alligator Chomp”{sung by Tony Joe White}, and ”Slow Train”{sung with the Oakridge Boys}. In 2007 he released his self-titled album, LEROY POWELL a nod to classic 70’s country records co-produced with Dave Cobb. Leroy Powell played guitars, dobros, and harmonicas on the post-humous recordings of Waylon Jennings, titled Waylon Forever, released Oct. 21st, 2008 on Vagrant Records. Also you can hear Leroy’s guitar and pedal steel work on the fall 2008 movie and soundtrack, Soul Men, starring Bernie Mac and Samuel Jackson in which Leroy was included in the incredible band that recreated the original Stax sound. There he played with Stanley Clarke, John Legend, Freddie Washington, Patrice Rushen, James Gadsen, and Steve Ferrone. Angles & Curves is an independent release recorded in collaboration with legendary music producer, Eddie Kramer{Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin,Kiss} and Mike Bradford{Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker}.
Delta Moon Myspace
Leroy Powell Myspace
