Way ahead of her time, Alice Stuart blazed the trail for women in rock and roll as one of the only females in the country to write her own music, front a male band, and play lead guitar on national and international circuits during the 1970s. Blues Hall of Fame inductee Dick Waterman once remarked, "There would be no Bonnie Raitt without Alice Stuart." According to Taj Mahal, "Alice cut the road that Bonnie traveled."

Alice spent the mid-70s, one of the most creative musical periods of the century, making music with some of the greatest artists of that time. She toured the US and Europe with Van Morrison, Commander Cody, Michael Bloomfield and John Prine. She appeared and recorded with such artists as Jerry Garcia, Albert King, Asleep at the Wheel, John Hammond, Richard Greene, Elvin Bishop, Dave Mason, Sonny Terry, Tower of Power, Bread, and Mark Naftalin. During this period, Alice also appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, and won rave reviews from Billboard, Guitar Player, and Rolling Stone magazines.

Alice's LPs on Arhoolie and Fantasy Records from 1964, 1970 and 1972 are landmark recordings. Her original songs from this period have been recorded by Jackie DeShannon, Irma Thomas, Jimmy Rabbit, and the late Kate Wolf.

Alice began performing professionally in Seattle during the early 60's. After hearing early blues recordings, Alice knew she had to immerse herself in the world of blues music. " I learned a couple of Furry Lewis tunes, and when I heard Blind Willie McTell, I just felt like I was home."

In 1964, Alice was introduced to California audiences at the Berkeley Folk Festival, then the biggest festival on the West Coast. From there, she toured and performed with Joan Baez, Doc Watson, Jack Elliott, Phil Ochs, Rosalie Sorrells, Jerry Ricks and more. During this period she met and played with blues greats Lightnin' Hopkins, Jesse Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt, as well as The Chambers Brothers. "I met Mississippi John Hurt in 1964. We became friends and played together often when he was on the West Coast."

In 1966, Alice joined forces with Frank Zappa during the formation of the Mothers of Invention. In 1970 Alice formed her own band, Snake, featuring Bob Jones and Karl Sevareid (currently with Robert Cray) after their band, Southern Comfort, broke up.

When listening to Alice Stuart today, her broad range of experience both vocally and instrumentally (on acoustic, electric, and slide) is obvious. In the 1980s, Alice took an extended hiatus from recording to concentrate on raising her family. In 1996, Alice inched her way back into the music scene, teaming with bassist Prune Rooney to release "Really Good." The importance of her comeback crystallized with 1999's "Crazy With the Blues," which won rave reviews and expanded her audience. Her newest CD, "Can't Find No Heaven," was released June 18, 2002 and is proving to be a pivotal career move.

Sugar Pie has been called a great R&B singer as you can hear on her soon to be released CD, “Refined Sugar” on the Jasman Records label. Yet, DeSanto, born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton in San Francisco, who was dubbed “Little Miss Sugar Pie” by bandleader Johnny Otis when she made her recording debut with him for Federal Records in 1955, is far more than a great blues singer. She’s also a first-class soul singer, a commanding jazz stylist, an uproarious comedienne, show-stopping dancer and an expert tunesmith. She has made over twenty appearances at the Apollo in New York and appeared regularly at The Regal in Chicago and the Howard in Washington, D.C.

It was at the Apollo where she was spotted by James Brown and became his dynamic opening act for the next two years. In 1964 she was the only female act with the American Folk Blues Festival that toured Europe. Other headliners included Willie Dixon, John Henry Barbee, Sleepy John Estes, Clifton James, Sunnyland Slim, Herbert Sumlin, Lightnin Hopkins, Howling Wolf and the legendary Sonny Boy Williamson. The Lippmann and Rau production was publicized as “featuring the best Blues Artists of America.”

Over the years she has written more than 100 tunes two of which she recorded as a duo with Etta James (“Do I make Myself Clear?” and “In the Basement,” reissued by MCA, the latter being included on the soundtrack of the movie “The Hurricane”). Other songs of hers have been recorded by Billy Stewart, Little Milton, Fontella Bass, Bobby McClure, Minnie Riperton, Jesse James, The Dells and the Whispers, among others. With the exception of “Blues Hall of Fame,” written by blues great Jimmy McCracklin, and “Darkness to the Light, co-written by Lonnie Hewitt and Paul Smith, all of the selection on “Refined Sugar” were written in whole or in part by DeSanto.

While Sugar Pie has made some memorable records over the years such as “I Want to Know,” “Slippin Mules” and “Soulful Dress,” it is her live performance that people particularly never forget. Her Set at the 1974 San Francisco Blues Festival prompted Living Blues magazine to call her “the hit of the festival.” After an absence of over two decades, she returned to the 1998 Festival and, although her set was limited to only three songs, the S.F. Examiner reviewer wrote “the 63-year-old Sugar Pie DeSanto dazzles the crowd with her singing.” In 1995 she played the prestigious Blues Estafette in Utrecht, Netherlands where she made the cover of Block Magazine. She has also been featured in a number of other magazines including the U.K.’s Blues and Rhythm and Mohair Sweets as well as Roctober and Filipinas. She performed at the 1997 St. Louis Blues and Heritage Festival where she received rave reviews in the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

In both 1997 and 1998 she received the award for “Best Female Live Blues Performer” from Canada’s Real Blues Magazine. In 1999 she received a BAMMIE for ”Outstanding Blues Artist.” In May 2003 she was honoured as a Blues Legend by the California Music Awards (formerly BAMMIE).

She appeared at the Belgium Spring Blues Fest in May 2005, followed by successful engagements at the Le Meridien Hotel in Paris and show stopping performances at the Cognac Blues Festival.

Miss DeSanto is one of the contributors to the book,
”Harlem of the West – The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era” by Elizabeth Pepin and Lewis Watts to be released in February 2006.
Miss DeSanto was featured in an hour-long interview on House of Blues Radio which aired nationally. She is a frequent headliner in San Francisco at John Lee Hooker’s popular Boom-Boom Room.
Sugar Pie is a great songwriter and singer but as expressed by Rob Harvilla in the East Bay Express (Jan 2006), “…DeSanto can only truly do herself justice in person, a rowdy, full-contact experience…”

 Frankie G & the Conviction is a high-energy blues band who delivers a powerful show with an eclectic style of the blues. While presenting a strong cache of classic and contemporary music, The Conviction mix-in powerful originals displaying their creativity and talent. To the guys who make up the band, the music is very important as is performing to the crowd. The band believes the audience is there for good music and a good time - both are delivered with confidence and Conviction.

Frankie G ~ Guitar/Vocal: Prior to FG&C, Frankie G headed up the East Bay band Killin' Floor for 9 years. Many festivals made Killin' Floor an annual staple in their line up for the crowd-pleasing talent of Frankie G. Emotional and passionate in style, Frankie holds nothing back when he performs for the crowd. Influenced by the likes of SRV, Eric Clapton and Johnny Winter, his own style shines through and delivers the goods.

Mac Akin ~ Bass/Vocal: Originally from the NYC/NJ area music scene, Mac has firm roots in Blues, Rock 'n' Roll and Western Swing. His solid, Fender, four-string styled approach, holds down the groove and keeps the The Conviction drivin'. Influenced by the classics, Mac is as solid as they come.

Gino Emmerich ~ Harmonic: A Bay Area native, Gino Bambino blows harp like nobody's business. With strong attention to TONE and FEEL, Gino implements passion and precise attack when playing. Check him out at www.ginoharmonica.com

Stewart Burr ~ Drums/Vocal: Burr, an East Bay resident, chooses the drums as a lifestyle and as a profession. Playing with talents such as Red Archibald and "the legendary" Chubby Checker, Stewart adds an energy and feel to all rhythms. With a degree in Jazz studies and European tours under his belt, he is content rockin' with The Conviction and performing for the crowds.

"Bluesy funk" is Patricia Wilder's self-described music style - "real" music about "real" people, living real.

Wilder's musical foundation is rooted in jazz, rock, R&B, blues and gospel. She began playing the guitar as a teen after her mother encouraged her to develop an interest in any instrument besides the one she was pursuing - drums. Because music was prevalent in her household, she was able to recognize and develop her strong passion for music. She received her initial influences from Wes Montgomery and Taj Mahal. As a friend of the family, Taj Mahal provided the ultimate inspiration in her childhood - it was from him that she received her first guitar. As her confidence grew in her guitar playing ability, she ventured into singing. Wilder says her guitar playing and singing were both outlets for self-expression. She truly enjoys performing as an expression of universal communication, and desires her audience to feel, hear and see all she is communicating through her music. Described as "one of the most exciting blues guitarist/vocalists to come  out of the bay area in a long time" by Lee Hildebrand of the San Francisco Bay  Guardian, Wilder has shared her talent with many great  musicians, such as Linda Tillary, John Lee Hooker, Jr., Angela Bofill and many  others.  When performing, it is Wilder's ambition to feel the electricity and energy  exchanged between herself and the audience. When you hear it you too will be  energized and completely captivated by the unique funk rhythms of her CDs, "Eugene" and "Lay Down Daddy".

Nuclear Blonde's Shauna Marshall emerged on the local scene two years ago and quickly became a Napa Valley favorite. Since then, she has appeared all around the North Bay and the San Francisco Bay Area dishing up searing blues with flavors of rock, country, funk and pop, and sharing the stage with local blues legends such as Steve Freund and Stan Erhart. She combines a raucous sense of humor and classic blues inspired original tunes with a cool blend of dance favorites to make each and every show an adventure. In quieter settings, her haunting vocals connect with an audience bringing a feeling of intimacy to any gathering. She loves the magic that happens when you bring different musicians together and is thrilled to be bringing the talented powerhouse Pat Wilder to the Headfeathers stage with her band.

The music borrows from styles as diverse as the players who make it. The band draws from the immense talent pool of Bay Area musicians including bass player Tom Bowers who has played for Sonny Rhoades, Chris Cain, Tia Carroll, Pat Wilder, Jackie Payne & Steve Edmonson, Johnny Nitro and countless others. Blues and Jazz Saxist Stu Viets' career spans over three decades and includes stints with the Milwaukee & Green Bay Symphonies, as well as playing with Richie Barron, Elvin Bishop and others. Steve Trovao, drums, has been performing regularly throughout the Bay Area with noted bands such as The Neutrals, Shawn Brown, Little Wolf & the Hellcats and more. Manabu Okuhara, guitar, hails from Japan and brings his deep love and appreciation of old school blues and Chicago-style guitar. Phil Marshall, rhythm guitar/bass guitar, has been in several popular local bands that have performed in Napa and the Bay Area over the course of the last twenty years. For more info, check out www.myspace.com/nuclearblonde.

A.C. Myles, guitarist, singer and songwriter, is reminiscent of greats in the taste of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Rory Gallagher and Eric Clapton.

Born in California, the only son of a Memphis born guitar playing Father, and German immigrant Mother, whom were both production workers, Adam Crawford Myles grew up in the migrant worker rurals of the Central California town in which he was raised. A.C. was first influenced by his guitar playing Father, learning the basics from watching him and playing along to C.D.'s, the two often having living room jam sessions with friends. By the time he reached his early teens in high school, he had formed a trio with gentleman nearly the age of his parents, and begun playing guitar and singing classic rock n' roll songs and blues covers for biker gangs and bars crowds. "I started playing guitar and singing in the bars when I was young. Real young."

He eventually taught himself the basics of reading music and won several awards for 'Outstanding Musicianship', most notably an IAJE award at the Reno Jazz Festival, because of his formidable guitar solos. "The judges knew I was faking the reading", he laughs aloud. "It didn't matter though, we had a hell of a rhythm section, and most of them couldn't read so great either."

 By 2002 A.C. Myles, now 21 years old, was becoming a journeyman musician. With two self-written, self produced C.D. releases, radio and press outside of his hometown and many club and festival appearances under his belt. He also began to garner some stage time with the seasoned old guard. In 2004, he played the 25th and final Blues Estafette in Europe with sax legend Joe Houston, and in 2005, he did a string of gigs with west coast guitarist Craig Horton. 2005 also showed him backing up blues/soul pioneers The Carter Bros. at the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans, along with two appearances at the 11th Lucerne Blues festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. In August/September 2005, he embarked with an outfit country/rock group on a three-week tour of the Middle East region. Performing for U.S. and Coalition troops in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, U.A.E. and Africa.

2006 saw the release of his junior effort, 'Up To The Neck With The Blues'. Garnering more press, radio airplay and sales than ever before, including a tour of Switzerland with Fillmore Slim & Craig Horton late in the year, inquiries in new regions and all along continuing tours of California fairs, festivals and casino stages. With a keen ear and an introspective lyricism, A.C. has become a skilled songwriter, continually pleasing his audiences and critics with his remarkable original material. His personal appearances have a 'take no prisoners' approach which; along with a healthy dose of humor, usually gets even the toughest audience on his side. With a performance schedule that might make lesser musicians opt to take up with a good book and a glass of wine, A.C. Myles has a strong work ethic and undiminished ambition. At every chance proclaiming his inalienable right to boogie and rock. "I just want to play for the people who love this type of music. They understand what we're about. If we do right by the people then I think we'll be around for awhile"

John "Broadway" Tucker sings in the great tradition of southern soul and blues of the 1960s. The son of a sharecropper, he grew up on a Natchez plantation and spent his childhood on the Mississippi Delta. In his teens he moved to Memphis, Tennessee as rhythm & Blue and soul music exploded in that city in the early 1960s. He spent time at Stax Records and was mentored by Sam Cooke during this time.

The Mississippi and Memphis influences, along with his gospel roots, make Tucker's style an appealing mix of soul and blues. His impassioned singing is often compared to Bobby Blue Bland, O.V. Wright & Otis Redding.

A soldier in the mid-1960s, he went to singing soul and blues with the USO (US Military) and performed throughout Germany. He was transferred to Fort Ord in Monterey, California. He quickly became a strong member of the west-coast blues scene (After Jimi Hendrix's appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, he came down to the club where John sang 6 night a week to finish out the night by playing with Tucker).

He was then sent to Vietnam and, after, returned to California and has matured into a sophisticated and impassioned singer and performer and has become a California legend.

He has performed on concert programs with many famous stars of the blue and soul including James Brown, Bobby Blue Bland, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and many others. He has performed at Monterey's famed international Jazz and Blues festivals and the San Francisco Blues Festival. He has produced a number of critically acclaimed recordings and has had radio play around the world.

John "Broadway" Tucker is the proud recipient of the Monterey Bay Blues Festival's 2006 "Mobay" Artist of the Year award. Joining the company of legends such as Bobby "Blue" Bland, Etta James, Charles Brown, Charlie Musselwhite, and others.

In 2007 John "Broadway" Tucker brings his American rhythm section to Europe to be joined by top Polish players Leszek Cichonski and Wjotek Karolak (with whom he recorded the 2003 CD "Come Together - LIve") for his third European tour since 2003.

30 SEATS LEFT...Guitarist, producer and bandleader Steve Freund, praised by Rolling Stone for his "masterful, no-nonsense guitar work" has relocated to the West Coast following 18 years as one of Chicago's most respected musicians.

Widely sought after for his knowledge of and fluency in the Blues idioms, Freund has earned a reputation as one of the hottest players on today's blues scene. He served an unreproducible apprenticeship after leaving N.Y.C. In 1976, learning the role of second guitar behind Hubert Sumlin, Lee Jackson, Homesick James, Louis Myers, and many others. He spent two years working with Big Walter Horton and Floyd Jones, learning the deep blues and the idiosyncrasies that are part of the art.

In 1978, he became Sunnyland Slim's main guitarist, playing just about every gig with the piano legend until the time of his death. Freund became the consummate piano accompanist working with Pinetop Perkins, Jimmy Walker, Henry Gray, Erwin Helfer, David Maxwell and many more.

With a soul-filled feel and scorching tone, David has wowed audiences at every performance. 

 

“David Landon creates plenty of excitement with his liquid heat on the guitar.” — Blues Access Magazine.

David started playing guitar at the age of 12 and after studying privately for 5 years while attending college in Boston, David moved to Paris, France to woodshed and perfect his craft for 6 to 7 hours each day. It was there that he literally stopped traffic with his four-piece band consisting of guitar, bass, drums and sax when they played on the streets of the Latin Quarter. Soon David and his band moved indoors and consequently became a steady fixture in the Paris club scene for the next five years as well as throughout Europe at a wide variety of venues. 

In 1994 David returned to the U.S and took up residence in the San Francisco Bay Area where he currently lives and performs with his band. In addition, David is a busy session guitar player and producer working with a wide variety of artists. 

Over the years David has also played in the band’s of many other notable musicians including Melvin Seals, Lenny Williams, Bobby Reed, Earl Thomas, Frankie Lee, Bobby Webb and Deacon Jones, to name just a few. 

Chasin’ the Blues - from Blues Access Magazine - Summer 2000

He refreshed several of the very standard standards he takes on- especially a funked up version of Carl Perkins’ “ Blue Suede Shoes” – by speeding ‘em up, streamlining ‘em and cutting loose with his Robben Ford-like liquid heat on the guitar.

Landon’s also a solid, energetic singer, showing some spunk on “Rock Me Baby” and “I’m Ready.” Other influences? Well, let’s see: “ Red House” and “Voodoo Chile” are here, alongside many meat and potato blues cuts and some originals. The rhythm section is firm and steady as a politician’s handshake, maybe a little too much so on coulda-been-a-swinger “The Music’s Hot” and Johnny Guitar Watson’s “Don’t Touch Me,” but all in all this is a very impressive straight-on blues performance.

BLUES BEAT INDY CD OF THE MONTH - Chasin' The Blues

Crackerjack blues-rock guitarist David Landon has put out his second recording, "Chasin' The Blues," (this one, all blues) and it's a good one. This Berkeley-based blues boy, with more than a touch of Hendrix in his soul and a couple of Jimi's compositions on the CD, worships at the guitar-feet of the late Johnny "Guitar" Watson and keeps his flame alive with ripping lines of stringed fever throughout this 50-minute, self-produced, mixed and arranged fireball. Check the boy out!   

Chris Cain's jazz-tinged, blues soaked guitar and deep, warm vocals have the maturity and authenticity of bluesmen many years his senior. His expressive style is the result of a lifetime of study and the relentless pursuit of music mastery. His passion and intensity are a blend of his mother's Greek ancestry and his father's soulful black heritage.

Cain was raised on stories of his father's childhood upbringing on Memphis' Historic Beale Street and attended his first B.B King concert at the tender age of three. Blues music played continuously on the home stereo and family outings were often trips to concerts. Cain recalls, "I remember when I was a kid, my Dad would be mowing the lawn with the stereo blasting Muddy Waters. When I look back, that was pretty cool! There was always music playing at our house, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, all the greats."

At the age of eight, Cain taught himself to play guitar and began playing professionally before he was eighteen. Chris studied music at San Jose City College, and was soon teaching jazz improvisation on campus. Over the next twenty years, Cain would also master piano, bass guitar, clarinet, alto and tenor saxophone. The combination of his blues upbringing and his jazz studies melded to form the searing guitar style that sets Chris Cain apart and has moved him to the top ranks of the blues music scene.

Cain's debut recording, Late Night City Blues (Blue Rock'it Records-1987) garnered four W.C. Handy Blues Award nominations, including Guitarist of the Year." Dan Forte of Guitar Player wrote, "An impressive debut album by a top notch guitarist." Cain's next two releases; "Cuttin Loose" (Blind Pig Records-1990) and "Can't Buy a Break" (Blind Pig Records-1992) collected a long list of awards and accolades. In August of 1995 Blind Pig released "Somewhere Along the Way" his 4th compilation of his unique brand of original music sophisticated blues, funk, jazz and gospel.

In 2003 Patrick Ford produced Chris's latest CD, "Hall Of Shame" (Blue Rock'it Records-2003). "...this is now the sixth Chris Cain solo release I have produced, not to mention his work with me on projects like the Ford Blues Bands' "In Memory Of Michael Bloomfield" CD, and I continue to be in awe of his incredible talent. As a guitarist/singer, Chris has been praised by mentors like Albert King and peers like Robben Ford."

Larry Nager (syndicated Scripts-Howard music critic) writes, "Nowadays most young blues players are Strat-wielding Stevie Ray Vaughan-a-bes. Not Chris Cain. With a voice that recalls B.B. King and a thick toned Gibson guitar sound reminiscent of Albert King, Cain is forging a unique style. With his own highly personalized songwriting, "Hall Of Shame" is a giant step in the development of one of the most compelling young bluesmen on today's scene."

Through his guitar mastery and remarkable songwriting ability, Chris Cain has established himself as a musical force to be reckoned with. And as San Jose Mercury News music reviewer John Orr writes, "more than anyone else, anywhere, Chris Cain represents the future of the blues."

"Chris Cain is one of those artists that all the other artists groove to."
- Blues Revue

Albert King sang "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong." Some who hear this album might want to say to Chris Cain, "Don't throw your blues on me so strong." But after a string of projects that took him away from his own writing -- the brilliant "Cain on King" and working with the Ford brothers on tributes to Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield -- Cain is back to putting his own life in music. And this album is like listening to him bleed...
- Read more from the John Orr of the San Jose Mercury News

"This is now the sixth Chris Cain solo release I have produced, not to mention his work with me on projects like the Ford Blues Bands' "In Memory Of Michael Bloomfield" CD, and I continue to be in awe of his incredible talent. It might seem decisively unfair to the majority of the musicians on this planet that so much natural skill, ability, and creative energy should be found in just one person. But there you have it."
- Patrick Ford

"Cain is a phenomenally gifted musician who has refined the pure match of strapping guitar and husky vocals. If his string attack doesn't devastate, his voice will."
- Blues Revue

"Chris Cain's Hall of Shame (Blue Rock'It Records) is successfully soulful, jazzy blues. Lyrics, on a scale of one, one being an element of pure musical expression, to ten, ten being an element of pure verbal expression, come in at around three. Cain really shines as a front line and vocal arranger here. His vocals are reminiscent of a younger B. B. King. Overall arrangements recognize rests as being in partnership with notes in creating music. The Real Blues Magazine observation that "Chris Cain is one of those artists that all the other musicians groove to" is pretty accurate. Sometimes, it seems that there's no point to a musician devoting all energies to a traditional genre such as blues, because the patterns and songs have all been written, done, recorded and bought; it seems something like continuing to hammer a nail after it's driven all the way into the board. Cain reminds us here that there's plenty of opportunity left to polish the blues."
- Bluesbytes

Volker Strifler:  songwriter, vocalist, guitar player, producer.

"The Blues is what I start with. It brings with it a singular truth I have come to love. In the process of writing and playing, I let the influences on my life shape it to make it my own"
Volker Strifler

"I've long been drawn to promising individual singers, and singing is the focus of Earl's being. He's got the goods - vocal chops, songwriting talent, looks and drive. - from Jerry Wexler's liner notes.

Earl Thomas comes to Memphis International with an album of pure soul that underscores his established ability as a songwriter but, more importantly, as a consummate singer. He's been wowing audiences on the west coast and on the festival circuit in Europe, as well, with his direct approach that is one part Sam Cooke, one part Otis Redding, one part Al Green and ten parts Earl Thomas.. 

His songs have been recorded by Etta James, Solomon Burke and Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green. Soul'd!, his Memphis International debut represents a return to the Southern soul tradition. The album includes such "burners" as "I'll Love You No Less," "First & Last Thing On My Mind," "Stronger Than My Flame," originals penned by Earl, as well as his take on Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind" and Howard Tate's "Look At Granny Run Run." 

He's released eleven critically acclaimed CD's, and has songs currently in four feature films.  

Variety named him "the soul music discovery of 2003" and Blues Revue called Soul'd! "a serious contender for soul-blues album of the year." 

Earl who was born into a musical family: his mother was a gospel singer in the Clara Ward mode and his dad was a full-fledged harp playing blues singer a la Little Walter. "He could have been as good as any bluesman out there but he decided to have a real job and raise a family but he turned me onto rock 'n roll as well as blues." ...And lots of soul, too. Earl grew up listening to Bobby Blue Bland, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, all the Stax records, the artists and repertoire that he refers to as "the language of our people." 

When he was ten or eleven, Earl "T" took his son to the movies and things were never the same. "My dad took me to see the film "Soul To Soul", where American performers took their act to Ghana." The film opens with Ike and Tina Turner performing the title song. Earl was completely galvanized, "I turned to my dad and said 'that's what I want to do." Earl was inspired beyond belief and immediately thereafter went into training for his future career. This year, the film was released on DVD for the first time and Earl's vocal of the title song is heard over the end credits, proving that dreams do come true.  

After a stint in the Navy, he received his first formal musical training in college. He was a voice major and held his own with classical repertoire ("I am a big Bartok fan - he was the Frank Zappa of classic music") including opera. His LaScala career was nipped in the bud by the fact that his approximation of Wilson Pickett's screaming vocal style effectively changed his high-pitched Smokey Robinson styled - tenor into the grittier sounding instrument he wields with such authority on "Soul'd" 

Ultimately, Earl Thomas formed a group, The Blues Ambassadors, and recorded an album Blue...Not Blues released on Bizarre Records that included one of his originals, "I Sing The Blues." Claude Nobs, Montreux Jazz Festival impresario, caught wind of it and passed it onto Jerry Wexler who proceeded to cut it with Etta James who kicked off her Elektra album, The Right Time, with the tune.

Earl Thomas is a dynamic presence, an explosion of energy and heartfelt abandon. Against all odds, great soul music is back thanks to Earl Thomas and "Soul'd!"  

20 SEATS LEFT...A show business veteran of more than forty years, Willie G, hailing from Hallsville Texas, is a compelling vocalist focusing on soul, rhythm and blues, blues and jazz. He delivers his unique brand of high energy at each power-packed performance. With a stage act appealing to all ages, Willie G is also behind the scenes hard at work as a producer and singer-songwriter.

In 1993 Willie G was honored for his generous contributions toward the preservation of the blues with the Blues Contribution Award awarded by the Bay Area Blues Society.

With a strong Bay Area presence on the music scene, Willie G possesses a velvet smooth bass, baritone and tenor voice. His impressive stage presence has earned him leading roles in several black produced plays such as A. Play For Me, I Am No Whore, and Blackbirds.

Willie G is a highly motivated self-starter, who has studied the masters of the music extensively, which adds rich texture to his natural gift. Willie G was raised in the church listening and singing Gospel music.

Willie G and the late Bob Geddins, cofounder of the West Coast blues scene, collaborated on a workshop on the creation of the blues in Oakland.

Geddins remarked of Willie G, "He's the perfect student to work with, because of his understanding of phrasing, song styles and technique." Willie G perpetuates the tradition of his music through his participation with youngsters in school programs throughout the Bay Area.

An exceptionally gifted vocalist and performer, Willie G and his band makes any occasion one your guests will remember with great fondness for many years to come.