The Reverend Richard John

The Reverend´s music is foot tapping blues which appeals to audiences both young and old. The Reverend's cutting vocal style blends perfectly with his deep south harmonica jive. His slide guitar has extreme attack and is fused with great touch and gentle tone. His dynamic rhythms are generated by a heartfelt dedicated wooden stomp box.

Playing blues standards as well as original songs which incorporates his own unique style and sound. Providing a basic back beat with his feet using a wooden stomp box. In addition on stage he uses 2 electric guitars as well as an acoustic 12 string and acoustic 6 string. His strong vocal delivery is accompanied by harmonica.

After performing in the UK for many years he was interviewed live on the Paul Jones show on British Radio 2. He has been described as “a powerful, vibrant solo blues player with a stunning unique style of blues which is both full and rich, delivered with the feel associated with blues music.

After moving to Spain The Reverend toured the live blues circuit for around 12 years. He lived in a converted van between gigs which gave him the opportunity to write his songs and then perform the work in a live music environment polishing and adjusting according to audience response.

He has featured at the prestigious Cazorla Blues Festival and the Winter Blues Festival at Almeria City. He performed at the Madma Bluesaroses Festival in Girona supporting the American blues player Sherman Robertson. He also performed at The Blues at Moonlight Festival, Benalmadena and Dia del Blues in Benicassim.

George Brock

George Brock was born on May 16, 1932 in Granada, Mississippi, and died on April 10, 2020. A renowned harmonica player and singer, he moved to Missouri in the 1950s, where he played in a series of nightclubs. He started picking cotton, was a boxer and managed up to three stores. He performed with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed and Albert King, and starred in the 2006 film "Hard Times," a documentary about his life. In the 2000s, he recorded some albums under his name.

When he was eight years old he was picking cotton. His father taught him and his brothers to play the harmonica. When he was a teenager he moved to Mattson, Mississippi. There he met Muddy Waters, and they performed together on weekends. In the late 1940s he moved to Walls, Mississippi. While working on the construction of Highway 61, he met Howlin' Wolf. He became his roadie and performed with him. He then moved to St. Louis in 1950, where he was an amateur boxer for a time. In 1952, boxer Sonny Liston was training in a gym with Brock. Liston challenged Brock to a match and Brock won the match in the second round.

But instead of boxing he decided to focus on his musical career because it was more lucrative. He created his own band, Big George & the Houserockers, where blues guitarist Albert King played before forming his own. In 1952 he opened his own nightclub, Club Caravan, near North Garrison and Franklin avenues. Brock combined security at the venue and performing with a band in which Albert King, Big Baddy Smitty or Riley Coatie sometimes performed on lead guitar. The club also had Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Ike & Tina Turner and Jimmy Reed, among others, on stage.

In the early 1960s, Muddy Waters arranged a meeting for him with Chess Records executives. He did not see it clearly and distrusted the seal. He decided to continue playing on the club circuit, which became three under his command. Brock closed Club Caravan after his wife was killed during a shooting in 1970. He opened another Club Caravan at Delmar Boulevard and Taylor Avenue, but it closed in the late 1980s.

In 2005 he signed with Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art. He released the album “Club Caravan” to favorable reviews. The following year he released the album “Round Two”, which, like the first, received nominations for the Blues Music Award. That year, 2006, a documentary about his life titled “Hard Times” appeared and in 2007 his album “Heavyweight Blues” appeared.

In the early 1960s, Muddy Waters arranged a meeting for him with Chess Records executives. He did not see it clearly and distrusted the seal. He decided to continue playing on the club circuit, which became three under his command. Brock closed Club Caravan after his wife was killed during a shooting in 1970. He opened another Club Caravan at Delmar Boulevard and Taylor Avenue, but it closed in the late 1980s.

In 2005 he signed with Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art. He released the album “Club Caravan” to favorable reviews. The following year he released the album “Round Two”, which, like the first, received nominations for the Blues Music Award. That year, 2006, a documentary about his life titled “Hard Times” appeared and in 2007 his album “Heavyweight Blues” was published.

Timothea

Timothea started her music career singing for change in front of the jukebox at her aunt's bar in Westwego, Louisiana. By the time she turned 12 she was sharing the stage with the likes of Earl King, Irma Thomas, Ernie K-Doe, Dr. John, Johnny Adams and Art & Aaron Neville. At age of 14 she cut her first single, "Teenage Prayer," at the New Orleans local hit factory of the time "Cosmo's Recording Studio". Legendary Wardell Quezergue produced Timothea, and a rising star named Dr. John played guitar. She was married at the age of 15 and had two children before she turned eighteen and quit the music business for 12 years. 
In 1981, she returned to her first love - singing. Timothea released a series of singles that were produced by her long time friend and Guru, Earl King. He took Timothea under his wing and his label. Earl King and Timothea released several singles in the eighties on Grand Marshall Records, all written and produced by Earl King and featuring George Porter Jr., Joseph "Ziggy" Modeliste, Art Neville, and other members of the Neville Brothers / Meters. Johnny Adams soon asked Timothea to be part of his review at Dorothy's Medallion where she found the New Orleans Singer and Guitar Wonder, Walter "Wolfman" Washington. That was all she needed. Together they co-wrote Wolftracks (1986) and Out of the Dark (1987), on Rounder Records. 

Jim Jarmusch discovered Timothea at Dorothy's and gave her the roll of Julie in the movie "Down By Law". While singing and touring with Adams, Timothea and The Wolfman decided to go out on their own and put together a new band, The RoadMasters, (pinned after Timothea's RoadMaster bicycle). The band featured Walter Washington, Jon Cleary and Timothea. The three headliners shared their magic together on the road and in front of thousands of people, then coming home to play their weekly house gig at Bennies Bar on Valance St. Timothea left the band after three years to move to New York, leaving Walter and the Roadmasters to go for the solo career. 

After the release of "Down By Law" Timothea moved to New York and lived there for six years. In NYC she produced her first CD using some of the older tracks recorded with Walter and The RoadMaster Band and began booking Timothea and The Po Boy's all through Europe. 
Timothea moved back to New Orleans when her Mother became ill and started Blue Soul Records with Kent Birkle and then Lyn Boudousquie. Blue Soul has released several CD's to date. 

A pioneer in promoting education and awareness of Hepatitis C, Timothea founded and heads Siren to Wail Inc. "Music With a Message". A charitable organization she founded in 1999, Siren to Wail promotes, produces and sponsors public service announcements for TV and Radio, music concerts for awareness and her latest baby, pinned by her son, rapper Jesse B, titled "The Hep-Acation Project" for awareness in the schools. Once again using music to draw attention to this debilitating illness. The annual "Once in a Blue Moon" concert and silent auction sponsored by Siren to Wail has raised thousands of dollars for Hep C awareness since 2000. Previous concerts have headlined such stellar entertainers as Dr. John, Buddy Guy, Allen Toussaint, Art Neville, Bobby Rush, and Diane Lotny, plus Timothea and her band Blue Soul All Stars who back up all of these legends. For more info, contact. SirenToWail.org. Timothea was recently nominated for her outstanding work by Angels On Earth. Their most recent recipient of this award was singer / percussionist Shelia E for her work with children. 
2004 has been a busy year for Timothea. She released her latest album, I'm Still Standing, in partnership with two other songwriters, Steve Busch and Pat Robinson, who have worked with other artists such as Brookes & Dunn, Joe Cocker, The Byrds, and Ry Cooder and a number of other rock legends. She also completed her first music video, Time for a Change. The video was written and directed by Aaron C. Walker, and was filmed over several days at the Columns Hotel in New Orleans. Coming in August 2004 Timothea will appear on a new compilation CD, Born to the House of Blues, with such artists as Ron Wood and Keith Richards, Marino DeSilva, Johnny and Edgar Winters, Leon Russell, Taj Mahal, Les McCann and more. Timothea isn't just a musician. She is one of New Orleans finest songwriters and producers. Alligator artist WC Clark, winner of this year's WC Handy award, recorded one of Timothea's compositions. She has collaborated with many other talents including Walter Washington and Earl King tune's soon to be released from the crypt. 

Timothea is working on yet another CD compilation of Louisiana artists to raise money and spread awareness of Hepatitis C. She has partnered with Marino DeSilva, Founder of another musical healing organization, Angels On Earth. This time besides singing and writing she will be A&R and Co-producer with Marino. In April he produced and released The Magic with Carlos Santana and his past and present players. At one time Marino was a member himself. Timothea has had a long and storied musical career that has taken her all over the US and Europe playing and recording. Some refer to her as "the triple threat" because of her abilities as a singer, songwriter, and savvy businesswoman, but she "gets her thrills from discovering and producing new talent." Timothea's music has also appeared on several other television programs and soon to be in the movies. If you are a fan of soul, funk, blues, or R&B then you can find something in Timothea's music. It is rare to find an artist that has lived what they sing about. Fortunately, Timothea is one of those extraordinary few. Her songs show a side of her life that some artists might shy away from, but Timothea confronts them head on with the same vitality that has allowed her to become such a successful and long lived artist. If you want to really find out what life is all about, then you only need to go to Timothea's website to visit or to pick up a CD or a DVD.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd, American rock band that rose to prominence during the Southern rock boom of the 1970s on the strength of its triple-guitar attack and gritty working-class attitude. The principal members were Ronnie Van Zant (b. January 15, 1949, Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.—d. October 20, 1977, Gillsburg, Mississippi), Gary Rossington (b. December 4, 1951, Jacksonville—d. March 5, 2023), Allen Collins (b. July 19, 1952, Jacksonville—d. January 23, 1990, Jacksonville), Steve Gaines (b. September 14, 1949, Seneca, Missouri—d. October 20, 1977, Gillsburg), Billy Powell (b. June 3, 1952, Jacksonville—d. January 28, 2009, Orange Park, Florida), Leon Wilkeson (b. April 2, 1952—d. July 27, 2001, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida), Bob Burns (b. November 24, 1950, Jacksonville, Florida—d. April 3, 2015, Cartersville, Georgia), and Artimus Pyle (b. July 15, 1948, Louisville, Kentucky). 

After playing under various names in Jacksonville, the group settled on Lynyrd Skynyrd (a backhanded compliment to a high-school gym teacher notorious for his opposition to long hair). In 1973 they released their first album, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd. “Free Bird,” a tribute to the late Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band, was an immediate sensation, thanks to the interplay of its three lead guitars, while “Sweet Home Alabama,” a response to Neil Young’s derisive “Southern Man,” opened Second Helping (1974) and established the group as Southern rock stalwarts. In 1977, as Skynyrd’s success was increasing, a plane carrying the band crashed in Gillsburg, Mississippi, killing singer Van Zant and guitarist Gaines. The group disbanded.

The new Skynyrd was embraced by a number of country singers, especially Travis Tritt. In 2006 Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Groundhogs

Although they are still known primarily as a blues rock band, they did not start that way, nor do they continue that way. They were originally called “John Lee’s Groundhogs” and supported John Lee Hooker on his tour of England in 1964. Supporting Hooker was not easy, he was famous for his constant changes of pace. Closer to spoken blues (Talking Blues), or to his own electric version of Delta blues. John Lee's style is immediately recognizable.

His most famous period came from the time when it was difficult to get blues plays in England, demonstrating what can happen when, starting from a blues base, Tony McPhee's exceptional creativity and guitar skill explode. He says, for example, of the song on his album 'Blues Obituary' (where they are apparently burying the blues), that 'Mistreated' is a blues song, but he added 'a few chords' to it.

As a composer, he frequently disguised his feelings (against war, for example) behind ironic titles, and with a penchant for titles that distort common phrases into puns.

The band is considered a legendary group, but really although the bassists and drummers were top-notch, the center of Groundhogs was always the guitarist, songwriter and singer. Tony McPhee in Groundhogs deserves the description of Captain Sensible as 'the English Jimi Hendrix'. I'll get to the wonderful Robin Trower in a future article naturally.

There are a wide variety of sounds and timbres that McPhee uses, his skill with the pedals is amazing, but his sound never stops being completely original and recognizable. There is a lot of sophistication in the different arrangements he proposes and in his expansion of the limits of what an essentially blues guitarist could be and do, he shows many possible paths to follow.