1st Studio Album since 2008, Americana, Soul Blues Country
Sneak Preview, for release in October 2018

A musical Gumbo of Blues, Cajun, Texas Country Swing, Swamp Pop, Gospel, New Orleans Brass band second line Jazz, Boogie Piano.
My Grandmother in Memphis played piano in the silent movies….fast forward many years later where I studied film scoring in California and often look at music as a sonic landscape.

My 66 years were a journey through Appalachia, Louisiana Bayous, Beale Street, Alabama Gulf Coast, Southwest Desert, A small Village in Spain, where my wife Maria was Born, Black Juke Joints, Cowboy Bars, Honkey Tonks, Tex-Mex, Chain Gangs, Mississippi Delta, Memphis, Beebe Memorial Cathedral, African American Church in Oakland where I was the Hammond Organist for 5 years, to the Chitlin Circuit in East Texas where I began playing music over 40 years ago.

Special thanks to the generous donors on my Indiegogo crowd funding campaign, from Family, fans, music and TV superstars

I began writing this CD in 2010. Little did I realize at the time, that the process was a bit more involved, the project went over budget, and some of the donors felt let down, but I hope the long delay wasn’t in vain, and the music lives up to your expectations. Budget was about double from the 10K raised on Indiegogo, and the rest came out of pocket, through gigging 6 to 7 nights a week, for the last 3 years.
I was touring much of 2014-2015, in Canada, California, Spain, Germany, Austria, Slovenia Croatia, Singapore, Washington DC, Mississippi Delta and Louisiana
and got into the studio on days off. In 2015, I made a move from Vancouver BC, back to the USA, and started a full time job on the Alabama Gulf Coast. I grew up in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, so this music is much of my roots.

I’ve always had an issue with classifying genres, which are geographically, socially and culturally driven.
I had reservations doing a somewhat country crossover project,

I’ve always had an issue with classifying genres, which are geographically, socially and culturally driven.
juggling on the tightrope of the past and current political and cultural divide, and the ghosts of my past growing up in the south, with my roots being more swayed in the Blues, Jazz, and classical piano training.
My mother who came from a well known Memphis musical family, encouraged my classical training, and exposed me to the great music of the American musical Theater, and looked down on country music as "Hillbilly Twang", which is a bit of an inside family joke. I am not in the least bit a musical snob, and appreciate all genres, as long as they are good.
My earliest memory of a 45 rpm record being played in our house in Jackson Mississippi, 1954, was the first single from Elvis, was a promo that my dad brought home, from the local record store, below his State Farm office. The “A” side was “That’s Alright Mama” a cover of the Arthur Crudup, Blues classic, with the “B” side being “Blue Moon of Kentucky” from Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe.

I knew nothing of genres, crossover, and had no idea what Elvis looked like, but both cuts got heavy rotation on the Black and Country stations. All I knew was that this music rocked and had an amazing power and energy, and Elvis summed all that up, in our common roots in the complex dichotomy of religious hypocrisy, Jim Crow, Sexual repression, and the influence of African American Culture on Deep South, which changed American and the world.

While studying Jazz and Classical music, at the University of North Texas, I moonlighted a few nights a week at a local Honkey Tonk, performing Country and Western, and it seemed as natural to me as the jazz legends on sax I was studying during the day.

I came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1977, and signed a production deal with my band “Uncle Rainbow” and Grammy producer of the year, Narada Michael Walden, where I learned the basics of record production from the best.
After the breakup of Uncle Rainbow, I did a 3 year house gig at the legendary “Saddle Rack” mega country music club, where I opened weekly for many of the C&W superstars of the 80s, such as Reba McIntyre, Ronnie Millsap, and many others. I was part of the Northern California songwriter community, and was often hired to sing the demos of the up-and coming songwriters, in every style, but the Country ones seemed a natural for my voice.
I started doing demos for a potential publishing deal, around 2010, with a few co-writers, which eventually led to this project. One of the first songs to come out was “Hard Times Coming Down Hard”, in 2010, during the Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill. The Alabama Gulf Coast where I live now, and spent many great memories with my family since childhood, was on my mind. The oil spill was in some ways a metaphor to the cancer I was soon diagnosed with, and in retrospect, I see the correlations in the lyric.

Reviews

Vancouver BC, Sacramento, Berkeley, CA, Los Angeles CA, Dresden Germany,
Sackville New Brunswick,Canada,
St. Petersburg Russia

Nashville, TN,
Corazon de Jesus, Spain,
Badajoz Spain,
Orange Beach, AL,

Clarksdale, MS,
Redwood City, CA,
Fremont CA,
Sackville New Brunswick, Canada,

Credits
some of the top session players in the world

Guitars
Bruce Kaphan
Pedal Steel, Weisenborn, Nylon String
Dobro, 12 String, Acoustic, Lap Steel, Electric Guitar, Baritone Guitar
Jeff Tamelier
Electric Guitar
Brent Mason
Electric Guitar
Lyle Workman
Electric Guitar
Lee Yankie
Guitar
John Lee Sanders
Guitar

Fiddle and Strings
David Ziegler
Ray Legere
Emily Mann, Violin
Lyudmila Kadyrbaeva, Cello 
Maria Grigoryeva, Violin, Viola

(Fiddle/Mandolin)

Harmonica
Tollak Ollestad
Chromatic and blues Harp
Butch Coulter
Blues Harp

Background and Lead Vocals
Dallis Craft
Vaneese Thomas
John Lee Sanders