Tuesday, July 12, 1994

Anson and the Rockets with Sam Myers ~ 1994


Anson Funderburgh,born November 15, 1954 in Plano, Texas,is a blues guitar player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets. Formed in 1978 their style incorporates both Chicago blues and Texas blues. During this time the band payed their dues by playing venues including the original Alley Club and Carlito's in downtown Longview, Texas. Over the years the band has evolved with personnel changes.

Sam was born in Laurel, Mississippi on February 19, 1936. He appeared as an accompanist on dozens of recordings for blues artists over five decades. He began his career as a drummer for Elmore James and in 1956, he wrote and recorded his most famous single, "Sleeping In The Ground", a song covered by Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, and many other blues artists.

From the early 1960s until 1986, Myers worked the clubs in and around Jackson as well as across the South in the Chitlin' Circuit. He even found himself touring the world with Sylvia Embry and the Mississippi All-Stars Blues Band. In 1986 Sam joined the Rockets as harp player and lead singer.


The first Rockets' recording featuring Myers was My Love Is Here To Stay which came out in 1986. He stayed with the band until his death on July 17, 2006, appearing on eight albums with them. Today the band continues to evolve and is one of the premier blues bands fron Texas.



Saturday, July 9, 1994

Toni Price ~ 1994

This one's for Dr. Lucky...

Toni Price's first exposure to blues was through second-generation blueswoman Bonnie Raitt. After studying her recordings, Price began to study the recordings Raitt learned from, women blues singers like Sippie Wallace, Victoria Spivey and others.

She began singing in high school, but after graduating she sat in with country bands around Nashville, where she was for the most part born and raised, after moving from southern New Jersey.While living in Nashville, she listened to local blues radio programs on college stations there.

Price moved to Austin in 1989, and learned from Derek O' Brian and Cliff Antone.In her blues singing career, Toni Price cites vocalists Aretha Franklin, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Patsy Cline and Ray Charles as influences.

Critics have heaped praise on her gifted phrasing and delivery at her live shows and on her albums. In an interview in Austin, Price said she's never had the inspiration or desire to write songs, and figures she wasn't given that talent.

Price's albums on the Antone's/Discovery label include Swim Away (1993), Hey (1995) and Lowdown and Up (1999). Midnight Pumpkin appeared in summer 2001. Although she's relatively little-known outside of Austin's tight-knit blues community, she could be in line for a career on a par with Raitt's, if she's willing to do a lot more touring in the future. ~ by Richard Skelly for www.allmusic.com




Thursday, July 7, 1994

Webb Wilder, Last Of The Full Grown Men ~ 1994

Born John Webb McMurray, May 19, 1954,in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Webb Wilder is a musician who famously mixes the sounds of country, surf guitar and rock & roll known as "swampedelic". He currently resides in Nashville, TN. His first album, Webb Wilder and the Beatnecks "It Came From Nashville", was released in 1986.

The Webb Wilder character was created for a short film under the title of Corn Flicks. Wilder's Corn Flicks consists of three stories: Private Eye, Horror Hayride and Aunt Hallie and is about a backwoods private detective who fell out of the '50s and happened to also be a musician. With his group, Wilder combines the surf guitar of the Ventures with the rock roots of Duane Eddy, drawing on the feel of both country music and film noir. Though sometimes bordering on the gimmicky, the band is quite humorous yet plays serious music.

Probably the only musician with his very own "Credo":
Work Hard
Rock Hard
Eat Hard
Sleep Hard
Grow Big...and
Wear Glasses If You Need'Em!