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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.

“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.”
-Larry Nager (syndicated Scripts-Howard music critic)

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The love of music pervades every note Annie Sampson sings. The youngest of 12 children, her early years were spent in the fertile musical climate of rural Louisiana surrounded by a family of teachers and ministers who sang together as a way of life. Her special gifts were first recognized at age five when she won a church talent show. Annie has continued to electrify, move and delight audiences ever since.

Annie Sampson’s unique approach to song – whether a blues, a rock tune, a country & western ballad or a modem folk classic, was honed in her youth by singing in Bay Area church and school choirs. She then landed a principal part in the hit musical Hair at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. When the popular rock group Stoneground recruited her to become lead singer, she left the show and joined the group for a series of national and international tours. Buoyed by the popularity of their four Warner Brothers albums, Annie and Stoneground played the gamut of venues – from the Fillmore West and Winterland to Oxford University and the Olympia Theatre in Paris with stops at every major American and European city and campus in between.

A big talent like Annie’s did not go unnoticed by her peers. She has recorded with Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, Buddy Miles, Maria Muldaur, Eddie Money and Country Joe MacDonald, as well as performed with Bonnie Raitt, Boz Scaggs, Otis Clay, Sammy Hagar, Commander Cody, Steve Miller, Nick Gravenites, Clarence Clemmons, Elvis Costello and the late Jerry Garcia – among others.

Since the mid-1980s, Annie has been leading her own band which performs regularly at Bay Area nightclubs such as Sweetwater in Mill Valley, Slim’s and Lou’s Pier 47 in San Francisco as well as making special appearances at the San Francisco Symphony’s Black & White Ball, the Domaine Chandon Music Festival and the Oakland and Novato Art Festivals.

Under The Moon, Annie’s new CD on her own Sweet Potatoe label, captures the salt and savor of her rich voice and warm presence. Backed by friends such as Elvin Bishop, Annie sculpts her own and others’ blues into instant classics. Under the Moon captures Annie’s definite style – with the love of music in every note.

“…”The 7th annual Tuesday Blues series opened in Concord last week with a powerhouse show by Annie Sampson and her soulful band. Annie has a voice that elevates every song, whether it’s a cover or one of her own, to new heights.” “What a view she provides singing and leading a collective look deep into the human soul. Her amazing band of Bay Area music veterans takes it’s time relishing every chord and note. Standing ovations are made of this!” -Jim Ocean/OceanWorks Productions / www.communityconcerts.com

“…Annie’s all over the place, rocking and scolding, testifying and crying, torching and lusting, and celebrating love, life and ever increasing strength.” -Ben Fong-Torres

“…a smoky, emotive style, an ability to transform everything from gospel ballads to hard rock.” -Express Magazine

As a singer, he is by known by many as a “bourbon-esque” crooner, performing standards from the Great American Songbook, to others he is a curious oracle of soul and the blues. A pianist and songwriter since childhood, Johnny has arranged and produced two CD’s of his original compositions.

Currently hosting “In the Pocket with Johnny Fabulous” on SCTV, a Santa Cruz television show featuring music and art, Johnny Fabulous also is a performing artist with the Young At Heart Project which provides one hour music shows for senior communities throughout the Bay area. As a vocal coach and piano instructor, Johnny draws upon decades of experience to nurture the growth and development of his students. Johnny Fabulous continues to perform his unique and very distinctive style of music in the Bay area club scene.

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Each week Aki brings with him a special guest performer!

www.akikumar.com/tuesday-night-blues-jam

About Aki Kumar:

Dynamic frontman & harp player Aki Kumar is a bonafide star among the next generation of West Coast blues artists and the world’s first professional blues harmonica player to hail from India. A master of the hugely influential Chicago blues sound, Kumar inherits his style from the harp legends of the 1950s and 60s. Aki has a unique voice in the blues, blending elements of blues harmonica pioneers of yesteryear with a signature sound of his own.

“..old school blues at its finest by way of India. And the lad has soul to spare.”
Dan Aykroyd aka Elwood Blues

Born and raised in Bombay (now Mumbai) – India, Kumar has long established his mark on the West Coast blues scene as a top-notch frontman, vocalist , entertainer and blues harp player. The Aki Kumar Blues Band has been the culmination of his journey through American roots music and constantly showcases his ever-evolving sound. This band performs vintage blues with tremendous skill and energy and is guaranteed to entertain audiences across all venues, from intimate listening rooms to large festivals.

“(Kumar) has a natural propensity for the music, with a rich, deep tone and a sensitive, economic style that emphasizes feel over flash.”
Jonny Whiteside, LA TIMES

In recent years, Aki Kumar has performed all across the United States and internationally (Norway, Finland, Sweden, Germany, UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Brazil, Chile, India), collaborating with some of the top blues artists on the scene. He has also contributed his blues harmonica licks to numerous recordings produced on the West Coast in the last decade, including several albums produced at the world renowned Greaseland Studios. This year marks another exciting year for Aki Kumar, with upcoming recording projects, internationals appearances and other musical collaborations across the world.

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Thompson was born in Oakland, California, United States, and had mastered basic guitar and slide guitar techniques by his mid-teens.[1] He was educated at Newark Memorial High School, in Newark, California.[2] In the early 1970s, Thompson played backing to Little Joe Blue, and worked solo and as a sideman in San Francisco Bay Area clubs. He joined John Lee Hooker’s backing band in 1975, staying with him for three years. In 1980, Thompson formed his own group, the Resisters, and secured a recording contract with Takoma Records.[1] He played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1978, 1979 and 1983.

In 1983, he released his debut album, Treat Her Like Gold. Thompson also found employment separately working with Lowell Fulson, Etta James and Big Mama Thornton. Thompson’s second album Resister Twister was released in 1987 and nominated for a Grammy Award,[3] plus 1990’s Just Like a Devil, was taken from his work on Mark Naftalin’s Blue Monday Party radio show.[1]

Thompson’s 2007 album, Resonator was a purely acoustic production.[3]

Pianist Sid Morris as a teenager in the 60’s he began playing piano in a blues band with South Bay blues pioneer Gary Smith. Gary later introduced him to pianist Alberto Gianquinto, a San Francisco native who was a member of the original James Cotton Blues Band. For a short time in the early 70’s, Alberto was his mentor. Currently residing in San Jose, Sid has been performing since 1970 and continues to be an active member of the San Francisco Bay Area music community. Raised in Houston, Texas before his family moved to the South Bay, Sid performed at the very first San Francisco Blues Festival in 1973 and subsequently appeared at four other SF Blues Festivals. During his early years on the scene, Sid was mentored by Alberto Gianquinto. In 1976, Sid participated in the now legendary recording of the album, Blue Bay, an anthology featuring the elite of Bay Area musicians.

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Critically acclaimed blues maverick, Shane Dwight, will pull you into his house by the ear after the first chord of No One Loves Me Better out on Red Parlor Records out on April 5, 2019. This esteemed independent label has long been a champion of music’s best songwriters, and Dwight is no exception. This new collection of songs is some of his most personal yet– gut-wrenching, and heartbreaking to date. The story of a man finding love, committing a crime and wanting redemption runs deep in Shane’s songs.

From the heartwarming “No One Loves Me Better” to the dark “Bullets & Gasoline” to the sassy “Sucker,” Shane nails life to the wall like a WANTED sign out in the wild west. Shane’s songwriting has evolved so far that he may be untouchable for a while, and fans won’t be able to get it out of their heads, critics won’t know what to do with him. But one thing’s for sure; he’s here to stay.

Recorded at Grammy Award-winning Kevin McKendree’s studio in Franklin, TN with a mega all-star cast of players the sounds of this album, are slick, powerful and groove driven. The heartbeat of the drums and the entanglement of guitars mix well with Shane’s raspy voice. The eccentric guitar tunings bring the haunted voices to life; you can almost see the movie. “You will hear some of my friends, Bekka Bramlett (Elton John), Kenneth Blevins (John Hiatt), and Rob McNelley (Bob Seger) who all came to the table that day to be a part of this story. The story is of a misunderstood man, his trials and tribulations over the perils of whiskey, women, and the music business.” – Shane Dwight

No One Loves Me Better, ends with “The Trial Of A Poet” – a haunting resonator and background vocals from the renowned Bekka Bramlett; it’s filled with fog, crunchy leaves, and a flashlight.

There are blues, rock, soul, country and a little bit of hip-hop that shows his California roots. It’s heavy, it’s deep, and it’s a swamp full of characters that show up at the fight.

“Exceptional talent…. it’s clear this cat can sing anything he wants.” – Blues Revue Magazine

Shane grew up on a ranch in Morgan Hill, CA a few hours from San Jose and Monterey, where the air was fresh, and the sun was hot. At the age of nine, he was diagnosed with Perthes bone disease in his hips that prohibited from him walking for about a year as a young boy. Since then, the debilitating illness does go into temporary remission but when it returns it forces Shane to live with severe chronic pain. Shane began to learn how to play guitar back in high school, playing with friends and bands along the way, he started The Shane Dwight Blues Band at 28. His musical roots were FM radio, Album Oriented Rock artists like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He dug deep into their influences and found a stack of others, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Albert King; those gave him the nod to take it even further.

Sometimes standing on the rock where Moses stood is vital to get the energy of the ground into your soul and when Shane stood on the same burn spot where Jim Hendrix once stood at the famed Monterey Blues Festival, he felt the mysterious aura seep into his bones. Bones that once were strong get weakened at times when you need to fill your cup.

Where do you go to get it filled up? At the well of course, and for Shane that well is his fans. He has crisscrossed this country and the world many a time, to bring the people what they want, his music – a blend of rock and blues with a little dash of country. His band went on to win the Monterey Blues Festival Battle of the Bands in 2001, and that’s when it began.

He caught fire that day in Monterey, and never stopped except to get gas. His grassroots approach to his career has also been crucial for he has built it fan by fan, show by show and album by album. From What You Need to Gimme Back My Money to A Hundred White Lies, Shane has conquered it all; festivals, CD sales, radio and press accolades galore from rock to country to blues and back again. Dwight’s most successful to date has been A Hundred White Lies, which received praise from publications like, USA Today, Guitar World, and Living Blues Magazine. It charted on several popular radio lists, XM/Sirius Satellite’s Channel, “Bluesville,” Living Blues Magazine, Route 66 – an Americana radio show chart for a total of about six months together. Then, in Spring 2018 he went into Greaseland Studios with Kid Anderson and did a fresh set of his favorite blues covers with another all-star cast of players, called High Time I Got Mine which is only sold at his live shows.

Shane’s hectic touring schedule reads like an airplane flight plan. He keeps it real with a bi-coastal routing to festivals, winery series and of course, he will show up at his favorite dive bar to croon. He has performed over 3500 shows over the past 20 years, headlining at some of music’s most significant events; Beale Street Festival, Portland Waterfront, Reno Blues Festival, Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise, Ottawa Blues Fest; sharing the stage with household names such as Blake Shelton, The Doobie Brothers and B.B. King. He’s backed off the 200 dates a year he once did, but he still brings the rock to the table and the blues to the dance floor.

Country and blues music is about the same. You see, they are rooted from the same soil with a Bible and bottle in each hand. And that’s why Guitar World said that Shane Dwight, “rocks hard.”

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“Work hard at what you love, treat everyone you meet like family, and try to smile here and there”.
Through it all, Gino Matteo still holds true to what he believes. Being a rarity in today’s Roots-Music world, Gino Matteo is a young man with an incredible knowledge and respect for the past. A true student of the life. Gino’s performances are spontaneous, explosive, and original- a triple threat to the music world.
Gino is the definition of an “old soul” with a voice as smooth as velvet but tough as nails.
Gino writes music about his life as he lives it. His love, joy, and pain pour through his guitar and voice.
Using the experiences learned over time, Gino Matteo’s sound respectfully pays tribute to true roots music while adding a bit of his own life in between and is quickly carving out a name for himself being among the finest songwriters and guitarists in music.

For the last several years, Gino served as the lead guitarist in the Sugaray Rayford Band traveling the world with the blues great.

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Casey Wickstrom is a multi-instrumentalist and live looping artist, vocalist, music producer, writer, and film editor. He plays guitar, lap slide, cigar box guitar, bass, drums, ukulele, harmonica, and other percussion and stringed instruments. Wickstrom produces and writes all his own music, and now works in his home studio in Cupertino, California. He has played all over California, both solo and with various projects. Casey has recorded four full length studio albums, a three track EP, and several singles, all available online. His fifth studio album “Bleed Out,” is now available.

Wickstrom is also a writer, writing blogs and short stories on his website. His short story, “Jolene: A Ghost Story” has been published and is available on Amazon. In his spare time, he practices and teaches yoga in the Silicon Valley.

The Music of Casey Wickstrom: Death, Drugs, and Redemption

Casey Wickstrom was born in Mountain View, California, but grew up in the small isolated mountain town of Durango, Colorado. It was here that he began writing and playing music, inspired by artists like Paul Simon and Ben Harper. The prominent bluegrass scene in Durango influenced Wickstrom to pursue guitar, bass, and take up lap slide guitar, using an old acoustic that he converted into a lap slide. His Colorado band The Shoes! recorded two albums, It’s the Shoes! and Dig This, with all songs mainly written by Wickstrom. After the dissipation of the band in 2008, Wickstrom moved back to Northern California, where he began his solo career with his self-titled album Casey Wickstrom.

In 2011, Casey moved to Los Angeles, and within the first week, disaster struck. He was hit head on by a drunk driver on a freeway offramp — he broke his back, his right knee, his left arm, his spleen was removed, and his liver suffered extreme lacerations which nearly killed him. His face needed reconstructive surgery, and he would never be the same. In the aftermath of this horrendous event, Casey spiraled into four years of suicidal depression and heavy addiction to opiates, alcohol, and other drugs. Still, during this time, he was able to record his three track EP 1984 Sessions, his concert album Live @ the Pocket, Santa Cruz, and his fourth studio album Desperate Times.

Moving back to Northern California in 2014, Casey recorded his hit single “Surf Zombies!” After an overdose, he checked himself into Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, California, where he was able to finally get clean. He began practicing yoga and meditation, and set up a recording studio in his house in Cupertino, California. Wickstrom’s blog discusses his past in a deeply personal and honest way, giving intimate insight into his music and his life. His musical recordings and videos have been streamed and watched thousands of times, and his fifth studio album Bleed Out is now available. This dark, introspective album covers a wide range of experiences in the aftermath of Wickstrom’s late twenties; from his drug use to his sobriety, from his depression and close calls with death to, ultimately, his redemption.

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Each week Aki brings with him a special guest performer!

www.akikumar.com/tuesday-night-blues-jam

About Aki Kumar:

Dynamic frontman & harp player Aki Kumar is a bonafide star among the next generation of West Coast blues artists and the world’s first professional blues harmonica player to hail from India. A master of the hugely influential Chicago blues sound, Kumar inherits his style from the harp legends of the 1950s and 60s. Aki has a unique voice in the blues, blending elements of blues harmonica pioneers of yesteryear with a signature sound of his own.

“..old school blues at its finest by way of India. And the lad has soul to spare.”
Dan Aykroyd aka Elwood Blues

Born and raised in Bombay (now Mumbai) – India, Kumar has long established his mark on the West Coast blues scene as a top-notch frontman, vocalist , entertainer and blues harp player. The Aki Kumar Blues Band has been the culmination of his journey through American roots music and constantly showcases his ever-evolving sound. This band performs vintage blues with tremendous skill and energy and is guaranteed to entertain audiences across all venues, from intimate listening rooms to large festivals.

“(Kumar) has a natural propensity for the music, with a rich, deep tone and a sensitive, economic style that emphasizes feel over flash.”
Jonny Whiteside, LA TIMES

In recent years, Aki Kumar has performed all across the United States and internationally (Norway, Finland, Sweden, Germany, UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Brazil, Chile, India), collaborating with some of the top blues artists on the scene. He has also contributed his blues harmonica licks to numerous recordings produced on the West Coast in the last decade, including several albums produced at the world renowned Greaseland Studios. This year marks another exciting year for Aki Kumar, with upcoming recording projects, internationals appearances and other musical collaborations across the world.

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Thompson was born in Oakland, California, United States, and had mastered basic guitar and slide guitar techniques by his mid-teens.[1] He was educated at Newark Memorial High School, in Newark, California.[2] In the early 1970s, Thompson played backing to Little Joe Blue, and worked solo and as a sideman in San Francisco Bay Area clubs. He joined John Lee Hooker’s backing band in 1975, staying with him for three years. In 1980, Thompson formed his own group, the Resisters, and secured a recording contract with Takoma Records.[1] He played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1978, 1979 and 1983.

In 1983, he released his debut album, Treat Her Like Gold. Thompson also found employment separately working with Lowell Fulson, Etta James and Big Mama Thornton. Thompson’s second album Resister Twister was released in 1987 and nominated for a Grammy Award,[3] plus 1990’s Just Like a Devil, was taken from his work on Mark Naftalin’s Blue Monday Party radio show.[1]

Thompson’s 2007 album, Resonator was a purely acoustic production.[3]

Pianist Sid Morris as a teenager in the 60’s he began playing piano in a blues band with South Bay blues pioneer Gary Smith. Gary later introduced him to pianist Alberto Gianquinto, a San Francisco native who was a member of the original James Cotton Blues Band. For a short time in the early 70’s, Alberto was his mentor. Currently residing in San Jose, Sid has been performing since 1970 and continues to be an active member of the San Francisco Bay Area music community. Raised in Houston, Texas before his family moved to the South Bay, Sid performed at the very first San Francisco Blues Festival in 1973 and subsequently appeared at four other SF Blues Festivals. During his early years on the scene, Sid was mentored by Alberto Gianquinto. In 1976, Sid participated in the now legendary recording of the album, Blue Bay, an anthology featuring the elite of Bay Area musicians.

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The Bay Area’s own Chrome Deluxe is a unique and talented band of musicians who share a passion for music and performance. The band provides high quality entertainment for private and public functions; including top Bay Area nightclubs, corporate events and festivals.

Chrome Deluxe has gained a reputation as one of the most diverse R&B, Swing and Blues based bands in the Bay Area with their own special take on both classics and current favorites. Particularly popular with fans who like to dance. The group draws from the innovators of American music while translating the music into their own sound and bringing the audience quality entertainment and a truly fun musical experience.