Hurray For the Riff Raff is currently a 4 piece folk band out of New Orleans, Louisiana. Alynda Lee leads the band with her all-star banjo skills and deep, aching voice. Walt McClements plays accordion, fiddle & toy piano, Aubrey Freeman plays double bass, and Shae Freeman plays the saw, autoharp & vocals. They sometimes collaborate with other local artists or long-time friends, including Brooklyn-based Amelia Jackie.
Irma Thomas (b. February 18, 1941, Ponchatoula, Louisiana) whose only national chart hit in a 50 year career is 1963's "Wish Someone Would Care", is an enduring, Grammy winning, soul, gospel, rhythm and blues singer from New Orleans. Known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans", she is a contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, but did not tour as relentlessly, and industry support and major commercial success eluded her for decades.
As a little girl growing up in a sleepy surf town on Australia’s southern coast, Mia Dyson would sit in her father’s workshop and watch him build custom guitars by hand. He would play records by The Band and Bob Dylan and she would dream of playing lead guitar in arenas around the world. From an early age Mia was all too aware of the lack of female musicians she could look up to. “When people think of a musician or rockstar, they almost always think of someone male. If you want to be a serious musician/songwriter as a female, what is that? What does that look like?” says Dyson.
Mason Rack is a songwriter/performer from Australia,Gold Coast.
He playes the Weissenborn lap slide guitar.
He plays influenced by blues, southern stop swamp, classic rock and alternative music. He has notched up a number of prestigious achievements such as scoring in the Top 5 for Blues at the Musiz Oz Awards, and being dubbed “The best new blues/roots act ever seen” at the Toyota National Gympie Muster. His energy pours forth with the same verve as his famous and similarly multi-talented dad Billy Rack, a renowned jazz musician with a corresponding knack for enthralling audiences
Formed in Melbourne Australia, Collard Greens and Gravy have been regaling fans with their unique style of stripped down swamp blues since 1995. Performing a mix of original material and covers by Mississippi blues artists such as R.L Burnside, T Model Ford and Fred McDowell, the band have created a sound which saw them win the 2001 ARIA award for best blues and roots CD. In February 2001 Collard Greens and Gravy, competing against more than 50 bands from around the world were awarded runners up in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee.
Utterly fresh and unique but steeped in the tradition of real, authentic blues, Mojo Webb's music is truely world class. He began singing and playing the guitar at 12 and has added harmonica, saxophone, bass and drums to his repertoire. Webb began his career spenging 6 years on the road with Buzz & The Blues Band (1992-1998). Since then, Webb jas fronted his own bands and also performed solo. His stunning vocal delivery, incendiary guitar and harmonica playing have earned him countless admirers.
Steve Hill got an early start as a professional guitar player at the age of 16. By the time he was 20 he was already doing more than 200 gigs a year, which lead to the success of his first album in 1997. The album was voted Best Canadian Debut Recording by Vancouver’s Real Blues magazine. Following a tour that took him across Canada, France and Belgium, he returned to the studio in 1999 to record ‘’Call It What You Will’’.
Now residing back in Australia, Geoff Achison has clearly earned a loyal US following since moving to Atlanta from Melbourne in 2007. Guitar Player Magazine readers voted Achison one of the “Top Ten Hottest New Guitarists” in the world in 2008. Having taught himself to play in the isolation of rural Australia, he has developed a blues/funk style all his own. Unaware of how the sounds he was hearing on his limited record collection were produced, he invented some of his own techniques - without the aid of pedals or gadgets.
Buddy Guy (born George Guy, July 30, 1936 in Lettsworth, Louisiana) is an American blues music and rock music guitarist, as well as a singer. Known as an inspiration to Jimi Hendrix and other 1960s blues and rock legends, Guy is considered as an important proponent of chicago blues made famous by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. He has influenced both widely known and local blues guitarists. Guy is known for his showmanship; for example...
Jonny Lang (born Jon Gordon Langseth, Jr. in Fargo, North Dakota, January 29, 1981) is a Grammy Award-winning American blues and gospel singer. In 1995 (at the age of 14) his first album, Smokin’ by Kid Jonny Lang & The Big Bang was released. As a result of the LP becoming a regional hit, a major-label bidding war ensued that culminated in Lang signing to A&M Records in 1996. In 1997 (at the age of 15) his major-label debut, Lie to Me, was released to mixed reviews.