Vallejo

ARTIST SUMMARY
Genres: Rock / Latin / Funk
Label: Vallejo Music Group
Official Site: http://www.vallejomusic.com/

Arist Bio

A melting pot of infectious swaggering rock laced with Latin percussion and fiery live performances has made VALLEJO one of the most popular bands to hail from Austin, Texas.

Raised in the small town of El Campo, Texas on their parent’s LP collection of Tito Puente, Santana & Tijuana Brass, VALLEJO was first formed by the three Vallejo brothers A.J. (Vocals, Guitar), Alejandro (Drums), and Omar (Bass). Learning music by playing trumpet in the high school marching band and jamming to friend’s mixtapes of classic rock and funk, the brothers eventually migrated to picking up the guitar, bass and drums to create something that was instantly recognizable on the airwaves as their own.

Since then, VALLEJO has racked up fans one by one with thousands of high energy shows and a growing catalog of album releases including Sins (Chapel Lane), Shining Sun, Beautiful Life (TVT Records), Into the New (Epic Records) with famed Latin music producer Emilio Estefan Jr. (Miami Sound Machine), Stereo, Leftovers, Steamboat Live & Black Sky on the Vallejo brother’s own label VMG (Vallejo Music Group). In, 2009 VALLEJO released their critically acclaimed album, Thicker Than Water (VMG/Quadra) and recently took home the award for “Best Rock Band” at the Texas Latin Music Awards.

Ray Wylie Hubbard

ARTIST SUMMARY

Genres: Country / Americana / Roots/Rock/Country
Label: Bordello Records
Management: Judy Hubbard

ARTIST BIO

With a keen eye of observation and a wise man’s knowledge, Ray Wylie Hubbard composes and performs a dozen songs that couldn’t spring from anywhere else but out of his fertile rock and roll bluesy poet-in-the-blistering-heat southern noggin. ”I like to look at both enlightenment and endarkenment,” he declares. “I feel comfortable observing each.” A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment demonstrates the kind of talent that every great songwriter yearns for. Throughout the album, his focus remains on the song- constructing and performing stories set to music that resonate in a way that is completely his own.

Hubbard recruits an ensemble of accomplished musicians to make the album’s larger than life outlaw tunes echo from track to track. Among the musicians featured on the album are Kevin Russell (The Gourds), Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Robert Earl Keen), Bukka Allen (Ian Moore, Jack Ingram), Billy Cassis (Bob Schneider,Double Trouble, Soulhat), Ray Bonneville (B.B. King, JJ Cale, Muddy Waters), Seth James (Percy Sledge, Delbert McClinton), David Abeyta (Reckless Kelly) and The Trishas as well as his own son, Lucas Hubbard.

The writing and recording of A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment came on the heels of Hubbard’s first screenplay endeavor, which was funded and filmed with a cast of icons including Kris Kristofferson, Dwight Yoakam and Lizzy Caplan. A weekly radio show, constant touring, and producing kept him busy, but didn’t manage to steal the Texan singer-songwriters focus. The outcome of the album is a juxtaposition of songs like “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” a fundamental gospel piece, and “Drunken Poet’s Dream,” a cowritten with Hayes Carll.

Lucky Peterson

Lucky Peterson - You Can Always Turn Around (New release on Dreyfus Jazz)
★★★★ "One of the best blues records of the year" - DAILY NEWS
★★★ 1/2 (Three and 1/2 Stars) - Rolling Stone France

"Lucky Peterson's version of my song, "Atonement" just blew me away! It is just spectacular!!!" - Lucinda Williams

"A masterpiece." - Linda Yohn, WEMU Radio


Artist Bio:

Lucky Peterson was discovered by blues legend Willie Dixon when he was three years old, released his first record at five and soon after appeared on The Tonight Show. Trained by keyboardists Bill Doggett and Jimmy Smith, Peterson went on to play behind Little Milton, Bobby “Blue” Bland and Kenny Neal. On return from the “Young Blues Giants” tour of Europe, he signed first with Alligator, then Verve, Blue Thumb and Birdology/Dreyfus, where he recorded what Amazon.com called “his finest album,” Black Midnight Sun, in 2003. The New Yorker called him “a master of the guitar, organ and microphone.”

But his journey was not a smooth one, and Peterson spent the next few years in transition, with personal troubles preventing a proper follow-up to Black Midnight Sun.

But you can always turn around. These words took on special meaning for the 45-year-old Peterson, which is why the first album since his rehabilitation is titled You Can Always Turn Around. It is an uplifting collection of songs that speak of struggles and salvation, using the gritty clarity of acoustic roots-blues (with modern touches) as its main musical vehicle.

The album, released September 28, 2010 release on Dreyfus Jazz, was made in the Catskills with master Woodstock musicians Larry Campbell, guitar (Bob Dylan, Levon Helm); Scott Petito, bass (The Fugs, Mercury Rev, Rick Danko Band); and Gary Burke, drums (Joe Jackson, Shania Twain). Peterson as usual plays a mix of instruments: duolian resonator, piano and acoustic and electric guitars. Also prevalent is the acoustic piano on which Lucky sounds like a bluesy Elton John. “He’s something of a genius — his piano playing remind me of Aretha Franklin,” says drummer Burke, who has played behind Franklin on the road.

Thanks for listenin! - Bluesdaddy