Greg O'Brien with Hubert Sumlin
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HUBERT SUMLIN BIOGRAPHY by
Bob Margolin Hubert’s website is where you’d expect
to find the historical and professional facts of his life, but that
kind of writing could easily miss Hubert’s gift to us and how he stirs
our deepest emotions both musically and personally. I’m writing this
from the perspective of a friend, a musician who sometimes performs
with Hubert, and a Blues guitar player who appreciates him. This is
neither an objective, journalistic biography nor promotional hype, but
it will tell you who Hubert is. |
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Greg O'Brien with Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds
For the past 30 years, The Fabulous Thunderbirds have been the quintessential American band. The group's distinctive and powerful sound, influenced by a diversity of musical styles, manifested itself into a unique musical hybrid via such barnburners as "Tuff Enuff" and "Wrap It Up". Co-founder Kim Wilson, the sole original member, still spearheads the group as it evolves into its newest incarnation. "We started as a straight blues band",
vocalist and harmonica player Wilson says. "We now incorporate
a mixture of a lot of different styles. We're an American music band
and we're much higher energy than we were before." |
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Greg O'Brien playing with C.J.Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band
| Born and raised away from the Louisiana
bayou in the housing projects of Port Arthur, Texas, C. J. Chenier is
the son of zydeco legend, Grammy-winner Clifton Chenier. As a youngster
he was aware of his father’s music, but also liked James Brown and Funkadelic,
John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Chenier learned saxophone early on and
as a teenager played in black Top 40 bands in Port Arthur. He studied
music in college and dreamed of making it as a jazz or funk player. Then, one week before his 21st birthday in 1978, his father asked him to bring his sax and join The Red Hot Louisiana Band. “I didn’t know any of the songs they played,” he recalls, “but the guys helped me out and brought me along. And then one day the music hit me, and I knew this was what I wanted to do.” With the death of his father, Chenier inherited The Red Hot Louisiana Band, as well as his father’s accordion, which he began to play. Click Here to Read More and CJ's Live Performance at the Kennedy Center |
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Greg and C.J. with Terry Anderson
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