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Mark Hummel's Golden State/Lone Star Blues Review at The Siren
The Siren
900 Main St, Morro Bay, CA, 93442
Mark Hummel's Golden State/Lone Star Review at The Siren!
Blues Supergroup GOLDEN STATE - LONE STAR BLUES REVUE, featuring Grammy-nominated Harp Blower/Vocalist/ Bandleader MARK HUMMEL with RUSTY ZINN-guitar/vocals(Alligator, Black Top Recording artist),MIKE KELLER - guitar (Fabulous Thunderbirds/Marcia Ball/Double Trouble) drummer WES STARR and bassist RW GRIGSBY is an all-star cross country melding of California musicians Hummel and Grigsby with Texans Funderburgh, Keller and Starr. GOLDEN STATE - LONE STAR BLUES REVUE's self-titled debut album (Electro-Fi Records/April 2016), was recorded by Kid Andersen at the famed Greaseland Studio in San Jose, CA, and co-produced by Funderburgh & Hummel.
"The road from Texas to California runs right through T-Bone Walker, no detours about it. Since Walker packed his guitar and moved there in the 1940's, what is termed as West Coast Blues revolves around a style he defined...All respected instrumentalists in their own right, this collaboration is a premium showcase of West Coast Blues. ...the guitar interplay is tasteful and they give each other room. Thespotlight of course will shine on Hummel as vocalist, but he wisely integrates himself in the band for the reliable blues band situation. As this music continues its generational journey, the Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue represent the contemporary keepers of the flame, assuring the blues will never die." (James Nadal/All About Jazz)
Harmonica man/singer/Harmonica man/singer/songwriter/bandleader/author/impresario MARK HUMMEL was born in New Haven, CT but moved to Los Angeles as a newborn. Hummel took up an interest in blues harp & rock-blues music in high school but soon discovered the originators like Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson & Little Walter. Soon after, Hummel frequented the Ash Grove club on Melrose Ave. in LA where he saw (in a three month period) three blues legends he would later work with on a regular basis; Charlie Musselwhite, Brownie McGhee (w/Sonny Terry) & James Cotton. Hummel moved to Berkeley in 1973, because of a more lively blues scene and started to perform regularly in ghetto clubs with many old timers. In 1976 he formed The Blues Survivors with Johnny Waters and JJ Bad Boy Jones. JJ left in 1977 and was replaced by Sonny Lane. This band lasted till 1981, when Hummel would go full time with music. By 1985 Mark Hummel's Blues Survivors hit the road full time & continue till the present (Hummel's memoir, "Big Road Blues: 12 Bars on I-80" recounts many road exploits). In 2014 Blind Pig Records released "REMEMBERING LITTLE WALTER" (a recording of a Hummel Blues Harp Blowout.) The CD was nominated for a Grammy Award and won two Blues Music Awards. Hummel's latest CD "THE HUSTLE IS REALLY ON" features GS/LS. "Mark Hummel came of age in the early 70s, at the height of rock and roll,like many of his peers went and bought a harmonica and hasn't stopped playing since. A specialist in West Coast Blues he's a seasoned showman who knows more than a thing or two about how to please an audience." - (The New Yorker)
Vocalist/guitar phenom RUSTY ZINN resides in Oakland and has been on the blues scene since 1990, when he absorbed guitar from Chess Session guitarist Luther Tucker. Hummel gave Zinn his start in 1991, taking him all over the world and into the recording studio, both as a band and behind blues legends Jimmy Rogers, James Cotton and Billy Boy Arnold. By 1993 Kim Wilson hired Zinn into his band, where Rusty appeared on the Antones' TIGERMAN LP. Zinn debuted in 1996 as a frontman singer on Black Top Records SITTIN & WAITIN, following it up with a second CD in 1999 " "CONFESSIN",before the label folded. Rusty was nominated for a Handy Award for "best new artist" in 1999. Rusty's vocals and guitar playing garnered rave reviews. Alligator Records recorded Rusty's THE CHILL in 2000. Zinn's "in demand" sound landed him recording sessions with Kim, Rod Piazza, Little Charlie & the Nightcats, Hummel, Jody Williams, Phillip Walker, Fingers Taylor, Wee Willie Walker, Johnny Dyer, Johnny Jones, Indigo Swing, T 99 Nelson, Pinetop Perkins & Lou Pride. The last few years Rusty has pursued reggae and recorded with Sly & Robbie, Hux Brown among others
Guitar youngblood MIKE KELLER resides in Austin where he's led his own band The Keller Brothers, plays in Little Elmo Blues Band, a sideman for Paul Oscher's group plus did five years as a Fabulous Thunderbird, played two and a half years with SRV's band Double Trouble, four years with Doyle Bramhall, recorded and toured with Marcia Ball for a year and a half and toured with the late harp genius Gary Primich. Mike's solos are top notch in GOLDEN STATE-LONE STAR.
Rounding out the GOLDEN STATE-LONE STAR BLUES REVUE are RW GRIGSBY on bass & famed Austin, Texas drummer WES STARR (Anson And The Rockets). Between these two old Rome, GA natives, they've played with a who's who of famed musicians - Omar & the Howlers, Jr. Brown, Delbert McClinton,Jimmy Vaughan, Asleep At The Wheel, Gary Primich, Kim Wilson, Mike Morgan, Carlene Carter, Hal Ketchum, Earl King, James Cotton & many more!
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