John Mayall Biography

John Mayall was born on the 29th of November 1933 and grew up in a village not too far from Manchester, England. It was here as a teenager that he first became attracted to the jazz and blues 78s in his father's record collection. Initially it was all about guitarists such as Eddie Lang, Lonnie Johnson, Brownie McGhee, Josh White and Leadbelly. However once he heard the sounds of boogie woogie giants Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis, his desire to play was all he could think of. At the age of 14 when he went to Manchester's Junior School of Art, he had access to a piano for the first time and he began to learn the basics of this exciting music. He also found time to continue learning the guitar and a couple of years later, the harmonica, inspired by Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter.

After his two years at art school, he joined the art department of a major department store while starting to build up his own record collection that was to be his source of inspiration to play the blues. At age eighteen when he was due for National Service he spent three years in the Royal Engineers as an office clerk in the south of England and in Korea all the time playing whenever he got a chance. As no-one seemed to be interested in this type of music, John felt pretty much of an outsider throughout his twenties until 1962 when the news broke in the Melody Maker that Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies had opened a club in Ealing devoted to blues music. After Britain's ten year traditional jazz boom had about run its course, a new generation was ready for something new. Out came the amplifiers, guitars and harmonicas and out came young enthusiasts from all over the country eager to sit in and form their own groups.

Nick Gravenites Biography

Nicholas George Gravenites (pronounced /ɡrævi-naɪtis/ born October 2, 1938, Chicago, Illinois), with stage names like Nick "The Greek" Gravenites and Gravy, is a blues, rock and folk singer–songwriter, and is best known for his work with Janis Joplin, Mike Bloomfield and several influential bands and names of the generation springing from the 1960s and 1970s.  He currently resides in Occidental, California.

According to author and pop music critic Joel Selvin, Gravenites is "the original San Francisco connection for the Chicago crowd." Gravenites is credited as a "musical handyman" helping such San Francisco bands as Quicksilver Messenger Service and Janis Joplin's first solo group, the Kosmic Blues Band. Gravenites also worked extensively with John Cipollina after producing the first Quicksilver Messenger Service album. He and Cipollina formed the Nick Gravenites–John Cipollina Band which toured a lot in Europe.

When the band Big Brother and the Holding Company reformed from 1969 to 1972 (without Janis Joplin), Nick was the lead singer.

Gravenites was also a songwriter for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, which consisted of Elvin Bishop, Paul Butterfield, Sam Lay and Michael Bloomfield, then formed The Electric Flag with Butterfield guitarist Mike Bloomfield. Gravenites is also responsible for writing the score for The Trip, produced the music for the movie Steelyard Blues. He produced the pop hit "One Toke Over the Line" for Brewer & Shipley and the album Right Place, Wrong Time for Otis Rush, for which he was nominated for a Grammy Award. Together with John Kahn, Gravenites produced the album 'Not mellowed with Age' by Southern Comfort (CBS S 64125 - 1970). Over the years, Gravenites would often use pianist Pete Sears in his band "Animal Mind", including on his 1980 Blue Star album on which Sears played keyboards and bass. They also played together in front of 100,000 people on Earth Day 1990 at Crissy Field, San Francisco. Sears also joined him for a tour of Greece.

Peter Green Biography

Peter Green (born Peter Allen Greenbaum, 29 October 1946, Bethnal Green, London) is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for his work with the group, Green's compositions have been covered by artists such as Santana, Aerosmith, Midge Ure, Tom Petty, and Judas Priest.

A major figure and bandleader in the "second great epoch" of the British blues movement, Green inspired B. B. King to say, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page have both lauded his guitar playing. Green's playing was marked with idiomatic string bending and vibrato and economy of style. Though he played other guitars, he is best known for deriving a unique tone from his 1959 Gibson Les Paul.

He was ranked 38th in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". His tone on the Bluesbreakers instrumental "The Super-Natural" was rated as one of the fifty greatest of all time by Guitar Player. In June 1996 Green was voted the third-best guitarist of all time in Mojo magazine.

JJ Cale Biography

JJ Cale (also J.J. Cale), born John Weldon Cale[1] on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,[1] is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and musician. Cale is one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz influences. Cale's personal style has often been described as "laid back".

His only U.S. hit single, Crazy Mama, peaked at #22 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1972. During the 2006 documentary film To Tulsa and Back Cale recounts the story of being offered the opportunity to appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand to promote the song, which would have moved the song higher on the charts. Cale declined when told he could not bring his band to the taping and would be required to lip-sync the words to the song.

His songs have been performed by a number of other musicians including "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton,"Cajun Moon" by Randy Crawford, "Magnolia" by Jai, "Bringing It Back" by Kansas, "Call Me the Breeze" and "I Got the Same Old Blues" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Travelin' Light" and "Ride Me High" by Widespread Panic, "Tijuana" by Harry Manx, and "Sensitive Kind" by Carlos Santana.

The Allman Brothers Band Biography

The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, organ, songwriting), who were supported by Dickey Betts (lead guitar, vocals, songwriting), Berry Oakley (bass guitar), Butch Trucks (drums), and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson (drums). While the band has been called the principal architects of Southern rock, they also incorporate elements of blues, jazz, and country music, and their live shows have jam band-style improvisation and instrumental songs.

The band achieved its artistic and commercial breakthrough in 1971 with the release of At Fillmore East, featuring extended renditions of their songs "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Whipping Post" and often considered one of the best live albums ever made. George Kimball of Rolling Stone magazine hailed them as "the best damn rock and roll band this country has produced in the past five years."A few months later, group leader Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. The group survived that and the death of bassist Oakley in another motorcycle accident a year later; with replacement members Chuck Leavell and Lamar Williams, the Allman Brothers Band achieved its peak commercial success in 1973 with the album Brothers and Sisters and the hit single "Ramblin' Man". Internal turmoil overtook the band soon after; the group dissolved in 1976, reformed briefly at the end of the decade with additional personnel changes, and dissolved again in 1982.

Rory Gallagher Biography

Rory Gallagher born (2 March 1948-14 June 1995) was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste during the late 1960s. A talented guitarist known for his charismatic performances and dedication to his craft, Gallagher's albums have sold in excess of 30 million copies worldwide. Gallagher received a liver transplant in 1995, but died of complications later that year in London, England at the age of 47.

Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal; his father, Daniel, was employed by the Irish Electricity Supply Board, who were constructing a hydro-electric power plant on the Erne River above the town. The family moved, first to Derry City, where his younger brother Dónal was born in 1949, and then to Cork, where the two brothers were raised, and where Rory attended the North Monastery School. Their father had played the accordion and sang with the Tir Chonaill Ceile Band whilst in Donegal; their mother Monica was a singer and acted with the Abbey Players in Ballyshannon. The Theatre in Ballyshannon where Monica once acted is now called the Rory Gallagher Theatre. Both sons were musically inclined and encouraged by their parents: at age nine, Gallagher received his first guitar from them.
He built on his burgeoning ability on ukelele in teaching himself to play
the guitar and perform at minor functions. After winning a talent contest when he was twelve, Gallagher began performing in his adolescence with both his acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar he bought with his prize money. However, it was his purchase three years later of a 1961 Fender Stratocaster for £100 that became his primary instrument
most associated with him for the span of his lifetime.
Gallagher was initially attracted to skiffle after hearing Lonnie Donegan on the radio; Donegan frequently covered blues and folk performers from the United States. Subsequently, Gallagher began experimenting with folk, blues, and rock music. Unable to find or afford record albums, Gallagher stayed up late to hear Radio Luxembourg and AFN where the radio brought him his only exposure to the actual songwriters and musicians whose music moved him most.

Gov't Mule Biography

Gov't Mule (pronounced Government Mule) is a rock and jam band formed in 1994 as an Allman Brothers Band side project. They released their debut album Gov't Mule in 1995. Gov't Mule has become a staple act at music festivals across North America, boasting members from other notable bands.

History

1990s
When The Allman Brothers Band reformed in 1989 in response to the popularity of their Dreams box set, Warren Haynes was added on lead guitar and Allen Woody was added on bass. The two shared a love for '60s power trios, like Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the James Gang. Haynes, Woody, and former Dickey Betts drummer Matt Abts came together as Gov't Mule during Allman Brothers breaks. They released their debut album Gov't Mule in 1995, which was followed by Live from Roseland Ballroom, released in 1996.

The Story of The Blues by Paul Oliver

Roll over, Beethoven! When the Beatles recorded the iconoclastic title it wasn't only Beethoven who had to move aside but the composer ofthe song, the rhythm and blues singer, Chuck Berry, as well. When the Rolling Stones were Confessing the Blues they were confessing, too, to the influence of Walter Brown and B.B.King: when the Animals acclaimed the Big Boss Man the real boss man was Jimmy Reed. It was Lightnin' Hopkins who was preserved when The Lovin' Spoonful put the Blues in the Bottle: it was a Mississippi Black, Bukka White, on parole from Parchman Farm, who was Bob Dylan's muse for Fixin' to Die Blues. Using the words and music of a Memphis "gum-ball raker", Gus Cannon, the Rooftop Singers offered the invitation to Walk Right In. Popular music has been walking right in on the blues ever since.