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ROCKER (solo) |
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 HARMONICA AND CLASSICAL GUITAR instrumental duets recorded with acoustic fingerstyle picker Kate Taylor |
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SWINGIN' JAZZ with Tom Murray and Carolyn Jane on guitar, Billy Stone on dobro |
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THE BUMMER BLUES BAND live in a dive bar in San Francisco playing for an audience of one bartender and seven drunks. Parker Ralph, Shiloh Hellman and Dave Mason on guitar |
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ORIGINALS © songs I wrote |
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MASHUPS I never played with the Rolling Stones or Willie Nelson, but it would sound really cool if I did |
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with Slim Gaillard |
with Willie Nelson |
ack of manual dexterity kept me from learning guitar when I was young, but in my late teens I picked up a harmonica—an all mouth, no fingers instrument—and took to it right away. At the time I was working at a music store in San Diego called Lou's Records, and over the next decade I traveled around the country working in record stores, collecting albums to practice along with, and busking on the street. I worked at Record Ron's in the French Quarter in New Orleans, Rough Trade in San Francisco, Tower Records in Austin, and Newbury Comics in Harvard Square in Cambridge.
grew as fast and proficient on a ten hole diatonic harmonica as any cross harp player. I swing hard, playing involved single note melodies much like a saxophone or clarinet. Over the years I've come to favor a cleaner, more acoustic tone when I play live, using an Audix Fireball microphone into an L.R. Baggs direct box into a PA, although it's still fun to fire up my tweed Bassman reissue and crank it up.
ull time instrumentalists on harmonica aren't in huge demand, though, so I began singing a capella while solo street performing—check out my version of AC/DC's "Rocker" below for an example. Alternating between playing harmonica and vocalising isn't exactly a breeze—the breathing patterns are almost exactly opposite—but I can raise a little hell as a singer. I'm always looking to hook up with good players, so if you're into playing rhythm and blues, swingin' jazz, honky tonk and bluegrass, rockabilly and 50s rock & roll, I'm your guy.
