Butch Mudbone
Memphis, Tennessee, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1995
Music
Press
While indigenous learned the blues via classic rock and Jimmy Wolf comes from the psychedelic blues of Hendrix and the garage bands of the 1960s, the Nammy nominated Mudbone is more of a “purist”.
What else would you call a guy who covers straight ahead versions of Howlin Wolf and Tampa Red songs? Mudbone and the Wolfpack are part of the glorious roadhouse/bar band tradition; no distortion, no fancy percussion, just the blues, pure and simple, the way God meant for it to be. The lyrics are cantos of broken hearts and dreams.
The CD kicks off with Mudbone’s meditation on love, “Monkey on Your Back”, and jumps into the Tampa Red classic “Don’t You Lie To Me”. The haunting original “She Got Mad” is a backwards voodoo blues, as much an incantation of loss and mistrust as it is a song.
Other highlights are the laid back(near jazz) track “Song for Zanya” the angry “Nothin’ Seemed to be Wrong” and “Big Mountain Blues” which is the only track that uses a brief passage of traditional music before it breaks into heavy, melting blues.
While landfills are cluttered with bad, independent blues albums, My Love Is Dangerous won’t show up there. Mudbone’s music possesses an intensity and a powerful love for the form that is striking and comes through in its pure simplicity.
- Wilhelm Murg
Discography
"Down in Louisiana" (Luke Fontana Production)
"Electric Bill" (With Willie Dixon and Uncle Bill Crawford)
"Mean 'N' Blue" (with Uncle Bill Crawford)
"Moan Fo' Da Bone" & "What It Is To Have The Blues" (produced in Germany & Sweden independently)
"My Love is Dangerous", "Close 2 Da Bone"
"Bone A Fide", "Mudbone" (a compilation) newly released CD entitled "End of the Trail" received from Oasis on Sept 7, 07
Photos
Bio
This is the artistry of Butch Mudbone....
Blues is a state of mind, lifestyle, frame of reference, ideology and indeed a state of being. This is where Butch Mudbone lives. A good bluesman must experience and understand the pain and suffering intrinsic to the human condition, then work with it and mold it into a song. This can be done either with writing original material or by interpreting in a personal way the works of former masters, such as Robert Johnson.
To be done right, blues isn’t to be just sung. It’s to be lived. This is Butch Mudbone’s world. The expression of his blues embraces all of the music’s history which preceded him. He is equally comfortable in solo performances or with his band, the Wolfpack, who can churn out a searing blues or modern rhythmic funk.
The itinerant bluesman of the past covered a small regional territory. As one of today’s blues disciples, Mudbone repeatedly has performed in France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, and Canada. In the United States he has worked venues such as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (28 years), Montgomery Blues Festival, Delta Blues Festival, Tucson Blues Festival, Ojai Bowlful of Blues and the Memphis Blues Festival. He has opened shows for BB King, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton and a host of others.
The current crop of rock musicians clamoring to climb aboard the blues bandwagon will find it impossible to play music like this. It has to flow from your pores before you can play and sing it to the people.
Butch Mudbone's Resume:
European concerts
• France: Antibes, Cannes, Grenoble, Lyon, Marseilles, Nice & Paris
• Germany: Cologne (Koln) & Heidelberg
• Italy: Allesandria, Genoa, Sale & Turin
• The Netherlands (Holland): Amsterdam, Arnhem, Dordretch & Haarlem
• Switzerland: Montreux & Zurich United Czech Republic: Prague
North American concerts
• Canada: Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary & Vancouver
• New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (28 years)
• Monterey Jazz Festival (with Johnny Otis Review)
• Hollywood Blues Festival (with Margie Evans)
• Ojai Blues Festival (solo & backed up the Pontiax)
• Tucson Blues Festival (with Margie Evans)
• New Orleans First Annual Po Boy Blues Festival
• Delta Blues Festival, Greenville, Mississippi
• Memphis Blues Festival
• B.B. King Homecoming, Indianola, Mississippi
Opening act for major blues & R&B/Funk artists
B.B. King, James Brown, James Cotton, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Miles, A.C. Reed, Son Seals, Buffy St. Marie & Johnn Winter
Sideman with major blues artists
Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, James Booker, Uncle Bill Crawford, Charles Neville, Pee Wee Crayton, Margie Evans, Deacon John, Earl King, The Dixie Kups, Furry Lewis, Professor Long Hair, Percy Mayfield, Johnny Otis, Shuggie Otis, Sunnyland Slim, George Harmonica Smith, Babe Stovall, Big Mama Thornton, Big Joe Turner, Joe Louis Walker, Smokey Wilson & Phillip Walker.
Television
• "911 Blues from the Delta" (with Isaac Hayes & Albert King)
• "The Midnight Special" (with the Canaligators) [nationwide USA]
• CBS Contemporary Art Center New Orleans (with Charles Neville & The Wild Tchoupitoulas) [nationwide USA]
• Quaker Oats Granola Bar commercial [nationwide USA]
• KAL, Korean Airlines Commercial [Asian TV]
• Jack Barry Production [Los Angeles area cable]
Video
• "Cocaine Blues" [documentary- Barbour/Langley
Productions]
• "Venice, America" [documentary- African Family Films]
• "Living the Blues" [documentary- African Family Films]
Radio
• VPRO Radio (Holland/The Netherlands)
• KCRW (Santa Monica)
• KFAT (Palo Alto)
• KPFK (Los Angeles) with Cash McCall
• KUNM (Albuquerque)
• KUSB (Santa Barbara) with Greg Drust
• WEVL (Memphis)
Discography
• "Down in Louisiana" (Luke Fontana Productions)
• "Electric Bill" (with Willie Dixon and Uncle Bill Crawford)
• "Mean 'N Blue" (with Uncle Bill Crawford)
• "Mo Fo' Da Bone" and "What It Is To Have The Blues" (produced in Germany and Sweden independently)
• "My Love Is Dangerous" (on cassette and CD)
• "Closer 2 Da Bone"
• "End of the Trail"
Band Members
Links
