Austin's got the blues!

Christopher Durst — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:08:38 +0000

One of the things I love most about coming home to Austin is being able to watch Sonny Wolf perform! If you are unfamiliar with the Sonny Wolf Band all I can really say is damnnn…you’re missing out! Do yourself a favor and go see Sonny, Drey and Janic perform, you’ll have a coming to Jesus. Not only are these guys great musicians, they’re also genuinely great people who love playing the blues and interacting with their fans.

A few years ago, I randomly stopped in this place called the Chuggin’ Monkey (that’s right folks, the Chuggin’ Monkey!) down on 6th Street. As I walked in, the band just happened to start playing. Immediately I was slapped in the face with the beautiful tones of Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, and much more. Sonny was absolutely eeeeelectric!

Anyway, I could go on and on about these guys. Just do yourself a favor and go down and see them perform. They can be found all over 6th street any given night at historic venues such as Momo’s, Maggie Mae’s, Chuggin’ Monkey, Dizzy Rooster, and more. Please be sure to tell them that I said hello, and that I’m in serious need of a blues fix!

Click on the image below for Sonny’s Facebook profile.

Sonny Wolf Live in Concert – Austin, TX

Official MySpace and Twitter

havevoicewillbabble — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:10:12 +0000

Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils

Official MySpace for Keri Leigh & the Blue Devils:

http://MySpace.com/TheLongLeggedPony

Official Twitter:

http://Twitter.com/KeriLeighBand

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This Lady Sings The Blues

havevoicewillbabble — Sat, 29 May 2010 14:50:34 +0000

WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT

KERI LEIGH & THE BLUE DEVILS

Keri Leigh once called losing the W.C. Handy Award honors for “Best Female Vocalist” to Koko Taylor “the greatest honor of my life.”

Leigh, who admits she’s “worshipped” Koko since childhood and paid homage to The Queen of the Blues with a scorching cover of Taylor’s “Voodoo Woman” on her album Arrival, gets to match licks with her heroine tonight at Gruene Hall.

- San Antonio Express-News

SOME CALL IT THE BLUES

Maybe it’s the classic rock ‘n’ roll influence in Keri Leigh’s blues singing, the gritty hint of Robert Plant charisma, the pinch of Grace Slick sass. Or maybe it’s the Texas rock edge to Mark Lyon’s down home guitar playing.

But whatever it is, Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils sound like a band that could blast right by the nightclub circuit and into the arenas, without ever forsaking their first love, the Delta blues.

- Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

“Leigh is destined to become one of Austin’s legendary blues singers.”

- The Colorado Springs Gazette

Other notable nominees at this year’s W.C. Handy Awards (the Blues Grammys) in Memphis:

Koko Taylor, Debbie Davies, Keri Leigh, Tracy Nelson and Marcia Ball (Best Contemporary Female Vocalist). Leigh was also nominated for her songwriting prowess for “Here’s Your Mop, Mr. Johnson,” nominated for “Song of the Year.”

At the awards ceremony Leigh and guitarist Mark Lyon performed a stunning acoustic version of the song that brought a hush over the entire theatre from the first to last intense note.

- San Jose Mercury News

Blues singer Keri Leigh swept the blond hair from her eyes and surveyed the throng that had gathered in front of the stage.

Moments later Leigh and her band, the Blue Devils, propelled the crowd into a dancing frenzy with a rocking Texas beat.

In the short time that she has been on the national circuit, Texan Keri Leigh has made an impression on her public.

Her passionate delivery has often drawn comparisons to Janis Joplin, a somewhat unfair proposition because her voice is much more expressive than Joplin’s.

- St. Petersburg Times

When the history of American Blues is told a hundred years from now, Keri Leigh will be one of those stories that people will sit and tell over and over again.

They’ll talk of a hard working blues vocalist with a 4-octave range and perfect pitch. A woman with a voice more powerful than Janis Joplin, and yet so honey sweet and low-down it could stop you cold in your tracks.

“Stunning” is definitely not too strong a word for Keri’s music. If you can listen to “No Beginner at the Blues” or “Tell Mama” and then say that she’s not one of the greatest living blues vocalists you’ve ever heard, then you don’t know Jack about the Blues!

- Amazon.com

“Opening for Little Feat was Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils, a rough-and-ready band from Austin, Texas.

Leigh is an energetic, likable performer and a consummate blues vocalist. She really had her best moments during the closing number, “Locomotive Blues,” a high-octane showcase for her vocal talents.”

- The Washington Post

“Little Feat were preceded by the lively, Austin-based, blues-powered Keri Leigh & the Blue Devils. Leigh sounds like a cross between Raitt and Janis Joplin, her honey sweet voice tinged with a strong shot of whiskey and cigarettes.”

- The Boston Globe

Blue Devils roll on down the track

Like a big steam locomotive, the careers of blues singer Keri Leigh and her guitar-playing husband, Mark Lyon, have taken a while to get rolling – about 20 years, she estimates.

But in the past year the duo and the band, Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils, have built up so much momentum their show is accelerating like a runaway train, and, Miss Leigh says, they’re not about to throw on the brakes.

- Washington Times (Washington DC)

“Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils and Widespread Panic, the flagship act of the newly revived Capricorn Records label, perform at the Back Room Friday night. This marks the first hometown show for Keri Leigh & the Blue Devils since returning from their nationwide tour as opening act for Little Feat.”

- Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX)

“Opening Wednesday’s Little Feat show were Austin’s Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils, who have been given plenty of roadwork courtesy of the headliner and are slated to tour with them again later this year.”

- Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX)

“If you want to see a performer who is down to earth, check out extraordinary young blues singer Keri Leigh at the Cabooze tonight.”

- Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)

Expect the floorboards to be rockin’ when Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils share the stage with Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy at Gruene Hall.

Guy also penned the Introduction to Leigh’s acclaimed biography of their late mutual friend Stevie Ray Vaughan, so this onstage reunion should be one very special show indeed.

- San Antonio Express-News

A MASTERPIECE

I can’t believe this “No Beginner” CD isn’t one of the most famous albums around.

Keri Leigh’s voice is a phenomenon, in and of itself – it’s fabulous. But the song selection, arrangements and musicianship of the band are all great, as well.

It’s a tragedy this group isn’t better known. They are wonderful artists and this album is a joy from start to finish. There are a lot of great singers out there but I doubt I’ve ever heard a better voice than Keri Leigh’s.

- GoCertify.com

Keri Leigh has packed more living into 2 1/2 decades than some people fit into a lifetime.

At 16, the Oklahoma City girl was writing for one of the city’s newspapers, doing a radio show and attending night classes.

A couple of years later she founded the Oklahoma Blues Society and worked to organize several blues jams on behalf of the society.

Now 24, Leigh has released “No Beginner,” her second blues record the Blue Devils, a band based in Austin, TX has released for Amazing Records. They’ll be burning up the stage at The Grand Emporium tonight. Don’t miss it.

- The Kansas City Star

VH-1 is seeking Jimmie Vaughan’s blessing for a $3 million made-for-TV movie about the life of his late brother, Stevie Ray.

The cable music channel has proceeded with plans for production to begin soon and has made a pitch for the film rights to Austinite Keri Leigh’s bio “Stevie Ray Vaughan: Soul To Soul,’‘ according to VH1.

- The Austin American-Statesman

The second entry in the Stevie Ray Vaughan bio sweepstakes celebrates its publication in Austin on Saturday, when Keri Leigh will sign copies of her Stevie Ray: Soul To Soul (Taylor Publishing, $18.95) from 3-5 p.m. at Book People, 4006 S. Lamar Blvd.“I tried to write it looking through Stevie’s eyes, to see things as he saw them,” said Leigh, who covered Vaughan as a journalist and knew him as a friend and musical mentor for the final four years of his life.

- Austin American-Statesman

It’s not easy facing the ghost of a departed hero, a fact author and blues singer Keri Leigh knows full well.She met Stevie Ray Vaughan in the mid-’80s and had been working with him on his autobiography when he died in a helicopter accident in 1990. For a while, the memories were just too painful to explore.“After he passed, I put the book away for a long time,” Ms. Leigh said during a recent interview at the Sheraton Hotel on Mockingbird Lane. “I just couldn’t face the idea of finishing the book without Stevie.”

- The Dallas Morning News

Keri Leigh, the soulful singer of blues-rock band Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils, came to the music business through the back door.

Literally.

At 13, with heavy makeup to look older, she’d hang out at the backstage doors of concert halls and bars in Oklahoma City, trying to get to know the musicians who played there.

Then at the tender age of 17 she became a rock radio journalist and disc jockey, which gave her even more reasons to hang around her heroes and learn from them. Eventually she worked her way from backstage to onstage.

- The Washington Times

Thursday, Billy Blues will welcome blues shouter and R&B diva Keri Leigh and her band, The Blue Devils.

Leigh and company do a potent mixture of roots rock, traditional blues and smokin’ southern soulsoul. They just finished up a U.S. tour opening for Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band in major cities around the east coast.

- San Antonio Express-News

Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils come from Texas and play a firebrand version of the blues.

Ringo Starr said the band has a “raw sound that is really refreshing.”

Pretty high praise from a Beatle. Hear for yourself tonight at Nietzsche’s …

- The Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY)

NO BEGINNER

It’s a joy to hear Keri Leigh belt out the blues, whether live or on record. But if you want to experience the full-throttle energy that can only be felt at one of her shows, catch the Austin blues woman extraordinaire along with her Blue Devils tonight when they return to the Grand Emporium – expect the joint to be apcked and rockin’.

- The Kansas City Star

Right now, Keri Leigh may be better known as an author than a singer. That could soon change.

Leigh, biographer of blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan (Stevie Ray: Soul to Soul), can pound out the blues with a force that brings back memories of Janis Joplin. Yet, like Joplin, Leigh handles a sensitive ballad with ease.

- The Salt Lake Tribune

This Austin, Texas-based blues singer’s lofty abilities have put her, in many eyes, on a par with a young Janis Joplin or Bonnie Raitt, headlines the Tropical Heatwave Festival tonight.

- Miami Herald

Keri Leigh has crammed a lot of living into her 26 years. Perhaps that’s why she sings the blues with such authority.

- The Boca Raton Post

Although she’s got three albums of critically acclaimed music under her own name, belter Keri Leigh is as much a fervent blues fan and historian as well as performer.

- The Charlotte Observer

Performing at Janis Joplin’s Beaumont/Port Arthur Annual birthday Bash this year will be Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils. Leigh has drawn numerous comparisons to Janis and recently attracted the attention of former Joplin Big Brother bandmates Sam Andrew and Dave Getz, who asked her to sit in on their Austin show last month.

- The Dallas Morning News

“Austin’s new generation of blues queens are on display at Antone’s tonight – Keri Leigh & the Blue Devils and Sue Foley.”

- Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX)

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Austin's got the blues!

Official MySpace and Twitter

This Lady Sings The Blues

SOME CALL IT THE BLUES

Blue Devils roll on down the track

- Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX)

- The Dallas Morning News