PORT ANGELES — Blues band Golden State Lone Star Revue will jam at Studio Bob, an art gallery/event space located upstairs at 118 ½ E. Front St., at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Golden State Lone Star Revue is an all-star, cross-country melding of musicians from California — Mark Hummel, Little Charlie Baty and RW Grigsby — and Texans Anson Funderburgh and Wes Starr.
“The band features three bandleaders with 30 to 40 years each on the road, and 15 to 20 releases per artist plus one of the greatest rhythm sections traveling in a blues band today,” Hummel said this week.
“The contrast between the two guitarists, Anson Funderburgh and Little Charlie — two of the best out there — is the talk of the blues world.”
Hummel invites the public to come and groove to the music.
“Any real music fan will appreciate the drive, creativity and imagination [Golden State Lone Star Revue] can create,” he said.
“It’s also great dance music you can’t help but move to.”
Mark Cole of Upstage Productions, which is producing the show, said the group is stunning.
“Each blues superstar has led his own band for years,” Cole said.
“Personally, I’ve hosted Mark Hummel’s Blue Survivors, Hummel’s Harmonica Blow Out and Little Charlie Baty and the Nightcats over the years.”
A first time treat for Cole, he said, “is hearing Anson Funderburg and, of course, the three playing together. That dynamic will be fabulous.”
Tickets are $28 for reserve seating and $25 for general admission, and are available online at http://newupstage.com/ or at Harbor Arts Gallery, 110 Railroad Ave., during regular store hours.
For more information, call 360-385-2216.
Hummel is a Grammy nominated, Blues Award Winner and author who started playing harmonica in 1970 and has gone on to become one of the premier blues harmonica players of his generation, according to his biography.
With more than 30 recordings since 1985, Hummel is renowned for his “Blues Harmonica Blowout” CD series.
Hummel has been with Electro Fi Records since 2000, releasing five albums.
Since 1984, Hummel has toured between 130 to 150 days at least each year. He’s toured or recorded with blues legends Charles Brown, Charlie Musselwhite, Lowell Fulson, Billy Boy Arnold, Carey Bell, Lazy Lester, Brownie McGhee, Eddie Taylor, Luther Tucker and Jimmy Rogers.
Funderburgh, a blues guitarist, was born in Plano, Texas. He has more than 30 Blues award nominations, three awards for Best Band of the Year and three for Song of the Year and Traditional Blues Album of the Year.
In 2016, he was nominated for The Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards instrumental guitar category.
Funderburgh has worked with The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and is known for his superb delivery of Texas and Chicago blues, according to his biography.
Funderburgh launched his career with “The Bee’s Knees” in 1976.
By 1978, Funderburgh formed Anson &The Rockets with vocalist and harp player, Darrell Nulish, who were signed by Black Top Records a couple years later.
In 1981, Funderburgh released the Rockets’ debut album “Talk to You By Hand” from New Orleans-based Black Top Records.
The Rockets have featured many blues luminaries throughout the years, including bassist Mike Judge, future animator and creator of “Beavis and Butt-head” and “King of the Hill.”
Their song “Can We Get Together” was also featured in the film, 21 Grams.
Little Charlie Baty, a native of Alabama, is a guitarist and former bandleader of Little Charlie &the Nightcats, and is one of the most inspirational figures in West Coast “Jump Blues,” according to his biography.
Studying at UC Berkeley, Baty met harmonica wizard Rick Estrin, and decided to switch from student to full-time guitar and the two formed a blues band.
After relocating to Sacramento, The Nightcats formed and the story of Sacramento-based swing and jump blues began, changing a new genre within the Blues world.
After many years touring, Baty went into semi-retirement from the Nightcats and began work on side projects.
He recently created his own jazz combo “Little Charlie and Organ Grinder Swing” and recorded their debut album “Skronky Tonk.”
Rounding out Golden State Lone Star Revue are R.W. Grigsby on bass and Wes Starr on drums.
For more information, visit http://www.mark hummel.com/golden_state.html.
