Posts Tagged ‘Oklahoma City Limits’

Walter Trout

July 22nd, 2010

Oklahoma City Limits

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About Walter Trout -

“People ask me if they should call my music blues or rock, I tell them they can call it ‘Fred’ if they must have a label.”

That remark, along with the exclamation that “the blues shouldn’t be a museum… the music ought to constantly expand and be alive,” have been expressed again and again by Walter Trout during his 35+ year career. With the release of FULL CIRCLE, the statements hold true as Trout and his musical friends demonstrate their appreciation of all shades of the blues genre. The album reflects Walter Trout’s remarkable story, from his humble beginnings as a sideman in many a blues legends’ band through his rising solo star, arriving as one of blues music’s beloved interpreters. Read the rest of this entry »

Johnny A

Saturday April 17th, 9 pm

Oklahoma City Limits

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For Johnny A., the guitar has held a lifelong fascination, her six strings exerting a powerful influence and addictive beauty since the first time he held them. The pursuit of this musical lady with the perfect shape has driven his years - shaping the course of his life – taking him places he never could have imagined. Through inspiring moments of ecstatic improvisation, deep contemplation and inevitable gaps of frustration it has been a stormy affair with a tempestuous hollow-body lover, but the marriage has been nothing less than remarkable.

Johnny A. is widely regarded as one of America’s finest contemporary guitarists. Gibson thinks so – their Custom Shop designed a Signature Edition guitar per his specific requests which, when it was marketed in 2003, placed him in an exclusive club that included legends like BB King, Wes Montgomery, Chet Atkins, Joe Perry, Pat Martino and Les Paul himself. The public thinks so too - Johnny A.’s latest works have sold many thousands of copies as well as being his personal best. The most recent CD’s - 2004’s Get Inside and 1999’s Sometime Tuesday Morning, are the critically acclaimed solo culmination of a lifetime of learning, sharing and bonding in a long parade of bands and players.

As a bright-eyed six-year old in Malden, Massachusetts, Johnny became fascinated with the drums, a habit his father encouraged by buying him a kit. There were lessons and the Jr. High School marching band, but as fun as the skins were, he realized that their melodic capability was quite limited. Rhythm had taken a backseat to melody and since the most melodic instrument in any 60’s beat group was guitar, those six-strings now began their inexorable pull on Johnny A’s life. Once the four “mop-tops” from Liverpool dropped like a bomb from Ed Sullivan’s studio into his living room in 1964, his course was set.

A $49 Lafayette Electronics guitar became Johnny A.’s first girlfriend. A humble beginning for sure, but his mom was no fool and wanted to be safe if this ‘guitar thing’ just turned out to be another passing teenage phase. It wasn’t. Johnny saw the Beatles at Suffolk Downs outside of Boston in 1966 and their magical presence sent the impressionable lad into a blur of activity – sweeping up hair and doing odd jobs at his aunt’s salon to save up the 88 bucks needed to buy a Vox Clubman guitar. Then, of course, he had to have a Gretsch too. No, this was no passing phase.

Fate leaned in and dealt a tough one when the active 13-year old developed a curvature in his spine and suffered massive and painful muscle spasms as a result. Doctors put Johnny in a full body cast for 14 months and eventual body brace for two years to immobilize his back and neck during treatment. As much as this terrible handicap limited the schoolboy in his activities, it didn’t stop him from playing. In fact, the condition actually forced Johnny to improve his skills since he could no longer look down at his fingers while forming chords and picking.

In high school he was freed from the cast, graduated and then went on to a semester and a half at Boston’s Berklee School of Music. Ironically, Johnny had no interest in attending even one of his guitar lessons at the prestigious school - they taught textbook Bebop, while he had moved onto the latest sounds: Progressive Rock and Jazz/Rock Fusion. The instructors preached Lester Young, but Johnny grooved on Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin, King Crimson and Return to Forever featuring Bill Connors and Chick Corea. He bid adieu to Berklee and schooled himself, both at home and in Boston’s hippie-era club scene at places like the Ark and Boston Tea Party.

In amongst going to see Ten Years After, Steppenwolf, Edger Winter’s White Trash, Rhinoceros, Spirit and dozens more, Johnny put together his own group called Squanty Roo. They might not have blazed a trail to Budokan, but they did play the Fusion sounds that the guitarist was digging on. After that it was a short pilgrimage to San Francisco to absorb some counterculture and do a brief stint with percussionist Mingo Lewis.

By 1975 Johnny A. had worked out of his progressive phase and hungered to put together a basic rock outfit with the energy of Aerosmith and the melodic fascinations of the Beatles. It was the pre-punk period and Boston was about to become a hotbed of local talent and a leading city to support the brand new wave of bands and attitude. Johnny formed the group The Streets, a leather-clad unit on the ground floor of hard rock that embraced the sounds of 60’s British Invasion pop. When Boston’s punk scene finally climbed out of a handful of dingy rock and roll basements with its first wave of rock recruits for the brand new era, The Streets were there, scoring a major local radio hit with the song “What Gives.”

Eventually, personnel changes killed The Streets, but the guitarist formed other bands – Johnny A.’s Hidden Secret and Hearts on Fire, a unit featuring his wife Beth on vocals. With a sound that drew from country-western twang but rocked solid, Hearts on Fire preceded Maria McKee’s Lone Justice and pioneered a distinctive place within Boston’s thriving mid-80’s local scene. Competing in the 1986 edition of WBCN-FM’s annual Rock and Roll Rumble spotlighting two dozen of the year’s best up and coming bands, Hearts on Fire blazed a trail all the way into the finals, becoming recognized truly as one of New England’s finest and brightest hopes.

But Johnny broke up the group instead after realizing that their direction had become “calculated” and “not honest.” Disillusioned after reaching so far within the band format, he began playing with other artists like former Derek and the Dominos keyboardist Bobby Whitlock before hooking up with legendary J. Geils Band front man Peter Wolf. Johnny stayed with Wolf for seven years, playing on his albums and co-producing one of them – 1996’s Long Line, as well as supporting the charismatic singer onstage around the world. During this period, in 1994, the Gibson Guitar Company first recognized Johnny’s talents, announcing that the company was officially endorsing his fruitful career.

But once again Johnny A. felt he had taken a direction and pursuit as far as he could. The idea began to take hold that he should return to a solo direction – this time creating an album of melodies and music that swirled about in his head. Even though it didn’t seem as if there was any commercial potential in the move, that wasn’t the point – Johnny needed to bring this project to life and it wouldn’t resemble anything he’d been involved in the past. Peter Wolf and Johnny A. parted ways and the guitarist began recording tracks for his new experiment – an album of music made merely to satisfy his own muse with no commercial constraints whatsoever.

The result was Sometime Tuesday Morning, a solo instrumental guitar album that Johnny A. released on his own label for his own enjoyment plus that of a few intrigued friends and family members. But the warmth of its guitar tones and allure of melody made Sometime Tuesday Morning much more – it made the album a surprise hit. After gigs Johnny began selling dozens, then hundreds, and eventually thousands of copies out of his car trunk. The attention led to a re-release and distribution deal with Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label and an ever-widening circle of high-prestige gigs with the likes of B.B. King, Robert Cray, and Jeff Beck plus an appearance at Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads Guitar Festival” in 2004. That success gave Johnny A. the confidence to assemble his second instrumental tour de force called Get Inside, another critically acclaimed album that traveled even deeper into the richness of guitar texture and melody. The release once again garnered national radio airplay and inspired another round of touring commitments and personal appearances. An instructional guitar DVD has followed plus plans for his newest project – a live CD/DVD featuring special guests and new material. It has been a long way from that first $49 guitar to Gibson’s Johnny A. Signature Edition (Metallica’s Kirke Hammett recently bought one), but it’s been a fruitful journey. Johnny A. is still doing what he loves to do the most - play guitar and create music, and he’s still getting better at it all the time.

Joe Bonamassa Live Royal Albert Hall

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On May 4^th 2009 Joe Bonamassa played the historic Royal Albert Hall in London England. It was captured on film and recorded in Dolby 5.1 sound by legendary producer Kevin Shirley.

Joe was joined onstage by his idol Eric Clapton with the addition of Anton Fig (Letterman) Lee Thornburg (Tower of Power horns) along with his current touring band playing an epic show sure to go down as one of the top concert films of all time.

The Mighty Orq

Oklahoma City Limits 4801 S. Eastern. 

Friday August 6th, 2010

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Biography
Fall 2008

Houston, Texas

The Mighty Orq (pronounced Ork) is a power trio from Houston, TX known for their unique blend of emotionally charged vocals, soaring guitars, and powerful drum lines.

The Mighty Orq has quickly risen to be one of Houston, Texas’  biggest bands by combining the energy of  classic rock with undeniable pop hooks and  melodies.  Influenced by legendary Texas bands like ZZ Top, Soulhat, and Kings X, the band has been able to reach out to wide-ranging audience that continues to grow and diversify. 

The band is best known for their high-energy live shows where through their music they take the listener to the extreme edges of rhythm, melody and dynamics. They have been actively touring through Texas and the South for four years, while maintaining a rigorous 200+ shows per year.  This daunting schedule as well as the addition of Houston journeyman bass player Tommy Luna, has allowed the band to fine tune theirs into a razor-sharp trio. The national release of their new album To The Bone will coincide with huge shows around Texas and another 18+ months of touring the world to support it.  This is a task that the band is not afraid to take on.  After all, this will only bring more people to see what the next big  band from Texas is all about.

“TO THE BONE”

Financed with the help of family, friends, and the selling of personal belongings; including guitars, drums, and many of Westside’s childhood Japanese toys.  The album was recorded in five sixteen-hour long sessions in February 2007.  The “To The Bone” sessions took place at Showplace Studios in Dover, New Jersey.  Mr. Ben Elliott, the owner of Showplace, recorded, engineered, and mixed the album.  Ben has recorded or engineered with Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Dillinger Escape Plan, etc…  Ben is a super cool guy that is a great mixture of the old and new schools of recording.  He has a wall of outboard gear that is virtually priceless that he uses to get a lot of his signature “wacky” guitar sounds (listen to “Blue Eyes” on the record).  But at the same time, he’s recording using the latest version of Pro-Tools on a Mac.  His patch bay looks like a giant plate of multi-colored spaghetti.  Some additional recording was done with our friend Bryan Jones at Matchbox Studios in Austin, TX.  Bryan is a killer engineer with a great ear for songs. 

Here are our thoughts on “To The Bone”, track by track:

1) “Falling Down”—The tried and true “tale of excess” song.  Probably our most Arc Angels(seminal Austin, TX band comprised of Doyle Bramhall II, Charlie Sexton, Tommy Shannon, and Chris Layton) sounding song.  Great set opener.  First song we recorded for the album.

2) “Different This Time”—Tight bridge, just wish we could’ve had some “Klezmer”type guitar over it.  Time & money didn’t allow for it. 

3) “Rainy Day”—Poppy.  First of two “pretty” songs on the album.  Matt’s feeble attempt to pay tribute to the man, Ringo Starr. 

4) “HO”—It’s slang people.  It stands for whore.  We can be literal here.  We hope to have a hip-hop artist from Houston or Louisiana to remix this song.  It would be the perfect Gulf Coast club anthem.  Yes, there was a Jenni.  Yes, she did spell it with an I.  Yes, her Dad was in prison and her Mom was out of work.  Ask us about Suzy & Sally’s stories when you see us.  However, we think you could substitute just about anyone’s (male or female) name in the song. 

5) “Set Me Free”–Starts with the chorus lick.  Deals with the feeling you get after hanging with anyone you really care about.  Nothing to think about for awhile is a good thing. 

6) “Hangin’ On”—Riff, riff, riff.  Hi-hat opens in the right spot for the groove to breathe a bit.  Political ramblings from The Mighty Orq?  Yes.  Don’t tell us who we should/shouldn’t like or what we should/shouldn’t do.  Someone’s there to help you out though. 

7) “If You Will”—The title comes from something Hadden Sayers (longtime Texas troubadour songwriter and Matt’s former boss) used to say.  Big guitar.  The 16th notes on the bass really drive the song.  This is a staple of the live show; we never know where this song is going to go.

“Blue Eyes”–Number two in the “Pretty Song on To The Bone” series.  All guitars make the sounds on the album, no keyboards.  Ben has a killer guitar pedal collection and we used a bunch of them on this song.  Written for a lady in Orq’s life.  Yes, she does have blue eyes.

9) “4+1”–It was almost called “Wild Side”, but we didn’t want any of Motley Crue’s lawyers coming down on us (regarding the song “Wild Side” from the Crue’s 1987 album “Girls, Girls, Girls”).  We had done a show with a band from New Orleans called Supagroup, and they kind of inspired us to write this song.  We were going for heavy, and this is it.    To us, it’s a bit like something ZZ Top would do.  ZZ is in our blood.  No digital editing was done on the bridge in the middle of the song.  That tight stop & start was live in the studio. 

10) “The Good Love”—Almost didn’t make the album.  Later it was going to be a hidden track.  We finally decided to just include it.  The “bluesiest” song on the album.  A true “metaphor” song.  This song gets taken pretty far “out” when we play it live.  Slide guitar over a heavy groove.  Respect to Zeppelin on the turnaround. 

11) “Scars”—Good closer for an album.  Deals with the death of Matt’s son Abraham in June of 2005.  Double time section at the end signifies the birth of Matt’s daughter, Pearl Johnson.  Happy times. More slide guitar.  Louisiana “flavored” groove.  Think if Sonny Landreth (Lafayette, LA slide-guitar genius) had been from Houston, he may have written a song that sounded like this. 

We are not your typical “band for a night”.  We bring a sonic experience to the venue.  Whether that venue is under the stairs at a bar on 6th Street in Austin, or in front of a thousand people in a concert hall.  We are just as happy and comfortable taking our music “out” to a crowd of hippies for four hours as we are playing a tight thirty minute opening slot.  The attitude is still the same, even if the notes we play and how we play them is different.  New set lists are written every night before the gig.  We play so many shows that if we played the same set from night to night, it would get real old, real fast; for us and for our audience.  We’ve all had to do that in other bands we’ve been in, and were sick of it.  That’s where playing weekly gigs comes in handy, it really teaches you to keep it fresh from week to week.  We’ve even had fans end up getting jobs at the bars we do our weekly gigs at, just so they could get paid to see us every week.  That’s pretty cool. 

Since our set and songs change from night to night, we’ve started to have more and more people recording the live shows.  We encourage the taping done at our shows.  All we ask is that it is done with respect to us, the other audience members, and the venue.  We also ask that we get a copy of it the next time we’re through town.  Tapers are some of the biggest music fans in the world.  We would be stupid to not let them record. 

That’s where we’re at right now.  We have worked extremely hard to get to this point and have no plans of stopping anytime soon.  This is what we do and who we are.  We’re going to gas up the van, drive to the gig, play our asses off, and do it again the next day.  We will also put out records that attempt to say something, not just thrown together crap so you have something to sell at your shows.  This process takes time and money; two things that we don’t have a lot of yet.  However, if you’re still reading this, you may have a copy of our new record sitting next to you.  So either load, place, or insert it in your favorite listening device and turn it up LOUD!  We hope ya dig it.

To The Bone,

Orq, Westside, & Matt

  Ana Popovic

Ana Popovic

Appearing live at Oklahoma City Limits Saturday night June 20, 2009

Ever since her debut album was nominated for a BMA for best new artist in 2003 American’s have embraced this Belgrade Serbia native, who now resides in Amsterdam, Ana Popovic will be making her first Oklahoma appearance Saturday June 20^th at Oklahoma City Limits 4801 South Eastern.

Ana is yet another European heavily influenced by American blues artists but melds with her own Jazzy style developed listening to her fathers record collection filled with western popular music. Although she played professionally in Eastern European festival at an early age she came in to her own after moving to Amsterdam to continue her studies in graphic design. There she formed a Dutch band and became a fixture on the local music scene. She was signed to Ruf records and from there her career took an international course.

She is now touring in support of her newest release Still Making History on American label Delta Groove records. She has been lauded by such publications as Guitar Player Magazine “Ana is a superb singer and songwriter who can flatpick fluid jazzlines, and deep string bends with SRV-style and emotion.” She stands poised to shake your foundations.” Guitar One magazine.

For the second time Ana and her European band are invited to play at the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise. On high sea Ana jams with Susan Tedeschi, Larry McCray, Bob Margolin and many more. Ana is part of Robert Radler’s guitar documentary ‘Turn it up’ aka TONE, about the worlds best guitars and guitar players.

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I heard about a new club on the south side of town earlier this spring. I was very hesitant to go have a look because of the location.

Kim who bartended at the Route 66 Road House was starting work there and she kept insisting I would like it. At her urging I stopped by on may way from the airport upon returning from visiting Colin in DC.

She gave me the owners cell and name. Jim Ury. The name was familiar and after she explained why I knew I already liked the guy. He used to own a club named Teddy’s who booked a lot of Texas acts. A mutual friend of our Jim Suhler couldn’t say enough good things about him. He also did the concessions at the Zoo Amp for years. Another mutual friend David Kelso also spoke highly of him. We had met at a show at the Road House where I was introduced to him by one of the waitresses that worked with him at the zoo as well

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