Northern California
2019-
About the
NoR-CAL ALL-STARS
Having migrated from Southern California in the early days of Covid, iconic blues artist Blind Lemon Peel arrived in Northern California determined to make a splash in his new home. Having been at the vanguard of progressive blues communities in New York and Los Angeles for more than 40 years, BLP, the alter-ego of vocalist and songwriter David Dot Hale, arrived with big dreams about planting his roots in the Sacramento Delta.
And what a heady couple of years it’s been with star turns at marquee theaters, performing arts centers and Blues Festivals up and down the West Coast including the renowned Sofia Theatre at the B Street Performing Art Center (Sacramento), California Jazz and Blues Museum, Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, Hayward/Russell City Blues Festival, Northern California Blues Festival, Mare Island 'Blues is Back' Festival, Vallejo 'Southern Friend Blues' Festival, Alameda County Fair, Pleasanton 'Red White &Blues Festival', Sacramento Crawfish & Catfish Festival, El Dorado County Fair and more!
Multiple-time International Blues Foundation-winning recipient and internationally acclaimed Blues educator/producer/promoter Jerzy George Kossek best sums up the magic that is BLP and his band of melodious merrymakers:
“When David Dot Hale hits the stage wearing his fashionable Red Hat be prepared for a mix of variety, vaudeville, comedy, freak and cabaret show, one of a kind, all-in-one experience rooted in hearty bluesy traditions of songsters, shouters, growlers and talkers exemplified in modern blues by John Lee Hooker, Howling Wolf and Koko Taylor trapped in a small town fairground circus and merry-go-round atmosphere suddenly frequented by Captain Beefheart and furthered to Waitsonian hobo like reality spiced by Kansas Jump Blues jazzy piano of New Orlean’s Dr John and this is how you ultimately arrive at the potpourri perfectly emceed by the Master of this musical gumbo ceremony – the Right Reverend Blind Lemon Peel, his own bad self. It’s gonna be a ride…. Always.”
The Buzz About BLP NOR-CAL
"Blind Lemon Peel has been at the foreground of experimental blues, funk and jazz for more than four decades. The band's particular approach, incorporating traditional blues styles into progressive blues adaptations, has been a decades-long evolution.
"Throughout his career, Dot Hale has attracted musicians who are comfortable pushing at the traditional boundaries that have long served as guideposts for the creation of new blues music. As curator of an organic musical collective his bands have refined a compositional and performance concept that both borrows and creates and earned him the label of both 'performing artist' and innovator.
"This isn't a muddy gumbo, you can taste each flavor individually,' says sax legend Bobby Hurricane Spencer, Dot Hale's 'musical conscience', whose star resides on Oakland's Walk of Fame. 'It's the kind of music that takes me back to clubs where if you're playing the music right, there's bound to be a fight.' ”
-Sacramento Bee
MEET THE REST
OF THE Band
One of the superstar sax players in Northern California, Danny is a virtuoso performer who continues to pursue his love of performing, and is actively involved in touring, recording and playing live soul, funk, blues and salsa.
AJ
Joyce
One of the most sought after bass players in Nor Cal, AJ has performed with such legendary bluesmen and women such as Ron Thompson, Charlie Musselwhite, Johnny Heartsman, Joe Louis Walker, Harvey Mandel, Chris Cobb, Early Times, Sista Monica and Alabama Mike.
Dave
Johnson
With over forty-five years of experience as a professional musician and educator, Dave Johnson keeps in high demand as a freelance trumpeter/trombonist in the greater Sacramento area. He has toured North America with The Coasters, The Temptations, and The Drifters.
Rick Snyder
Rick Snyder has been the band’s manager for five years and is the all around go to guy; social media director, sound guy, roadie. Prior to BLP he ran with one of LA’s premiere acts, A La Carte. Contact him directly for booking: rick@3sunzconsulting.com
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