SOUTH CAROLINA’S BLUE DOGS CELEBRATE 20th ANNIVERSARY IN 2008
Since the release of their 9th CD, Live at Workplay Theatre, in May of 2006, the Charleston SC-based Blue Dogs have entered into their 20th year as a band (est. June 1987) with the enduring mission to reach out to music fans everywhere with their unique blend of Americana rock and roll music. January 2008 marks 20 years since standup bassist Hank Futch joined forces with childhood friend and acoustic guitarist Bobby Houck under the band name “Blue Dogs.”
To mark the anniversary, the band is preparing the DVD release of a live show recorded at the historic Dock Street Theatre, where the band recorded its first live CD back in 1995. Titled Live at the Dock Street Theatre…again, the video project features a classic Dogs show with 99 minutes of footage including guest appearances by well-known South Carolina musicians. It is set to be released through the band’s website, HYPERLINK "http://www.bluedogs.com" www.bluedogs.com, in the Fall of ’08.
Produced by Bruce Hornsby guitarist and veteran producer Doug Derryberry, Live at Workplay was recorded in January 2005 at the Birmingham, Alabama concert venue. The CD features the current Dogs lineup (the same since 1998), featuring Houck and Futch with 16-year Dogs veteran Greg Walker on drums and percussion, and electric guitarist/vocalist David Stewart, who is celebrating his first decade with the band.
Recorded before a very lively and intimate audience, Workplay features versions of songs from their more recent studio albums Halos and Good Buys, Letters from Round O, and Blue Dogs, but it also reaches back to their early 90’s recordings Music For Dog People and Soul Dogfood and includes several previously unreleased songs. Many of the Blue Dogs’ most-requested songs are present, including “Walter,” “Isabelle,” “Cosmic Cowboy,” “Bill Bill,” “Half of My Mistakes” (co-written by Bobby Houck and famed Texan-turned-Nashvillian songwriter Radney Foster) and “Make Your Mama Proud,” plus Hank Futch takes a turn on the acoustic guitar with the gospel song “Children, Go Where I Send Thee” and Arthur Smith’s “Conversation with a Mule.” A rendition of Lyle Lovett’s “L.A. County” and a take on Blue Mountain’s “Blue Canoe” (seemingly custom-made for the Blue Dogs) close the CD in rocking fashion.
The CD received accolades right away, from fans and critics and radio. The Midwest Record Recap writes, “Once again we have to wonder why this bunch of roots rockers are one of the best bands you never heard of. A hard working outfit that rubs some mighty impressive elbows along their way, here they do a live recap and more of their ten years as pros. Turning the crowd on with great ease, the Dogs deliver the goods and go on their merry way. Funtastic outing that simply lets the good times roll without pretense or affect.”
The CD was accepted with open arms by XM Radio, where Channel 12’s “X-Country” played numerous tracks from the album until it climbed to 1 on its chart by August 2006. And listeners of one of the biggest AAA/Americana stations in the country, WNCW, put Workplay in its year-end list of the top 50 Americana records of the year.
The Blue Dogs’ previous CD, 2004’s Halos and Good Buys, was produced by Don Gehman (John Mellencamp, REM, Hootie & the Blowfish, Pat Green), garnering excellent critical reviews and extensive airplay, particularly on the Texas music charts. “The road-seasoned band effectively straddles the line between loose rock swagger and radio-friendly hooks,” said Billboard magazine in its review. An earlier CD, 1999’s Letters from Round O, was produced by Cracker front-man-turned-producer David Lowery and generated radio response from Modern Rock, Triple A and Americana radio, as well as glowing reviews in the New York Times and the Washington Post, among others.
While the band was founded in the late ‘80s by Houck and two other Davidson College (N.C.) musicians, Buck Bradberry and Chris Holden (before Futch, who knew Houck from Cub Scouts, came on board), it wasn’t until the release of their self-titled album in 1996 that the band committed to making music full-time. Since then, the band has developed a solid, national fan base, despite creating a sound difficult to classify. Having started as a bluegrass/country/folk-rock trio, and then becoming a full band and more electrified in ’95-96, the Blue Dogs found themselves with echoes of bluegrass, jam band rock, commercial roots pop/rock, and Americana, which put them, according one critic, “somewhere to the right of Americana and left of mainstream Nashville.”
In 2008, the band continues to tour, primarily on the east coast, but in recent years it has toured extensively throughout the southeast, in Texas, the midwest, and the northeast. Over the years the band has performed on the same stage with such well-known and diverse artists as Willie Nelson, Widespread Panic, Bruce Hornsby, Three Doors Down, and Little Feat. They have also received national exposure by singing the national anthem at the final Southern 500 NASCAR race in Darlington SC in 2004, and in 2007 performing as the house band on a week’s worth of Wheel of Fortune shows.
For more information on the Blue Dogs, please visit the band online at
www.bluedogs.com.
Blue Dogs – Live at Workplay Theatre – Black River Records – Release Date: May 2, 2006
discography:
Music For Dog People (1991)
Soul Dogfood (1993)
Live at the Dock Street Theatre (1995)
Blue Dogs (1997)
For The Record--Live (1998)
Letters From Round O (1999)
Live at the Florence Little Theatre (2002)
Halos and Good Buys (2004)
DVD--Live at the House of Blues (2004)
Live at the Workplay Theatre (2006)
to be released in Fall of 2008: Live at the Dock Street Theatre…again (on DVD)
