Guitarist Eric Deaton served a long and intense apprenticeship with the Blues Masters of the North Mississippi Hill Country. Raised in North Carolina, Eric left home at 18 to resettle in Chulahoma, Mississippi and attached himself to his musical role model and mentor, Junior Kimbrough, playing bass and guitar behind the Mississippi trance master and learning the music from the ground up. When Junior passed Eric began to step out on his own and to make his mark as a guitarist, composer and singer with something of his own to say. He moved into the bass chair with the Burnside Exploration, a blues power trio with Cedric and Garry Burnside. After moving over to Oxford, he began a long and fruitful musical partnership with the Senegalese guitar player Guelel Kumba, investigating the possibilities of fusing the hill country blues with it'sliving roots in the music of western Africa. For the past two years, Eric has barnstormed across the country as the bassist for Jimbo Mathus' - Knock Down South. Now Eric's voice is front and center for the first time, and he sings his earthy down home songs with confidence and emotive force. His music is deeply rooted in the hill country aesthetic; stripped down, full of drone, rhythmically propulsive and relentlessly bent on in inducing trancelike behavior in his listeners. Eric plays the music with precision and taste, always pushing the boundaries but never venturing over the top and he makes it sound the way this music is supposed to sound. There is nothing missing, it's all right there where it belongs and Eric Deaton is right there in the middle of it at all times.
"Ticklin' The Strings" by Sweet Hollywaiians
Amazing Japanese hot string band playing 1920's, 30's, 40's style hawaiian, swing, calypso, blues, italian music and originals,featuring vintage instruments.3 songs with Robert Armstrong and Tony Marcus(from Robert Crumb and His Cheap Suit Serenaders)
"The Sweet Hollywaiians have probably the best feel for this 20's music of any string band working today. They manage the rare feat of sounding relaxed even when their playing is hot, are top notch musicians with tasteful arrangements and a full, rich, warm sound.Plus, they have a nice gamut of tunes, from King Nawahi to Giovanni Vicari to Bobby Leecan. See them live, if you can, for an unforgettable experience. If you can't, buy their Cds!" ~ Terry Zwigoff
Welcome to my circle of friends !! I'm glad to get to met you as I all ways see you getting down on stage at Hill Country Picnic. Hope to see you again next year !!!!
WE ARE VERY SAD... WE DON'T HAVE WORDS TO SAY ANYMORE... OUR SINGER AND DOBRO PLAYER ENRICO MICHELETTI IS DEAD. GOODBYE ENRICO KEEP THE BLUES ALIVE WHEREVER YOU ARE!!!!
The budget of the festival and the number of bands will be based on these presales. Please support the festival and help us bring in as many bands as possible.
We're featuring bands we like on our player each day. At least we're trying. The myspace player isn't always cooperating. We can at least give you links to the bands myspace pages or websites.
These are bands that we hope to get involved with our festival. There's a lot of them. Check them out and add them as your friends. Send us a message and tell us how you like them and who we should be sure to bring in for the festival.
thanks for everything down in Parma last month! We've won the competition and we're moving to Memphis next February and Antonio, the guy of the Rootsway festival, told me it happened because you guys were the jury and gave us great marks!
Thanks a lot man, I owe you one. If you'll be around the IBC in Feb check for me: a hundred thousand beers are yours :D
