The Ralph Woodson Trio on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

(this excerpt taken from the indie band site)

Icon on wall of your teenage bedroom - Hendrix posters ('more Hendrix than wall'). Youngest in the family of nine and the only one in the family who plays music. Ralph began performing professionally around the Bay Area at 16, with his first band. In 1982 his band Togetherness, won a Battles of the Bands at the Berkeley Community Theater with a set of original music, closing the set with a 12 string acoustic version of Jimi Hendrix "Hear My Train A Comin." The event's producer immediately took over managing the band and Togetherness played constantly for the next five years opening for the likes of Sly and the Family Stone and Buddy Miles before calling it quits in 1987.

He's since toured with bands of varied styles from Reggae Powerhouse The Mighty Diamonds, African Master Musician Hugh Masekala's former band, Hedzoli Sounds, Blues singers Lady Bianca and Faye Carole, Rapper Dru Dun and Pantera (Pat Gleeson's Synth Band, not the death metal variety.) Ralph has done studio work for Mickey Thomas and is also a regular studio musician at Sy Klopps Studios doing various projects. For the past five years Ralph has played lead guitar for Sy Klopps Blues Band as well as his own eponymous independent trio, Ralph's first memory of his friend, Sy Klopps was in 1996 at the Biscuits and Blues Club in San Francisco. Ralph was invited to jam with the Sy Klopps Blues Band and, when the set was done, Sy got down on his knees and asked him to join the band. Ralph said yes and never looked back. The band has opened at major arenas and frequents the House of Blues, The Filmore. They toured with the 2000 Further Festival, opening for Ziggy Marly and the Other Ones. They have also opened for ZZ Top, Lynard Skynard, the Doobie Bothers, James Brown, Little Feat and Tower of Power.

Along with the Further 2000 Festival, Ralph has played with Sy Klopps at the Hog Farm Pignic, the 4th of July Fisherman's Warf Festival, the Fremont Wine and Art Festival, the Pittsburg Seafood Festival and the Russian River Blues Festival. He played with Faye Carole at The Berkeley Blues Festival and his own band frequents the Chef's Market Festival Napa Throughout the summer during 1999, Ralph fronted a quintet called the Eleventh Commandment. The Funk/R&B band shared stages with Earth, Wind & Fire, Barry White, Lakeside and Morris Day.

Dan's musical root spans everything from being an all-state highschool Jazz drummer to playing in the University of Hawaii marching and jazz band. Although not a Music major, a career in Journalism (and nursing) brought him to the Bay Area in 1990. Dan credits NorCal educator and guitar great, Steve Sage, for introducing him to the Bay Area music scene. Through the years, Dan has backboned NorCal jambands such as "No Strings Attached" and "The Ded Guise". He has played with the likes of Mark Emery (Big Brother and the Holding Company), and now with Ralph Woodson (Hugh Masakela, The Trichromes, The Sy Klopps Blues Band). Dan brings his diverse swatch of music styles to all tunes he backbones. On this page's recordings, you will hear influences such as Stewart Copeland (The Police), Bonzo Bonham, Terry Bozzio, Trilok Gurtu, Alex Acuna, and Neil Peart. Dan has always deemed the Bay Area as "the Music Mecca of Rock and R&B music". He feeds his eclectic ear by attending many Bay Area music events such as the High Sierra Music Festival. Dan also instructs aspiring youths intrested in playing the drums.