Son House, Charlie Patton, Blind Boy Fuller, Willie Brown, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Mance Lipscomb, Mississippi Fred McDowell, T-Bone Walker, Otis Rush, John Hammond Jr., John Lee Hooker, Freddie King, Little Walter, Frank Stokes, Tom Waits, Sonny Boy Williamson, Skip James, Othar Turner, The Shaggs,
The Heckhounds are a trio. They play the blues. Let's not kid around. this
ain't something new, in fact the blues is the basis for most music. Blues,
jazz, boogie woogie, rockabilly, swing, country and western, reggae all
come back to the blues format. Blues is music that tells a story, if there
are vocals. It doesn't need vocals to tell a story but if there are
lyrics, there is going to be a story told. The Heckhounds write songs that
tell a story. A music buddy suggested that we write some rockabilly tunes
after hearing "BAD DOG," our new CD. We're working on that too, but when I
get an idea for a Heckhounds song I just start playing the music and see
if it feels good. If it feels good we work on it. If it ain't got that
swing the hammer don't ring. Back to the drawing board. The way we wrote
the song bad reputaion came about like this. I had an idea for a song
feeling kicking around for awhile. I started playing around with words and
an arrangement. I got something I thought might be cool and played it for
Hal. His comment was something like '"you got too may dirge like tunes
that you're writing. Let's try this," and he picked up the tempo, changed
the drum beat two months down the road, arranged a great instrumental
break, in other words took a basic idea and came up with a great tune,
"Bad Reputation" It started slow and ended up rockin'. And look ma no
bass. Something different unless you got to see R.L. Burnside and his
partner playing guitar with a drummer, or you dig some of Jimmy Reed's
records where they didn't have no bass player. It's like walking the
tightrope, you can fall, but sometimes stripped down blues sounds so good!
So we collaborate and help each other with the music that becomes The
Heckhound sound. Sometimes it is just a harp, guitar and drums. Sometimes
I play guitar, so you get the two guitars and drums. I started playing
with Hal a few years ago and we ended up with a great drummer, Kevin
Morrison. What I dig about Kevin is his original approach to percussion.
Kevin is a veteran drummer who has played with different bands for many
years. He has logged many hours playing out in different clubs in Vermont
and New Hampshire. Hal has also been playin all his life in a variety of
formats, from the rock and roll bands of his younger days, to punk rock in
Boston, country bands, cover bands, and blues bands. Hal steps up in the
Heckhounds and delivers his unique songs and playing style. He messes with
the open G tuning and works his guitar hard. He works us hard. I started
out playing harp and singing in a band when I was a teenager. Later I took
up the guitar and played in a cover band, and had my own band for awhile.
Later I played harp in Boston at the fabulous blues jams of the 80's at
the 1369 jazz club. Some of the artists there went on to international
fame, like Kenny B., my former manager who plays with Luther "Guitar
Junior" Johnson and The Magic Rockers, others like Watermelon Slim, Little
Annie Raines, Gordon "Sax" Beadle, Chris Brown of The Stovall Brown band
and Earring George Mayweather, one of our mentors of the Boston blues
scene. It's cool that I found Hal up in his country home in Vermont. We
did some duos but Hal wanted a band. To me a band means you know drums
usually, so we drafted Kevin, who can play good. More on the Heckhounds
story later.
The Heck Hounds new cd "Bad Dog" is now available HERE!
The Heckhounds are a trio. They play the blues. Let's not kid around. this
ain't something new, in fact the blues is the basis for most music. Blues,
jazz, boogie woogie, rockabilly, swing, country and western, reggae all
come back to the blues format. Blues is music that tells a story, if there
are vocals. It doesn't need vocals to tell a story but if there are
lyrics, there is going to be a story told. The Heckhounds write songs that
tell a story. A music buddy suggested that we write some rockabilly tunes
after hearing "BAD DOG," our new CD. We're working on that too, but when I
get an idea for a Heckhounds song I just start playing the music and see
if it feels good. If it feels good we work on it. If it ain't got that
swing the hammer don't ring. Back to the drawing board. The way we wrote
the song bad reputaion came about like this. I had an idea for a song
feeling kicking around for awhile. I started playing around with words and
an arrangement. I got something I thought might be cool and played it for
Hal. His comment was something like '"you got too may dirge like tunes
that you're writing. Let's try this," and he picked up the tempo, changed
the drum beat two months down the road, arranged a great instrumental
break, in other words took a basic idea and came up with a great tune,
"Bad Reputation" It started slow and ended up rockin'. And look ma no
bass. Something different unless you got to see R.L. Burnside and his
partner playing guitar with a drummer, or you dig some of Jimmy Reed's
records where they didn't have no bass player. It's like walking the
tightrope, you can fall, but sometimes stripped down blues sounds so good!
So we collaborate and help each other with the music that becomes The
Heckhound sound. Sometimes it is just a harp, guitar and drums. Sometimes
I play guitar, so you get the two guitars and drums. I started playing
with Hal a few years ago and we ended up with a great drummer, Kevin
Morrison. What I dig about Kevin is his original approach to percussion.
Kevin is a veteran drummer who has played with different bands for many
years. He has logged many hours playing out in different clubs in Vermont
and New Hampshire. Hal has also been playin all his life in a variety of
formats, from the rock and roll bands of his younger days, to punk rock in
Boston, country bands, cover bands, and blues bands. Hal steps up in the
Heckhounds and delivers his unique songs and playing style. He messes with
the open G tuning and works his guitar hard. He works us hard. I started
out playing harp and singing in a band when I was a teenager. Later I took
up the guitar and played in a cover band, and had my own band for awhile.
Later I played harp in Boston at the fabulous blues jams of the 80's at
the 1369 jazz club. Some of the artists there went on to international
fame, like Kenny B., my former manager who plays with Luther "Guitar
Junior" Johnson and The Magic Rockers, others like Watermelon Slim, Little
Annie Raines, Gordon "Sax" Beadle, Chris Brown of The Stovall Brown band
and Earring George Mayweather, one of our mentors of the Boston blues
scene. It's cool that I found Hal up in his country home in Vermont. We
did some duos but Hal wanted a band. To me a band means you know drums
usually, so we drafted Kevin, who can play good. More on the Heckhounds
story later.
The Heck Hounds new cd "Bad Dog" is now available 
