Jim Cavender- guitar, vox
Newt Johnson- organ, vox
Mike Dendy- drums, vox
Influences
Jimmy McGriff, Booker T. & The MG's, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Willie Nelson's Stardust, Al Green, Jimmy Smith, The Meters, Mose Allison, Bobby Womack, Grant Green, late '60s Elvis, Stanton Moore, Howard Roberts' Color Him Funky and H.R. Is A Dirty Guitar Player, Medeski Martin & Wood, Clutchy Hopkins, The Funk Brothers, Ray's Genius + Soul = Jazz, Dave "Baby" Cortez, Larry Young, mid '60s Dylan, Kenny Burrell, Robert Walter, ? & The Mysterians, anything on Blue Note '56-'71, Randy Newman, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, The Band, Shirley Scott, Led Zep's In Through The Out Door, John Scofield, Willie Mitchell, The Mastersounds, The Iguanas, Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham, Raphael Saadiq, Steely Dan, James Brown's Soul Pride: The Instrumentals 1960-1969, Los Lobos, Marvin Gaye, Brother Jack McDuff, Charlie Rich on Smash and Hi, Joey DeFrancesco, The Clash, Charles Earland, Sam Cooke's Night Beat, Freddie Roach, The Bamboos, James Taylor Quartet, Joe Jackson, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Dennis Coffey's "Scorpio", Bill Brandon, Trudy Pitts, The (Jazz) Crusaders, Leon Spencer, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Mark Ronson, Larry Goldings, The Beastie Boys' The In Sound From Way Out and The Mix-Up, Don Patterson, Beck, MFSB, Connie Price & The Keystones, AWB, Korla Pandit.... Did we leave anybody out?
Trio El Camino is the premier organ combo of the Huntsville, Alabama metro area. Consisting of Newt Johnson on organ, Jim Cavender on guitar and Mike Dendy on drums, Trio El Camino plays a wide variety of styles that all melt together to form a unique, soulful, rockin', swingin', funky sound. All three of the guys sing, so their live sets alternate between harmonized vocal numbers and hip, catchy instrumentals. The group also writes plenty of original songs to mix into their long list of cool covers.
Together since early '06, the three can also be heard as part of Huntsville's Latin party band Mambo Gris-Gris. Cavender and Dendy play together in the honky-tonk country outfit Lost Troubadours From The Ford Galaxie, while Johnson and Cavender lead Rolling Jazz Revue, a cutting-edge jazz quintet. All that experience and much more goes into the soulful sound of Trio El Camino.
Come see Ben Farley (solo comedy and folk rock & blues music show) and the Electric Veltens (synth rock band from Atlanta) at the Flying Monkey Arts Center in Huntsville, AL this friday October 16th @ 8pm myspace.com/benfarleyband & myspace.com/electricveltens
