So I love listening to music as well. I’m curious what harmonica heavy bands that you all enjoy listening to. By harmonica heavy I mean that the harmonica is one of the main spotlight of the band or music, or bands with lots of harmonica in it. I’m not talking about heavy metal bands haha. I recently found Juzzie Smith and love his stuff. Give me names of bands even if it’s your band so that I can listen and get inspiration from!!
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Sorry I can’t answer and apologies for getting a little off track, but as you mentioned Juzzie Smith, have you heard of Xavier Rudd? Another insanely talented Australian multi-instrumental musician. Including harmonica, although not in all of his songs. Beautiful spiritual lyrics and so much talent. Makes me feel like a complete novice, which I suppose I am. Check out ‘Follow the sun’ if you haven’t already heard it. ‘Live concert in Belgium is a nice version’
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I have not heard of Xavia but will check him out. Thanks!
Fabulous Thunderbirds, Paul DeLay Band, William Clarke Band, King Biscuit, Greg Fingers Taylor, Little Charlie and the night Cats, then Later Rick Estrin and the Night Cats, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Fliers not forgetting the earlier pioneers, Snooky Pryor, James Cotton, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson II Little Walter. George Harmonica Smith Really Just Google harmonica driven bands. Most commonly now they are West Coast players, but there are some also in Blues Rock ( where heavy metal performers go to die) then There’s guys Like Paul Butterfield, Early Canned heat. Also a lot of Louisiana players Lazy Lester Raful Neal his son guitarist and harp player Kenny Neal. I could go on forever.
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I love it, thank you!
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I don’t really listen to bands for my harmonica music. I’ve realized that all of the blues bands and solo acts that heavily feature harmonica all sound the same from each other and the other genre bands that feature harmonica have the lead singer play it and make it sound terrible. This is why I moved on from listening to bands and started listening to session players.
Session harmonica players are more prominent in country and gospel music, but they’re also worth checking out. My personal favorite is Terry McMillan, who played with almost every popular artist under the sun from the early 70s up to the late 2000s. He unfortunately passed away in 2007, but his resumé was so big that it’s a treasure trove of good harmonica playing, at least to my ears. Here’s some of the playlists I’ve made regarding his stuff.
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That’s all great stuff. That playlist is great. He really did play with everyone. I have found myself leaning more towards country/southern rock/folk and bluegrass style.
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Cotton Eye Joe A song I grew up listening to and I would imagine grade kids will as well. Orange Blossom Special and The Devil Lives in Dallas are also on the list. In Texas its not a band without a fiddle and a good harp player is always welcome.
Dave
If you are going to SPAH this summer you can go to many places and a long list put together. My wife and I go see a local band a couple of times a year. What is really nice is there are no bad drunks, fights, etc. There will be people dancing from 5 to 90 years old and everyone has a good time. The fiddle player is fantastic. I bet the singer they could not play Orange Blossom Special and The Devil Lives In Dallas in ten minutes. I lost $50 and knew I would. They light the place up. No smoking either and the food is great.
I don’t think all these bands sound the same some play more Chromatic styles, some mix soul into their music, while others lean more heavily towards Jazz, some lean towards Texas Blues and swamp, others Chicago and other influences they’ve all listened to the same stuff growing up and done their own thing with it. I personally am not a huge fan of Gospel to me that sounds all the same. I’m a pagan not much into God. So this stuff unless it’s sister Rosetta Tharpe whose guitar playing influenced Chuck Berry, leave quite cold and I find that sounds mostly the same.
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@scott4 sounds like a great time!! I will need to check out camping schedule for the summer and see if it’s something I can go to.
It’s not the influences behind the music, it’s just that harmonica playing in blues music in general that all sounds the same. People have told me many times in the past to get rid of my Terry McMillan influence and to start listening to “real blues harmonica players” like Little Walter and James Cotton, to get rid of my lip pursing style in favor of a more restrictive tongue blocked one (blues chromatic players are very pushy about this in particular), and to get rid of my Golden Melodies for Marine Bands for no other reason than “ET bad, JI good” because that’s all they say about the Golden Melody. All of them have the same harmonica influences, the same harmonica model, and the same playing style. Conformity is a huge issue in blues, and that’s why I say that I’m not a “blues harmonica player” but rather just a harmonica player because it implies that I’m a conformist.
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I’ve never copied anyone 100% as most harp players you can’t say that Butterfield sounds the same as Kim Wilson or Little Walter they all sound completely different. The style is the style but each harp player plays differently and has a different approach it might be in the blues format but they are all different.
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But that’s because the famous players have their own unique style. What I’m seeing from Facebook “blues bros” is what I just described: playing exactly like Little Walter with little to no variation of his licks and songs, using the same mic and amp (a tube amp with a vintage Green Bullet and no pedals), playing only Marine Bands, Just Intonation tuned, or wooden combed harmonicas (because apparently tone wood exists in the harmonica world), and only tongue blocking (because "lip pursing is “limiting” and causes wrinkles). They’ve tried to force me to play that way for so many years, that I eventually stopped listening to blues except for those who are hybrid or majority lip pursed.
The Blues brothers are probably the worst example you need to listen to Mark Hummel Paul DeLay Dennis Grunelling they and others have took the harp where it’s never been before. Little Walter was a pioneer but when it came to playing Chrominica he very rarely used the slide and mainly did position playing. Although I nod to the past I don’t live there, every one from Paul Butterfield to Al Wilson ( both of them innovators on the harp) to William Clarke, Rod Piazza Paul Delay to Dennis Grunelling have also been innovators Jason Ricci and even Will Wilde ( who is more in the rock sphere but as A very young man has basically re- invented the harp for rock playing. I yet to hear anyone who comes close to Dennis Grunelling that’s why he’s world harmonica champion.
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I will add a band that has a lot of harmonica in their songs Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Steve Cash is the harmonica player and I like his playing.
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I love the Daredevils I’ve nearly all their albums, I’m a big fan of country rock ( my last band, I played guitar, harp, Mandolin, and banjo was country rock, but we experimented with it adding different styles but keeping it within that genre.) However, Blues has always been my first love. Followed closely by Rockabilly, Bluegrass, Cajun, Punk, and Rock. But I listen to everything and anything as A musician I look everywhere for influences I love soul, funk, bits of jazz 50’s rock and roll. Early R&B World music the List is endless. Like a Jackdaw I steal everyone’s shiny bits.
I also like various types of music as well. I mostly play the harmonica and tambourine and shaker. Occasionally I will play the guiro but just learning to play that. Another band with a good harmonica player is the J. Geils Band.
I didn’t mean the Blues Brothers when I said that. I meant the Facebook blues dudebros who think that you have to play the same way as them.
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Oh sorry mis understood, but honestly if this guys are telling you that you have to play it this way or that, they really don’t understand what the Blues is all about. Like punk its a home made music, like Skiffle was in the UK ( old style blues music and rock and roll played on washboards, a packing cas or tin bath tub bass very make shift just like early Antebellum music) or punk a bunch of spotty jobless kids from blocks of flats or suburbia ( like I was for a bit til I joined the forces) trying to express their anger and dissatisfaction at the system. None of these groups of people told how to play, hell, you just learnt 3 chords and had a go! I do admit that Blues does have its elitists I know I’ve bumped into them myself. I usually tell em to F–k off because honestly I have no time for musical snobs. I diversify a lot, there’s influences in the way I play blues from everywhere all sorts of music. I’m a musician first and I really don’t class myself as a “Bluesman” although I’ve been called that and if people want to do that, that’s their own affair. But no If they are telling you how to play they’ve completely missed the point. But don’t hold it against the form just because a few dickheads within that form have pissed you off. There’s a wealth of great modern players to learn from if that’s you bag if not then that’s up to you. We all want to try and emulate our heroes it mostly impossible because they are who they are and we are all different at the end of the day. So you just be you with a bit of Terry MacMillan added