Name some obscure musical royalty from your area

[Bluzmann57]

Around here, Iowa, we have two guys, Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey. Ok, if you are familiar with so called "Alt-Folk" then you have likely heard of Brown. But Bo Ramsey was born, raised, and likely will die in Iowa. He has actually been nominated for a Grammy because of his production work on Lucinda Williams' "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" recording. And he lives in the Iowa City, Iowa area.

[rug]

1. Vanessa Carlton played last night in her home town at the Milford Music Festival.

My daughters got her autograph.

[Bluzmann57]

4. Cool!

And believe it or not, I have heard the name before.

[ornotna]

2. Love Bo Ramsey

Saw him down here when he was accompanying Pieta Brown when she opened for Iris Dement. I have 3 of his CD's, really dig his music.

[Bluzmann57]

7. Bo and Pieta are married

Very strange union. An older guy marries his best friends daughter and the father of the bride was there. And giving his blessing. Musicians. What a bunch.

[ornotna]

12. No shit!

How about that. I'd a never thunk that one. :crazy:

Hey if they're happy.... whatever.

[femmocrat]

3. Not so obscure, but Shirley Jones is from a nearby town.

Anyone remember Lou Christie? He is from Pittsburgh.

[abq e streeter]

5. The human kazoo ! I love Lou Christie

[supernova]

54. Shirley Jones is from Smithton, PA

Her family ran the town brewery.

My grandmother used to babysit her. :-) Small world.

[DeepBlueC]

6. Cowboy Junkies

FEIST - She's not from this city but she stepped into the Queen Street art scene in 1996.

I guess neither of them is obscure but the local music scene here is big and a few members of the local royalty might be Molly Johnson, Lorraine Segato, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Mike Pickett Carlos Del Junco, Blue Rodeo ...all in the elder statesmen category except for Carlos.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Prince?

[AwakeAtLast]

9. Um, Henry Lee Summer

:hide:

[CreekDog]

10. Boz Scaggs owns two nightclubs in SF (Slim's and Great American Music Hall)

and has been a local for some time now.

he's got a very interesting voice.

[BeachBaby]

11. Obscure? Cinderella.....

Not so obscure - legends, actually:

Frank Sinatra
Bruce Springsteen
Bon Jovi

[latebloomer]

17. Oh yeah, Jersey rules!

Plus we got half the jazz legends in the world. Reggie Workman lives in my town. And I went to high school with Phoebe Snow.

[BeachBaby]

23. Where in Jersey are you located?

:hi:

[latebloomer]

28. Montclair

Twelve miles west of the Lincoln Tunnel

[Mr. Ected]

13. Junior Samples used to live around the block

Don't know if his gig with "Hee Haw" qualified him as music royalty, but we sure took a shinin' to him.

[Bluzmann57]

15. My dad liked him

I don't remember him really well, but Hee Haw was a funny show. And Roy Clark could play music with anyone on the planet.

[Steely_Dan]

14. From The Santa Barbara Area...

Isla Vista more accurately...

Ugly Kid Joe
Jack Johnson
Toad The Wet Sprocket

-P

[Bluzmann57]

16. Now Ugly Kid Joe is a band I can relate to

My real name may or may not be Joe. I'm glad they weren't around when I was in High School. :headbang:

[Ptah]

18. The Yahoo yodel is done by Wylie Gustafson, from my hometown

http://www.esnips.com/doc/b0b2f1f4-f1f8-4e0e-b256-b1d61d95dbd9/Yahoo-Yodel

[abq e streeter]

19. They all had to leave ; mostly to LA ,but Tim Pierce and the late Randy Castillo

are two that both left here ( Albuquerque) many years ago. Randy ended up as Ozzy Osbourne's drummer, and Tim has been one of LA's top session guitarists for 30 years. Everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Crowded House to Michael Jackson ( that signature riff on Black or White, for instance, is Tim). Tim was in Rick Springfield's band for awhile too, and brought Rick to a wedding I played about 20 years ago. Tim sat in with us, but Rick didn't... My band actually beat Tim's in a battle of the bands not long before he went to LA, but look who "made it" ( that would be Tim) and who didn't ( that would be me)...Mike Goodroe from The Motels is from here too.The Fireballs ( Bottle of Wine,and Sugar Shack, backing up Jimmy Gilmer) are from up the road in Raton ,NM. I've actually held George Tomsco's guitar in my grubby little hands, and heard Bottle of Wine on the oldies station just yesterday and was thinking about that. The Fireballs also recorded at Norman Petty's studio on 7 th street in Clovis NM, as did another guy, by the name of Buddy Holly (although we can't claim him; he was from just over the border in Lubbock).Two more guys that started here are Junior Brown and an old buddy of mine named Eric McFadden who has been based in the bay area for quite a while; he has his own trio, but was in George Clinton's P-Funk for a couple of years... there are also a surprising number of absolutely killer blues and jazz players here that are content to gig locally, and most often , have day jobs, but play their asses off.

[Kali]

32. I didn't know Junior Brown was from Albequerque.

He just was in Tucson a while back - almost got off our asses to go see him.

[abq e streeter]

35. he may very well not be a native--when I first came here in '72

he was known as JB Brown and was part of a very popular electric bluegrass type band called the Last Mile Ramblers...sometime, before too long, he left; I never knew him , but later became friends with the rest of the re-formed ( as opposed to reformed) Ramblers, who became more country swing ( heavy on the swing) and sat in with them a lot and have on occasion done gigs with various members. I attended the wedding of the leader of the Ramblers many years ago, and Junior may well have been there, but to be honest, I was so drunk, the whole thing was pretty much a blur, although I vaguely remember meeting Eliza Gilkyson there when my ping pong ball flew onto her pool table or some variance thereof...I know Junior still has a lot of the Rambler guys back him up when he comes back to do gigs around here, and uses a couple of drummer friends from here on gigs in other parts of the country as well ( these guys are bad-ass players; one of the drummers for instance used to play with Natalie Cole, and all of em are of that quality). So we always think of Junior Brown as a local guy made good...

[abq e streeter]

52. P.S. --if you're enough of a Junior Brown fan to want to find this...

The Last Mile Ramblers made one album with him, called "While They Last"... probably something that can be found (?) through collectors on the intertubes etc.

[hobbit709]

20. Way too many to list in my area.

Robert Shaw played barrelhouse piano. Of course, working at AWHQ meant I saw plenty of obscure, not so obscure, famous and infamous musicians.
And my buddy Geoff Outlaw-whose claim to fame is he was the guy with Arlo when they got busted for littering.

[Bennyboy]

21. Greg Brown is great...

He has a bunch of great songs about baseball....love the guy...

[many a good man]

22. Nils Lofgren

Here's his house:

http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/41692/view/?service=0

[Manifestor_of_Light]

24. Doug Sahm.

Sir Douglas Quintet. "She's About a Mover".

Lightnin' Hopkins.

ZZ Top.

Gatemouth Brown.

Leadbelly.

Michael Nesmith.

Ringo once said he wanted to move to Houston, because Lightnin' Hopkins lived there. :D

[Bluzmann57]

27. Your artists aren't quite obscure

Damn good, but not obscure.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

41. Yeah I know.

Guess I am not into obscure musical acts. :shrug:

[argyl]

64. Doug Sahm was from San Antonio. n/t.

[EndersDame]

25. Butthole Surfers Ghostland Observatory Wayne Hancock Pinetop Perkins

Dale Watson Selena (obscure in anglo communities) Guy Forsyth Toni Price Krum Bums Dj Screw and the list goes on. I think that all y'all Texas haters are just jealous because we have the best music

[Bluzmann57]

29. I don't think Mr. Perkins is from Texas

I'm pretty sure Mr. Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins is a product of the Mississippi delta. I've actually met the man. Helluva musician and a nice guy to boot. And you Texans have some of the greatest music the world has ever known.

[EndersDame]

33. on edit: He has relocated to Austin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinetop_Perkins

[Manifestor_of_Light]

66. Butthole Surfers went to my alma mater.

Undergrad college Trinity University in San Antonio.

[Robeson]

26. I live in Nashville. This city has made an industry out of obscure has-beens....

...collecting royalties.

[Kerrytravelers]

30. Papa Roach comes from my hometown.

[Kali]

31. obscure royalty?

I'll claim Al Perry and Tucson for my first answer. Tucson has an amazing music scene for the size city that it is. Calexico, Salvador Duran, the Carnivaleros, Last Call Girls, Molehill Orchestra, Kevin Pakulis, Greyhound Soul, too many to list!

Is Greg Brown obscure? Geeze I hear him pretty often on NPR and he comes through here pretty often thought he pretty darn mainstream. We have a good (at least for music) community station out of Tucson and I am really spoiled by not having to listen to too much garbage.

[Bennyboy]

34. Kevin Seconds in Sacramento...

I have no idea why he is royalty, but he is. He was in ONE Band that was worth diddly squat back in the 80's,a good twenty years ago, Drop Acid, but he is royalty round these parts. If he farts, the press loves it. He is a 40 year old guy who still plays punk rock. And badly. He is one of the cultural icons in this town and I got no reason why that is. But the press loves him, they cannot write one paragraph about the local music scene without mentioning Kevin, his wife (Allison) or whatever business he runs. The promoters love him (they all LOOOOVE the retro sound...).

What is funny is the jackie Greene is from round here too and got a TON OF PRESS for a long time. He ws the prince of this town, a young singer songwriter in the dylan mode. he played tons of free shows and the press loved him to pieces.

But the very second he moved to SF they ignored him like he is the Swine Flu. he joined Phil Les's band and the Sac press were mum. Weird. the guy is great but...

[mitchum]

36. I live in Athens GA

[GReedDiamond]

37. Sierra Madre, CA...

Benedict Arnold & The Traitors (http://www.benedictarnoldandthetraitors.com, streaming at http://www.jango.com/music/Benedict+Arnold+And+The+Traitors)

Max Buda (Max palyed with the Sixties band, Kaleidoscope)

Horses On AstroTurf

Aluminum Marshmallow (?)

I think some guys from Canned Heat (not totally obscure) used to live here too, back in the day.

[Lex]

38. Blind Boy Fuller

[cemaphonic]

39. Sky Cries Mary

They had a pretty big and devoted following here in Seattle, but never really hit it big nationally.

As for obscure and from Iowa, I just discovered William Eliot Whitmore. That guy is great. He sounds like one of those ancient grizzled black bluesmen, but he's actually a 30 year old Iowa farm boy.

[5thGenDemocrat]

40. Question Mark and the Mysterians

"96 Tears" was a HUGE hit in 1967 or so and still gets occasional airplay. Saginaw couldn't be prouder of them.
John
Tyrone Davis ("Turn Back the Hands of Time") grew up here and Sonny Stitt, one of jazz' all-time great saxophonists hailed from Saginaw, too. So did Gerald Marks, who is probably best known for writing "All of Me," and Isham Jones, who led a jazz band of some national repute in the 20s and 30s.

[Jetboy]

50. ? is the uncle of a friend of mine.

I couldn't get him to open up about the whole being from Mars thing though.

I'm sure I've heard an old country song called 'Saginaw' too.

[hibbing]

42. In the Year 2525

Hi,
Fun post, thanks. Zager and Evans for their one hit wonder In the Year 2525 one of the dumbest songs ever recorded in my opinion.

It's got really stupid lyrics, I can't dance to it, I give it a 95 Dick!

Peace

[GoddessOfGuinness]

43. Roy Clark grew up in SE Washington DC...

I guess he's not too obscure, though.

[bridgit]

44. Joan Didion................& Oleander ~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ3ei32FWy0

[bridgit]

45. Oh......& Tesla ~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl-yWJjd6HA

[XemaSab]

61. No Cake?

:shrug:

[taterguy]

46. The Five Royales

[gbate]

47. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ellen Naomi Cohen, aka Mama Cass. RIP, I adored her.

[LynneSin]

48. Wilmington DE has a festival for Bob Marley each year because he lived 3 years in our city

worked at the Chrysler Plant down in Newark.

[Kali]

53. is that right?

ha, I didn't know that (not that I'm a huge font of Marley history/trivia, but still...)

[Jetboy]

49. Don't forget about Greg Brown's lovely and talented wife, Iris

Dement! She is just dreamy and the best country/folkie act going IMO. Everything about Iris Dement just screams GENUINE. She is the real deal. Her and Greg are good people too.

House of Large Sizes was the best live band of the 90s for my money. Their records were a bit stale but live they brought the magic everywhere they played. (which was everywhere and anywhere) HOLS is playing a one-off reunion gig in a couple of weeks at Spicoli's in Waterloo which marks 20 years since I first saw 'em.

The latest buzz around the state surrounds young William Elliot Whitmore. Iowa City is a real hub for 'Americana' music and Whitmore stands to be one of the next stars.

[Bertha Venation]

51. Good Charlotte is from Charles County, MD, where I live. n/t

[mikeytherat]

55. House of Freaks, Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker, G.W.A.R.

mikey_the_rat

[gmoney]

63. House of Freaks, oh yeah...

Nearly forgot about them...

Camper was great first time 'round. Cracker's first couple were great, too.

[Roon]

56. Big head Todd

and the string cheese incident.

[Rosie1223]

57. No one has mentioned Grammy Winner Barack Obama?

He's from my home state.

[csziggy]

58. Del Suggs, good musician who aids and promotes other local musicians

http://www.saltwatermusic.com/

He's produced a number of CDs of various local artists and works with campus musicians to get new artists started.

[backtoblue]

59. Amy Lee - Evanescence

Little Rock

[blogslut]

60. Susan Gibson & J.D. Souther

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Gibson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.D._Souther

[gmoney]

62. The Royal Crescent Mob

Couple of them grew up in Dayton, the band formed in Columbus, and kind of fused the Red Hot Chili Peppers with Led Zeppelin. They released a brilliant album (Omerta) on their own, managed to get signed to Sire and put out a couple rather dreadful albums, and then sort of fell apart.

But man, were they great live in their day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Crescent_Mob

The other way down the road in Cincinnati were the Afghan Whigs, whose masterpiece was "Gentlemen" -- really worth exploring if you haven't yet.

[RagAss]

65. Lynard Skynyrd....Jax, Fla

[mwooldri]

67. Sorry I don't do obscure...

From my hometown (not Greensboro, NC) we have Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton that I can think of from the top of my head. Before his divorce we also had Phil Collins. Cliff Richard is nearby, as is Paul McCartney.

Mark.

[WildEyedLiberal]

68. REO SPEEDWAGON

You're jealous. Don't bother to hide it.