High octane Americana

11 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Political Folk, FOLK: Progressive Folk

Show all album songs: Calico Heart Songs


Details:
HOUSTON JONES BIOS:

GLENN HOUSTON
Lead Guitar, Background Vocals
Glenn is an accomplished player with influences ranging from T-Bone Walker, Albert King, B.B. King and Michael Bloomfield to Doc Watson, Albert Lee and James Burton. A co-founder in 1979 of the group Hearts on Fire, Glenn was nominated for "Best Lead Guitar" by the California Country Music Association (CCMA). While Glenn was with the group, Hearts on Fire earned a prestigious Bay Area Music Award (Bammie). Over the years, Glenn has shared billing with Hank Williams, Jr., Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, The David Grisman Quintet, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, John Hartford, Ricky Skaggs, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and The Tubes. In recent years, he has performed live and in the recording studio with Grammy Award winner Ramblin' Jack Elliott; he co-founded and played lead guitar for the critically acclaimed acoustic group The Waybacks; he has performed with blues legends Mark Naftalin and Nick Gravenites; and he has earned a second nomination for "Best Lead Guitar" from the CCMA. And yes, he plays left-handed upside down.

TRAVIS JONES
Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Background Vocals

A California Cajun from Shreveport, Lousiana, Travis' musical career began at the age of four, singing gospel duets with his mother, Lottie Adams, a recording artist for Paula Records. Travis' performance experience encompasses blues, rock and roll, R&B, country and bluegrass and he has been a member of several Bay Area bands including Large and In the Way where his bandmates included The Waybacks founders Chojo Jacques and Glenn Houston. Travis has recorded two of his own albums: "Lost Highway; The Legendary Music of Hank Williams" and "Dance All Night" and has shared the stage with John Berry, Michael Martin Murphy, Billy Ray Cyrus, Holly Dunn, Jerry Jeff Walker, and the Doobie Brothers. Travis also portrayed Hank Williams on stage in the critically acclaimed musical "Lost Highway - The Music and Legend of Hank Williams," where he won accolades for his evocation of this country music great. This led to other leading stage roles in the productions "Smoke on the Mountain" and "Pump Boys and Dinettes". Also a composer, Travis has created scores and original musical arrangements for several productions, including the heart-rendering play "The Grapes of Wrath".

PETER TUCKER
Percussion, Background Vocals
Rolling Stone Magazine described Peter as "one of the most creative percussionists to emerge in rock music." Originally from Massachusetts, Peter's eclectic pro career began in the early 60's working with the Boston-based band The Monks featuring Brad Delp (who later became lead singer for the rock group Boston.) Peter also recorded in New York with Tim Hardin and worked with Richie Havens, Austin Delone, Grungy O'Muck and others. Peter has also worked with the ground-breaking rock band Guns and Butter, recording two albums on Atlantic Records. Later, on the West Coast, Peter played with the R&B band Pacific Gas and Electric and with Declan Mulligan and The Beau Brummels with whom he put out the Vince Welnick-produced single, "Back To Life." Peter has continued to play folk, jazz, country, blues and rock with many Bay Area Bands such as Large and in the Way, The Ray Price Club, Celtic Scandal, The Ron Price Band, The Lost River Band, The Gary Gates Band, Dallas Wayne, and most recently, The Waybacks, The Cowlicks, and of course, Houston Jones. Peter is a session drummer too, in many Bay Area recording studios, and especially for local music entrepreneur Kathi Goldmark where he has recorded with Warren Zevon, Skunk Baxter and authors Amy Tan, Steven King, and Norman Mailer.

CHRIS KEE
Bass, Background Vocals
A classically trained cellist with a degree in ethnomusicology, Chris has performed and recorded with a bewildering array of artists, including Peter Rowan and Norah Jones. He is a long time collaborator with Telecaster wizard Jim Campilongo, playing with Jim in the legendary Ten Gallon Cats and various post-Cats ensembles. With drummer Peter Tucker, he was in the original rhythm section of those practitioners of acoustic mayhem, The Waybacks. In various musical incarnations, he has opened for Jerry Garcia, Lyle Lovett, Los Lobos, Bela Fleck and J.J. Cale, to name but a few. In addition to holding down the bass chair with Houston Jones, Chris can be seen locally with the Magic City Chamber of Commerce and Stephen Yerkey.

HENRY SALVIA
Keyboards, Accordion, Vocals
Henry Salvia was born a dim-witted but honest child in the Cagolugo section of Detroit.
As a child, he threatened his parents with becoming a drummer until he discovered that the piano was larger and heavier, so naturally he began to play it. After a long and undistinguished career performing in luxurious hotels and corner dives throughout the Metropolitan area, he decided to move to Los Angeles to expand his opportunities, and wound up in San Francisco.

Several years of playing rock and Top 40 in Detroit was ideal training for his role in the Billy Band , who played both kinds of music (country and western). After being replaced by a pedal steel guitar (though no one in the Billy Band played it, it looked better on stage than Henry), he moved to a roots rock band called the Hurricanes , where he was surprised to discover his wife singing for the band. So, he married her. It seemed the honorable thing to do.
All of this experience playing rock and country made him the logical selection as the piano player for the Johnny Nocturne band, who specialize in R&B, soul, and jazz. Henry's frenetic yet lyrical style (describe by bandleader John Firmin as "a cross between Carmen Cavallero and Cecil Taylor") is featured on several of their albums.

Henry has had the honor of working with artists such as Bo Diddley, Rickie Lee Jones, Johnny Colla (of Huey Lewis and the News), Big Jay McNeeley, Jessica Mitford, Tommy Ridgely, Al Kooper, Peter Coyote, Big Lou the Accordion Princess, Jan Fanucci, and (his favorite) Johnny Adams .