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HELLO
from TERESA
JAMES BILLY WATTS...................guitar & vocals DEBRA DOBKIN.....percussion & vocals TONY BRAUNAGEL........drums JERRY PETERSON....saxophones TERRY WILSON......bass, vocals |
| TERESA
JAMES......keyboards & vocals |
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Mea Culpa
Ok...we continue to slack when it comes to putting up new news on our website. A lot has happened in the past few months, weeks. We're in the middle of recording our 7th CD. And funny you should ask! Where's the 6th one? And why don't you have it? Well, we just put the "By Request" cd up for sale at CDBaby. It's available there and we'll have it on the site here any minute....just you wait and see! The "By Request" cd is Teresa's country cd that she's been talking about doing forever and we did last summer here in Los Angeles and also some tracks in Nashville at Kevin McKendree's Rockhouse Studios. Teresa picked some of her favorite country tunes to record as well as taking a couple of requests from her dad and suggestions from close friends around the country. There's a duet with Delbert of "Crying Time"....there's a twangy rendition of "19th Nervous Breakdown" that was sure fun to do with James Pennebaker with some of his very funky tremeloed guitar tones. Also (another really good excuse for not keeping you guys up-to-date on the news)... we have been out on the road... We were in The Netherlands for the Moulin Blues Festival near Ospen and had a GREAT time. We had our good friend, John 'Rabbit' Bundrick (keyboardist for The Who for the last 20 years) sitting in with us on the B3 which made it really special. And then we just got back from a quick trip back east - first to North Carolina where we played a city park concert in Kinston (our home away from home) and then to Durham where we had a chance to revisit Papa Mojo's Roadhouse - an incredible Cajun restaurant (they could almost have just paid us off in catfish and buttermilk pie); then we went to Pennsylvania to the home of our good friends Tim and Sue where we played the annual summer solstice party there with Tommy Castro and his band and Mike Guldin's Rollin' and Tumblin' (a fabulous local blues band). that was a REALLY fun night. Bill Wax and his beautiful wife, Sheila, came with some friends and hung out and partied with us... The Rhythm Tramps have also been very busy on their own - Terry and Billy are out in Europe tight now (all over the place) with Eric Burdon (along with Red Young and Brannen Temple - it's an incredible band - I always thought they were Animals)... Debra has been out doing dates with a bunch of different people - most notably the lovely Jennifer Warnes.....Jerry has been working furiously in his studio on remastering a bunch of different projects... and (not to be outdone) I am heading to Colorado next weekend to play at Smokin' Moe's in Winter Park and I am thrilled to have Delbert's band - the amazing Kevin McKendree. Rob McNelley, Steve Mackie and Lynn WIlliams - backing me up. Delbert is doing an afternoon concert there and then the guys will be coming out that evening to work with me. I am really looking forward to that... So... there you have it. Hope you are all enjoying your summer and I promise to do better about keeping up... Our Annual Pennsylvania PilgrimageFrom Sinking Springs to XM Hello out there... Just back from the annual Tim & Sue Achenbach's summer solstice party in Sinking Springs, Pa. It's these private little parties like these where all the fun happens nowadays it seems. No pressure... just good old school good times... you come to play and you have a great time musiccally and hanging. Blues Foundation's "Performer of the Year" Tommy Castro and band were also on the bill and we all got to get up and do the proverbial jam thang at the end of night. There was a video camera out there shooting it all and we hope and should be getting a copy of it soon....because there was some great stuff going on, onstage saturday night and we hope it's as good as we remember it. lol... anyway, if and when we do get this video... we'll be sure to post it both here on the website and Teresa's MySpace page too. On Sunday, we drove to D.C. so we could have the evening off and wake up near XM Radio's studio there on monday. That afternoon we had the extreme honor and pleasure of hanging with Mr. Bill Wax and being part of Bill's ever so cool Bluesville radio show. Bill's got the best playlist on the planet and it's hard to imagine having a more comfortable host than Bill in a situation like this. He let us help program the show by picking any tune that had influenced us or that we liked to listen to at home and then he played it on the air between the interview. It was a whole lot of fun - I hope everyone had a chance to listen in. Then the party continued later on through the evening back at Bill's place with his wife, Sheila, and Nashville songwriter Gary Vincent and his wife Carol (who is also in the biz and just happens to handle Delbert's publishing - small world, huh...). Gary and Carol cooked a mighty fine cajun style meal and the beer and tequila kept showing up in front of us... ever so plentiful and it continued to flow until late in the evening. That 4:30am wake up call to make the 7:00am flight back to L.A. came brutally and shamelessly much too early to feel good about waking up and getting on a airplane. lol... anyway, we made it home safe. Thanks Bill and Sheila for the wonderful hospitality. We hope to return the favor and see you soon. Teresa Sails Out On Rocking the BoatThe Deluxe Release of Rocking the Boat: A Musical Conversation and Journey has hit the streets. Remixed in 5.1 and DTS sound, the Rocking the Boat DVD now features 67 minutes of bonus material and a total of 30 songs. Total running time is 3 hours. Rocking the Boat stars Delbert McClinton and features Marcia Ball, Rodney Crowell, Stephen Bruton, Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps, Jimmy Hall, Tommy Castro, Big Al Anderson, Wayne Toups and Zydecajun, Paul Thorn, Terry Allen and Mingo Fishtrap. Additional Bonus artists include: Jeff Steele, Buddy Miller, Chris Stapleton, Whitey Johnson, Clay McClinton, Nick Connolly in Pianorama, and Bob DiPiero. This version of the movie won Best Documentary Feature at the 2007 Woods Hole Film Festival and best Music Documentary at the Lone Star International Film Festival. Rocking the Boat also OPENED the 37th USA Film Festival and played both the Dixie and Breckenridge Festivals. To order go to rockingtheboatmovie.com or filmbaby.com. Or purchase a copy at Teresa's live performances. The 2008 Blues Music AwardsTeresa Performs to Appreciative Crowd
The 2008 Blues Music Awards was held on May 8 at the Grand Casino Event Center in Tunica, Mississippi presented by The GIBSON Foundation. This was our first trip to the awards show... our first time to perform and hang with all the great performers and blues foundation people. We had a great time. We really want to thank Tommy Castro, Deanna Bogart, Keith Crossan, Tom Poole and Jimi Bott for sharing the stage with us and having a chance to play with all these great musicians. We got a chance to meet up and hang with Mr. Bill Wax from the legendary XM Radio's Bluesville... Jay Sieleman from The Blues Foundation on the night after the awards show. We got to see Art and Bonnie Tapaldi who we had met at and had not seen since the Nottodden Blues Festival this past August. Great to see them again. On friday evening at Ground Zero.....we had the extreme pleasure to sit in with Mike Zito and play a few tunes with Mike and Tony Braunagel for the Delta Groove party. We want to thank Randy Chortoff from Delta Groove records for that wonderful invite. Ground Zero is right in the middle where all the Delta blues began. Right at the crossroads in Clarksdale where legend says... Robert Johnson met up with Bellezabub and signed his soul away as thousands of other musicians have followed in his footstep with countless dodgy record deals... lol. Go to https://www.blues.org/members/ and check it out. It's a great way to support the blues and to help out some good causes too. Also...the Blues Foundation has a new shirt out to buy and support the arts... and help out some good people. For this one they've used a line from a song of ours... "Since I found the blues... I've been in the pink!" Please go and check out www.blues.org/tickets What do we have to do to never, ever leave the boat? Ahhh, the Delbert's Sandy Beaches Cruise '08... the 14th cruise. This was the first out of San Diego... we went through Cabo San Lucas, Matzalan and Puerta Vallarta. We got to see our cruiser family again. Lots of returning cruisers that keep coming back year after year. Lots of jamming going on every night... Especially the last night jam with the final hang being with Teresa and Jimmy Hall belting out "Stand By Me" with Delbert on piano, Kevin McKendree on B-3, Rob McNelley on guitar along with our very own, Billy Watts on guitar plusLynn Williams on drums and Terry on bass... then the BMI writer of the year... Then Teresa did Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You" before Jeffery Steele came out and finished off the night fronting the band with producer, songwriter Tom Hambridge taking on the drummer's chair with the band. Our personal new cruise band fav this year had to be James Hunter and his band out of London. Great singer... great tunes and band. Check'em out. Old school R n B... Teresa Covers Country! And She Covers It Right! We'll have the final version of the country CD by Teresa called By Request. This CD is featuring Delbert, Big Al Anderson, Kevin McKendree, Red Young, Billy Watts, James Pennebaker, Herman Matthews and Lynn Williams among some other great players and friends. This CD's music is Teresa going back to her Texas country roots... We hadto do a George Jones tune... There's a duet with Delbert that's to cry for! So many people have asked Teresa when was she going to do this CD... and she has wanted to do an all out country CD for a long time... We'll have it up here on the website before too long. Thanks, Thanks and MORE Thanks Thanking All Those Helping Us make It Happen We want to continue to thank BILL WAX and his Bluesville at XM for playing The Bottom Line CD... Thank you Bill!!! We're getting sooooo happy you've been spreading the word about Teresa and we've been getting such great feedback from people writing in that are hearing the tracks all around the country. Yesireee... it do feel good! We want to thank all the djs playing our music. If I'm forgetting somebody here... please send me the info so I can put it up. Thanks... the editor.
BLUESVILLE XM RADIO We want to thank Blues Revue Magazine and Art Tapaldi for the wonderful review of The Bottom Line... if you haven't seen it? Go out and buy it and support the blues. News of Note More goings on of Rhythm Tramps and Tramps at Heart Our good friend and part time Rhythm Tramp (when he's not out slamming with Mr. Tom Jones...) Herman Matthews has his debut cd called "HOME AT LAST". Check it out at Bill Medley from The Rightous Brothers cut Terry's "I'LL FIND SOMEONE WHO WILL" for his new cd. That tune is on our Rhythm Method cd. Not sure when, what and where on this release. But the cut sounds great... classic Bill Medley. Produced by Steve Dorff. Steve's had his hands on a lot of hits...a bunch.
The recently completed CD of Texas songwriter Danny Everitt's "Cold Wind, Cold Rain" was just reviewed at www.mytexasmusic.com. The review says in one paragraph... Everitt's CD is "Much like choosing the perfect after-dinner ice cream flavor for any meal". Check out Dan's CD at www.dannyeveritt.com. Teresa is on Tommy Castro's new cd called "Painkiller". She's singing and playing on the cut "Going Down South" which Tommy co-wrote with Terry. And don't forget - if you're wanting to sign up for the next year's cruise in 2009? Don't wait round....it'll be here before you know it. The '09 will be going out of San Diego. Go to delbert.com and check out all what's happening! Terry got to play on Ana Popovic's new cd produced by John Porter. Also on the session with Ana was Jon Cleary (from Bonnie Raitt's band & Mike Finnegan from Joe Cocker's band) on keyboards, (hello!) Tony Braunagel on drums and Terry playing bass. Check out Ana Popovic. Terry and Tony Braunagel have completed Jodie Siegal's new CD called "Stepping Stone". John Porter mixed it and it sounds simply great. Teresa is on the new STEPHEN BRUTON cd called "FROM THE FIVE". She's also been in the studio wtih SPENCER DAVIS helping out on Spencer's upcoming CDs. Terry finished Cynthia Jones debut CD a while back... and engineer Steve McHale is in the middle of mixing it right as we speak. Billy Watts is in the studio working on a new MOJO MONKEYS CD. Hopefully it's going to be ready soon - finally! We will keep you posted on other Rhythm Tramp news as it breaks... Rhythm Tramps alumni JERRY PETERSON and JAMES CRUCE both were in the studio with the man... ERIC CLAPTON recently working on his new CD being produced by JJ CALE... can't wait to hear this. Can't help but be fans of both of these guys!! And this just in from the UK of a review of "THE BOTTOM LINE" from BLUES BUNNY.COM Teresa has come up trumps again with this release. The band are right on the money here and gel perfectly with Teresa's voice throughout. With great production, a full-bodied sound and stunning performances from all concerned this one's a real winner. The opening track, "All Time Low", is a superb start to proceedings with the horn section taking a prominent role. "I Know Handsome When I See It" brings us to the perennial blues favourite of infidelity as Teresa laments her lack of judgement. While with "If Momma Don't Dig It" we are treated to a more subdued mid-tempo blues, and "Whet My Appetite" is in a similar vein. A bit more of a 'rockier' sound is provided by "Next Big Thang" and "In the Pink". The two standout tracks are "The Bottom Line", and "How Am I Gonna Stop Loving You". The former opens with a wailing harmonica before dropping into an understated yet incessantly throbbing beat that carries you along; and with "How Am I Gonna Stop Loving You" Teresa delivers a wonderful ballad which, with the Hammond B-3 in the background, almost has a gospel feel to it. Finally we come to a close with the bar room piano driven up tempo "I Do My Drinkin' on the Weekend" - a great fun way to finish. What can we say? The husky voiced vocals just seem to keep getting huskier, the blues get that bit bluesier and the horns just get hornier! Teresa and her tramps have given us another rhythmic work of art in shades of blue. THE RHYTHM METHOD review BLUES REVUE MAGAZINE June/July 2005> "Roadhouse rock- a Stonesy, satifsfying combination of blues, rock 'n' roll, country and R & B-is a popular yet underrepresentd style. Perhaps it's best-known practitioner is Delbert McClinton, and though other artists have made roadhouse music their chosen metier, reliable specimens of the form are difficult to come by. "The Rhythm Method", by Los Angeles vocalist Teresa James, lives up to strict roadhouse rules. The opener, "Nobody Rings My Bell (Quite Like That!)," could practically serve as a definition of the style. A rootsy, thumping rhythm, surging horns and rocking piano combine into an irresistable tune penned by bassist Terry Wilson, this project's producer and primary songwriter. James' voice has the rough edges the style demands, and her enthusiasm is obvious."Sure Gonna Make You Feel Good", has a rollicking New Orleans feel that's intensified by James' syncopated piano and Jerry Peterson's sax, yet it remains more roadhouse than Louisiana-specific. James' ivories enliven Stephen Bruton's rowdy kiss-off, "Big Top Hat". "That Cat's in the Doghouse" adds gospel rhythm to the uptempo mix, while "The Same Man" and "Something's Broke" are smoky R & B. Fittingly, McClinton's "Better Off With the Blues" recieves a sexy, slow-grinding interpretation. "Can't Say No", "Going With the Flow" and "Louisiana Moon, all lanquid, haunting, minor-key songs, make clear that James can work a lyric with restraint and feeling. "Just When I Thought" and "Back into Her Heart" filter vintage soul through '70's pop, and the smoldering extended take on Al Kooper's bluesy beartbreaker "I'll Love You More than You'll Ever Know" finds James at her most emotive and dramatic. James recorded with her core band - Wilson, Peterson, Billy Watts (guitar), James Cruce (drums) and Debra Dobkin (percussion)- as well as impressive guest talent such as James Pennerbaker and Bruton (both on guitar). Listeners in search of an album that evokes noisy nightclubs, the smell of beer and smoke, and the shouts of a captive audience will be rewarded by The Rhythm Method." Reviewed by Tom Hyslop We just received a review in Belgium of The Rhythm Method in MazzMuzikaS Free-zine 1 “The Rhythm Method is a must-have for all Southern roots music enthusiasts.” The rest is in Dutch and we didn't get much of that in school in Texas... so, we'll have to find someone to translate. BLACK & TAN NEWS "From the opening notes of the bottleneck slide to the first entrance of her gutsy, soulful voice, it's clear that Teresa James knows where she's going and that the ride is going to be an exciting one. 'Oh Yeah' is another fine workout from LA stage and studio veteran James, her bassist and husband, Terry Wilson and assorted local pros (our very own Rhythm Tramps). First, they swing the blues with conviction, then they turn and romp through some searing rock licks with equal abandon. When called for, James slides from swampy to skanky to sultry, all in the space of a few lines...The sound, the energy, the support, the songs, they're all there." From BLUES REVUE August/September From BLUES MATTERS (UK). Sent to us from a blues mag in Vienna, Austria. Do not know the name of magazine. Teresa James is from Texas, and if you didn’t already know that, the briefest of listens to her third and latest CD would give you a pretty good idea anyway. Now based in Los Angeles, she is a gutsy, convincing singer and a rollicking piano player with a leaning towards the funky side of New Orleans music (and Professor Longhair in particular, to judge by her piano style), and her band, the Rhythm Tramps, are perfectly in tune with her direction… and this is a direction that runs from the Robert Johnson styled slide guitar intro to the opening track to ‘I Want It All’, with it’s Longhair piano, Robert Ward inflected guitar and mariachi band horns all thrown into the musical pot – and the result is delicious! The call and response vocals add a strong gospel feel to many numbers and occasionally Teresa will move into rock ballad territory (‘All That I Am’) though no-one should get too upset about that – and try ‘High Maintenance Man’ for the kind of throbbing, pulsating rocker that could only come from a musician out of the Lone Star State. Distribution Where to Find What You Need BDC Distribution out of Portland, Oregon is handling our distribution now for JesiLu Records. Our "Whole Enchilada" and "Rhythm Tramps Live" CDs are available to order through their catalogue. If you are a store.........you can call this # 503-231-0876 and ask for a sales rep and they will get you set up. fax # 503-231-0420 3647 / SE 21st Portland, Oregon 97202 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Administrivia Details, Details, Details To contact us via email or if you want a CD, you can reach us here at teresa@teresajames.com.
For those of you, who are going to be in Southern California anytime soon, check out our dates Also, we have a new snail mail address: |
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