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Show ' ' - ' . i ' liilillif gtlff;v )SSaif I t-' ' . , - I J ... V rv? -' ! ' - ' - . . ,: 'iiiiiiisii The Fabulous Thunderbirds. . FaMousThunderbirds, Legendary Blues Band to Play at Cowboy Bar Down in Austin, Texas, they do tap their boot-tips to the sounds of country music, but when they really want to get down, to dance and yell all night, there's really only N one choice: the butt rockin sounds of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. The T-Birds' story started 18 years ago in Dallas, when Jimmie Vaughan started playing guitar with his younger brother Stevie. A year later he was in a band, playing the music he heard at home; B.B. King, Fats Domino, Jimmy Reed and freddie King. ("My parents ust liked to dance," he grins today). Jimmie relocated to Austin where he found more com-patable com-patable musicians and many more available gigs. What drew the fans though was Jimmie s spare, but to the point guitar playing. While playing around Austin, Jimmie met up with bass blayer Keith Ferguson (a Houston native). By combining combin-ing these two talents they created the beginnings of great rhythm section. "I heard Kim Wilson, who was from the West Coast, playing one night," Jimmie says, "and I knew I had to play with him. He sat in with us, and the next thing I knew, we had a band." Kim's harmonica playing and soulful vocals were indeed what was needed, so all that was left now was to find a drummer. As fate would have it Jimmie met up with Fran Christina while in Canada who then re-located to Austin. The band, christened the Fabulous Thunderbirds, soon became the house band at Antone's, which was one of the first clubs to feature black blues music at a' time when country reigned supreme. su-preme. "Clifford Antone always paid us," Jimmie says, "even when nobody showed up." But after a couple of months, word had spread that killer blues were available downtown, and Antone's became a gathering gather-ing place for local and . touring musicians, such as Jimmy Reed, Eddie Taylor, Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy. These greats were just a few of the names that used the Thunderbirds for support, sup-port, and no less of a blues authority than Muddy Waters has said that Kim Wilson is the best harp player in the world today: "He reminds me of a Little Walter because he plays more than one kind of harp, ' ' Muddy told an interviewer recently. The band hit the road and toured the East and West . Coasts incessantly, picking ; up a reputation as a kick-ass . party band that happened to play blues. They knocked people over with their unique : mixture of TexasLouisiana rhythm and blues. They have opened for the ' likes of Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, the Marshall . Tucker Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Rockpile. They have also ; headlined two European tours. It all conies down to something Jimmie said ?kae Jurn to' page 4B More Fabulous Thunder birds, Legendary Blues Band Continued from Page;3B about the band: "We've got soul or something. It sounds authentic. . We're not even really a blues band. We can play the hell out of the blues, . and we do, every night. But we play American music. We're more of a dance band, a party band, a rock V roll band, sort of the Bo Diddley of the 80s." The Legendary Blues Band was formerly known by another name: The Muddy Waters Blues Band. During their long tenure with that world famous organization the Legendary Blues Band played in almost every state in the union as well as more than twenty-five foreign countries on five continents (including Japan Australia and all of Europe & Africa), j They have appeared on the world's leading concert stages including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall. In addition they have played the world's most prestigious music festi-! festi-! vals including The Antibes Jazz 1974, The Newport Jazz Festival 1976, '77, '78, '79; Grande Parade du Jazz -Nice, France 1977, '79; Pacific Jazz and Music Fair Honolulu, Hawaii 1977, '78; International Jazz Jamboree - Warsaw Poland" 1976; Montreaux Jazz Festival -Montreaux, Switzerland 1977; New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 1976, '78, '80; Capitol Radio Jazz Festival - London, England 1979. The Legendary Blues Band is Pine Top Perkins - piano; Louis Myers - guitar; Jerry Portnoy - Harmonica; Calvin Jones - bass; Willie Smith -drums. Please turn to page 5B Cowboy Features Blues Band Continued from Page 4B In 1978 they made a special appearance at The White House, performing for President Pre-sident and Mrs. Carter, distinguished international dignitaries and the entire White House staff... with , standing ovations and encores en-cores this performance was repeated in 1979. World tours with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Johnny Winters have highlighted their stunning careers. Guest artists who have appeared on stage with members of The Legendary Blues Band include such diverse performers as Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Greg Allman, George Benson, Gatemouth Brown, Larry Coryell, Dizzy Gillespie, B.B. King, Albert King, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Wonder and of course Johnny Winter, Win-ter, Bob Dylan and all of the Rolling Stones. The Legendary Blues Band has appeared on national and internationally syndicated TV shows around the world and were most recently seen with rock super stars Journey Jour-ney on the popular Sound State show and on Heartland and Jam. This in addition to their many appearances on taped shows at the Caines Film Festival in France Newport Festival in New York and Montreaux Festival in Switzerland. If this wasn't already a big enough feather for their caps, they also are featured in the highly popular popu-lar Blues Brothers movie starring Dan Akroyd and John Belushi which was a top teri box office attraction in 1980. International stars of the first magnitude The Legendary Legend-ary Blues Band represents a combined experience of well over a century in the Blues tradition. |
