Rich Harper Blues Band

Rich Harper Blues Band - Don't Think Just Play - 1997 - Kanawha St. Records

This debut from the Rich Harper Blues Band starts off with a punch, kicking into a high-energy groove that barely lets up until the last track. Harper's lead guitar work is solid throughout; his playing on "I Love the Woman" and "She's on Her Way Up" is particularly confident and evocative. While the band's cover of "The Thrill Is Gone" doesn't offer anything new in the way of interpretation, it's well played, and by the time the CD reaches "Hands Off" you get the sense that you've just spent the night in a particularly good, out-of-the-way blues club and that this is the last song. "Guitar Rag" seems to be almost an afterthought, what one might hear after the sound system's been turned off, the lights have come up, and the chairs are all back on the tables. © Genevieve Williams, © 1996-2009, Amazon.com

An international music promoter tells of how he heard the band in Los Angeles a few years ago: “While walking past a local club at 4 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, I heard the faint sounds of a band playing, and my curiosity dragged me in. Onstage were three guys playing great music I did not recognize. I sat down, ordered a beer and wondered why there was nobody there. Half an hour later people started coming in, and by 5:30 the place was packed. The music got louder, and Rich Harper, with his tremendous musical creativity and playfulness held a tight grip on the crowd as it got wilder, and it was an amazing experience - like nothing I had ever witnessed before. It turned out to be a 3-7 pm Saturday gig, except the audience demanded an extra half set. I said to myself that music lovers around the world deserve to experience this!" In the album liner notes it says, "Special thanks to Sylvester Weaver, Walter Beasley, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, Freddie King, B.B. King, and Rory Gallagher. Without you guys, the rest of us wouldn't know how to play guitar!" This quote plainly shows the main blues influences on Rich Harper and his band. "As She Moved In (My Guitar Moved Out)" from the band's second album , "Bottled Up Blues" topped Rolling Stone Magazine's "MP3 & More Blues Chart" at No.1. After this achievement, the international blues world press took notice of this skilled band, and these guys haven't stopped since. The band has toured the world, including Scandinavia, Asia and Australia. They also entertained the troops in Iraq in 2004. As that music promoter said, - "music lovers around the world deserve to experience this!" This is Grade A blues rock from a sensational guitarist and his great band. Buy Rich Harper's great "Onward..." album, and listen to his superb "Bottled Up Blues" album. Support this great musician and his band. For similar blues guitar, listen to Tommy Castro, Walter Trout, and Aynsley Lister. Please don't forget the late, great Irish blues guitarist Rory Gallagher, whose "Hands Off" song is covered on "Don't Think Just Play", which is HR by A.O.O.F.C

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 No More - Rich Harper
2 I Love the Woman - Nathan, Billy Myles
3 Blue Eyed Blues - Rich Harper
4 Color Me Gone - Rich Harper
5 She's on Her Way Up - Rich Harper
6 Get Out of My Life, Woman - Allen Toussaint
7 The Thrill Is Gone - Roy Hawkins, Rick Darnell
8 Just as Well - Rich Harper
9 Hands Off - Rory Gallagher
10 Guitar Rag - Sylvester Weaver, Sarah Martin

BAND

Rich Harper (vocals, guitar, slide guitar)
Terry Williams (guitar)
Danny Leoni (bass)
Mark Moulding (keyboards)
Bob Arkwright, Jon Stenber, Jerry Leoni (drums)

BIO

Rich Harper learned to play blues guitar the traditional way by primarily being self-taught listening to and learning from the recordings of artists like Eric Clapton, B. B. King, Rory Gallagher, Freddy King, Duane Allman, and so on. Rich developed his own slide style using the same Coricidin medicine bottle as Duane Allman. After paying his "blues dues" in small blue collar towns throughout Pennsylvania, Rich moved to Los Angeles to gather like minded musicians and formed the Rich Harper Blues Band. "No spit & polish. I don't want spit & polish. I just want talent and blues. I want some classics & I want some slide. I want to have some fun & I want it to be real. RHB with their down home, hard working, blue collar Blues delivers all that." - Steve Langhauser, Mississippi Valley Blues Society Blues News. With the success of their debut CD, "Don't Think Just Play", the Rich Harper Blues Band was not only selected as one of Amazon.com's prestigious "Emerging New Blues Artists", but Taxim Records, a German label, joined the group's growing list of blues fans by placing another cut, "She's On Her Way Up", on their compilation album titled "More Desaster City Blues". It wasn't long before the band’s name was popping up in blues magazines everywhere and blues societies were urging their members to check out the exciting new group who were carving out a unique niche for themselves in the blues world. By the time the band released their second CD, "Bottled Up Blues", Europe had jumped on board by making the band the #1 selling artists in Switzerland on Amazon's charts. Radio stations worldwide welcomed the new CD with open arms and this time one of the cuts, "As She Moved In (My Guitar Moved Out)", topped Rolling Stone Magazine's "MP3 & More Blues Chart" at #1. The international blues scene stood up, did a double take, and these talented artists haven't stopped since. "The excellence in craftsmanship of this trio from LA is formidable. Right from the opening song, one is pulled into trying to sing along with the music... the short 50 minutes of the record passes too quickly. - Blues News, Germany. An international promoter recalls how he came across the band in the Los Angeles area a few years ago: “While walking past a local club at 4 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, I heard the faint sounds of a band playing, and my curiosity dragged me in. Onstage were three guys playing great music I did not recognize. I sat down, ordered a beer and wondered why there was nobody there. Half an hour later people started coming in, and by 5:30 the place was packed. The music got louder, and Rich Harper, with his tremendous musical creativity and playfulness held a tight grip on the crowd as it got wilder, and it was an amazing experience - like nothing I had ever witnessed before. It turned out to be a 3-7 pm Saturday gig, except the audience demanded an extra half set. I said to myself that music lovers around the world deserve to experience this!" "Rich is not just a blues musician, but a blues craftsman...with quirky, intelligent lyrics weaving through familiar stylised riffs that are exceptionally well played." - Jon Lane, The Blues Times, Sydney Blues Society (Australia). Since then, the band has toured the world, including their adoptive countries of Scandinavia, and such exotic locales as Asia and Australia. They were also humbled and extremely honored to be part of a group that entertained the troops in Iraq in 2004. The evenings headliner - Rich Harper Band that closed the show - deserves a page of their own in the new book of blues/rock history. What a show and what a sound by a three piece band! When a big banner was put in place as backdrop during the break, I knew we were in for something special, but we were not prepared for the wall of sound (to use an old Phil Spector term) that hit us. - John Morris, Seattle, WA (the Phuket Gazette). Rich's tours of 2008 will include Taiwan & Thailand (February), Laughlin Nevada River Run (April 2008), Norway & Denmark (June-Aug 2008) & Sweden (Oct-Nov 2008). [ from http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:-lA2J1zUftIJ:www.richharper.com/rhbio/+Rich+Harper&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie ]