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Event
John Nemeth & The Blue Dreamers @ The Poor House Studio
Monday, June 19th, 7pm-10pm at The Poor House Studio... 91 South Autumn Street in Downtown San Jose. $20 in Advance $25 at the door.
Here's a little about John...
Dont try to snatch him back and hold him, hes a man on the move. John Németh had already established himself among the very top ranks of blues musicians and modern soul singers when he decided to break the mold with his new record, FEELIN FREAKY. Németh fearlessly crushes all barriers of style and genre with an album of original songs that defies all the usual pigeonholes. Drawing from his strong influences in blues and R&B, as well as contemporary sounds in hip hop and rock & roll, John creates music that is personal as well as universal, and owes its origin to no one but John Németh. Johns songs are groove and melody-driven, laced with thoughtful lyrics and nuanced humor, and cover themes from social issues of gun violence and class values to the pure hedonistic joy of dancing, sexuality and marijuana. He creates his songs from melodies and phrases he draws from the sounds of life, from early-morning Memphis songbirds to the din of the city. For this album John brought his new songs to his great touring band, the Blue Dreamers Danny Banks on drums, Matthew Wilson on bass and guitar, and Johnny Rhodes on guitar so they could hone the groove and finish building the album as a group. Under the simpatico guidance of Grammy-nominated producer Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), FEELIN FREAKY emerges as a modern personal masterpiece.
This album is a testament to power with taste and restraint, dramatic dynamics through the use of space. Némeths striking tenor vocals are already legendary, with a pitch-perfect purity of range and power that has drawn comparisons to soul singers from O.V. Wright to James Brown. He keeps that power under a tight leash, letting it rip at just the right places, using his voice to deliver and serve the song. Németh is also a very accomplished harmonica player who can boogie with the best of them, in various diatonic positions as well as on the mighty Chromatic harp, yet he plays relatively little on this record. What he plays are largely horn lines, trumpet-like staccato blasts that serve to create dramatic dynamic shifts, tension and release, all in service to the song, not the ego of the player. The few solos he delivers are concise, tasty and powerful.
FEELIN FREAKY was recorded at the Dickinson familys Zebra Ranch Studios in Mississippi and Willie Mitchells legendary Royal Studios in Memphis. Némeths touring band on their instruments and background vocals is at the heart of the recordings, along with musicians hand-picked to complement the individual tracks. John often works with horns, and Memphis players Marc Franklin (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Art Edmaiston (Tenor, Bari sax) deliver echoes of classic Memphis sound all over this record. Németh and Dickinson agreed that the B-3 Organ parts had to go to Charles Hodges, who contributed so much to the Hi Records sound on albums by the likes of Al Green and Ann Peebles. For extra depth and sweetness, they added strings by J. Kirkscey, B. Luscombe, J. Munson and P. Tsai.
A little history:
As a Boise, Idaho teenager in the early 90s, John Németh was drawn to the hard-edged hip hop sounds and rock bands of the day but when a friend exposed him to Buddy Guy and Junior Wellss classic Hoodoo Man Blues, he was hooked. John played harp and sang in local bands, often opening the show for nationally touring blues acts. John soon caught the ear of established blues musicians, and before long he was releasing his own CDs THE JACK OF HARPS (2002) and COME AND GET IT (2004), featuring Junior Watson and performing in Junior Watsons band. John relocated to San Francisco in 2004, where he wound up doing a two-year stint with Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets, filling in for the ailing Sam Myers.
Németh immersed himself in the deep musical waters of the Bay area, absorbing more of the soul and funk grooves of what he calls the early East Bay Grease sound of San Francisco and Oakland bands. Johns reputation continued to grow, and he soon signed a recording contract with Blind Pig Records. His national debut for that label MAGIC TOUCH (2007), produced by Anson Funderburgh and featuring Junior Watson on guitar received an ecstatic response from fans and the media, and he was hailed as the new voice of the Blues. Living Blues Magazine enthused, Magic Touch gives hope that the blues will survive. In 2008 Németh was recruited by Elvin Bishop to do some performances and contribute four vocal tracks to his Grammy-nominated album THE BLUES ROLLS ON.
Németh released two more albums on the Blind Pig label LOVE ME TONIGHT (2009), NAME THE DAY! (2010) earning critical raves and strong sales, both hitting #6 on the Billboard Top Blues Album Charts, and beginning his long string of Blues Music Award nominations, numbering fourteen at last count. John also won two Blues Blast Music Awards Best New Artist Debut Recording and Sean Costello Rising Star Award voted on by nearly 11,000 blues fans. John followed up with two independently released live albums, BLUES LIVE and SOUL LIVE in 2012.
In 2013 John relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, where he quickly became a key player in the citys rich musical scene. He teamed up with producer Scott Bomar and his classic Memphis Soul band, the Bo-Keys to create an album of revisited Soul classics, MEMPHIS GREASE (2014), on the Blue Corn label, which debuted at #4 on the Billboard Blues Chart. John won the 2104 Blues Music Award in the Soul Blues Male Artist category, and MEMPHIS GREASE took the prize for Soul Blues Album in 2015.
John Németh continues to be one of the hottest stars in the musical firmament, touring nationally and internationally with his Memphis band, taking the world by storm. He is currently nominated for a 2017 Blues Music Award in the category of B.B. King Entertainer of the Year . FEELIN FREAKY will be released in May 2017, on Johns own Memphis Grease label, and its already generating a firestorm among his devoted fans and the media. Stay tuned.
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LocationPoor House Studio (View)
91 S. Autumn St.
San Jose, CA 95110
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: Yes! |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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