2008 Silverton Jamboree
Silverton, Colorado

June 13th, 14th & 15th, 2008

The 2008 Silverton Jamboree Band Info
(updated March 23, 2008)
(click below to skip directly to the band listed)

MOTET     ROBERT BRADLEY     PAPA GROWS FUNK     GIGI LOVE     LAST TO KNOW

FLYING DESERT BRIGADE     HALDEN WOFFORD & the HIGH BEAMS     REVISION

 MOFRO     REVEREND HORTON HEAT      OAKHURST     SMOOTH MONEY GESTURE          

BRUCE HAYES      DURANGO DRUM & DANCE COLLECTIVE     CHRIS CHAMBERS

The driving force behind The Motet has always been one of musical exploration and innovation. After a line up change and months of collective song writing The Motet has entered into a new and exciting musical territory. Fusing instrumental, indie-rock, and electronically textured improvisation, The Motet has been born again, exploring a vast musical landscape that can only be described as intelligent.

"Our tendency to avoid being pigeon-holed is a reflection of who we are as musicians," said Motet founder and drummer Dave Watts. "We try to be open-minded about how we approach different genres and traditions." Open-mindedness and a desire to seek out fresh and creative music has always been the key driving force behind The Motet. When The Motet formed in 1998, Watts was the primary song-writer, but now every member of the band is contributing their compositions and arrangements to the group’s repertoire.

"I wrote and/or arranged just about all of the material on the new album, but now that the rest of the group is participating in song-writing, it's really becoming an exciting endeavor," said Watts. "I'm looking forward to a new era."

The influences of bass player, Garrett Sayers in particular, represents a new paradigm for The Motet. "In regards to what I listen to, I’m drawn to songwriting and general emotion," he told Bass Player Magazine. "It’s a reaction from playing and listening to jazz as a teenager. At one point, I realized that jazz didn’t inspire me as much as bands like Radiohead and Boards of Canada. So I gravitated more toward song-oriented indie-rock and electronic music, which has been my focus ever since.”

Drummer Dave Watts remains the backbone of the Motet sound composing a tight rhythm section with bassist, Sayers who is complimented by guitarist Ryan Jalbert, keyboardist Adam Revell, and saxophonist Dominic Lalli. Together they collectively add a rich and organic texture to The Motet sound.

Once again, The Motet has mastered the delicate task of reinventing their sound while staying true to their roots and fans. The band’s vast influences and improvisational exploration have them headed in a new direction that is sure to please fans, both old and new.

Simply put, Robert Bradley’s life is the stuff of rock and roll legend. Born the blind son of an Alabama farmer, and one of 14 children, Bradley had spent a lifetime singing in churches and on the streets of Detroit before his childhood dreams of life as a soul singer finally came true.

Now 56, Bradley was in his 40s when he signed his first record deal, debuting on the RCA label with his band of white Detroit rock musicians, the Blackwater Surprise. Immediately striking a chord with fans of sweaty, heartfelt soul music, Bradley’s deep, raspy voice was—and is—very much a pure representation of who he is: It bears both the sweetness of his country roots and the grit of the Detroit sidewalks where he made his living for more than a decade. It beautifully blends his loves for everyone from Chuck Willis and Otis Redding to the Rolling Stones and Fats Domino.

Beginning in 1992, and and in the following years, Bradley, Fowlkes and the Nehras built the tracks that became Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise, a mix of classic soul, blues and R&B, Stax- and Stones-inspired rock music that even dipped into psychedelia. The album spawned hits with “California” and “Once Upon a Time” which scored regular rotation on MTV, its classy video featuring Robert singing the hell out of the vocal, eyes closed.

Scoring tours with the likes of the Dave Matthews Band and the Allman Brothers Band and on the mammoth H.O.R.D.E. festival, the band returned in 2000 with Time to Discover, featuring guest vocals from old friend and fellow Detroiter Kid Rock on two tracks, one (“Higher”) used in a popular Gatorade commercial. Again unearthing some decades-old tunes Robert had stored in the back of his head but never recorded, Time to Discover was another mix of rockers and ballads, spiced with a little hip-hop and funk.

Undeniably, The Reverend Horton Heat, aka Jim Heath, is the biggest, baddest, grittiest, greasiest, greatest rocker that ever piled his hair up and pounded the drinks down. Without question, for all of his outlandish antics, blistering stage performances and legendary musical prowess, the one thing The Rev always gets asked about is the story behind his unusual and rather clerical moniker. "Well, there used to be this guy who ran this place in Deep Ellum, Texas who used to call me Horton- my last name is Heath," says The Rev. "Anyway, this guy hired me and right before the show he goes, 'Your stage name should be Reverend Horton Heat! Your music is like gospel'... and I thought it was pretty ridiculous. So I'm up there playing and after the first few songs, people are saying, 'Yeah, Reverend!' What's really funny is that this guy gave up the bar business, and actually became a preacher! Now he comes to our shows and says, 'Jim, you really should drop this whole Reverend thing.'"

It's been an almost 20-year journey for Heath, whose country-flavored punkabilly and onstage antics have brought him and his band a strikingly diverse fan base and a devoted cult following, not to mention the respect of fellow musicians worldwide. Revival, the band's first release for Yep Roc Records, is a return to Heath's roots - musical and geographical.

The album was recorded at Last Beat Studio in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas, just a block from where The Rev played his first gig and next door to where the group currently rehearses. Along with eating a lot of world-class Mexican food and BBQ, the band recorded the album's 15 tracks with a minimum of overdubs, bells and whistles. With tour manager/engineer Dave Allen at the board, they wanted an album they could duplicate live.

"I got this lick called the 'hurricane,' and I call back on the hurricane on this album for the sake of keeping things really rockin,'" he says. (The "hurricane" is a trademark lick where The Rev plays lead and rhythm guitar simultaneously to give the trio its full live sound.) He's also got a top-secret lick he'll introduce on this disc. It's so top secret that he won't even divulge the name, but listen up for it! Lyrically, the album's themes run "from death to silliness," says The Rev, who lost his mother earlier this year. "I'd been going through so much stuff, losing my mom so quickly, new baby, touring, getting back and having to work," he says of making the album. Revival finds the Rev dealing with these issues and more: The track "Someone in Heaven" is written for his mother, while "Indigo Friends" deals with a friend's heroin addiction. But the album's themes aren't only dark and/or serious: "Calling in Twisted" is about calling in sick to work and "using the fake cough," "Rumble Strip" is a truck drivin' song and "If it Ain't got Rhythm" - "that's a really fun one to play," says the Rev - is classic RHH. And "Party Mad" is pretty self-explanatory.

Reunited with legendary producer/engineer Ed Stasium, who mixed the album, Revival is a 40-plus minute slab of rockabilly, blues, R&B that shows an artist - and a band - in their prime. It's true that the Reverend Horton Heat have been called a great many things over the course of their storied career: Perpetual Carriers Of The Rockabilly Flame, Genre-Shattering Shit-Starters, Filthy Drunks, and The Most Electrifying Live Act In America (150 shows every year can't be wrong) among them.

"I think it's cool we've lasted this long," says The Rev. "People still come out to see us play after all these years and all the shows and tours. It's amazing. I mean, I get to sing songs about cars I love, drinking and chasing girls. Beats the hell out of the alternative."

JJ Grey and his band MOFRO exude rocking, funky, melodic, front porch realism in every song they play. Grey comes from a long tradition of Southern storytellers, and his songs oftentimes use the loss of his natural surroundings and the marginalization of the Southern culture he grew up in as a metaphor for universal truths. The band delivers his material with brilliant musicianship, resulting in music that is thought provoking, rhythmically dynamic and texturally mesmerizing.

JJ Grey & MOFRO's Alligator debut COUNTRY GHETTO (produced by Dan Prothero) features 12 original JJ Grey compositions that come right out of the Southern musical and literary tradition. Grey's ear for detail inhabits his songs, whether it's a story passed down to him from his grandmother or the tribulations of a childhood friend. His voice delivers them with an unflinching strength that makes the personal universal and paints a vivid portrait of an exact time or place with words and music. Like his songs, his rich, soulful vocals are forceful and commanding, seemingly old beyond his years. And the music, from smoldering soul ballads to gospel-fried funk to straight ahead rock 'n' roll, brings it all home with danceable grooves and a melodic freshness that will stay with you long after the album ends.

Grey's songwriting influences are widespread. "I listen to people who tell the story," he says, naming Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, R.L. Burnside, Tony Joe White, Jerry Reed, Otis Redding, Dr. John, Sly & The Family Stone, Van Morrison, Bill Withers and Dan Penn. What these writers and performers have in common is a love for simplicity, evoking complex emotions with a minimal amount of words. As a performer, Grey is influenced by the sexually charged blues of Howlin' Wolf, the country soul of George Jones, and the hard funk of James Brown, as well as local personalities like street preachers and old-time radio DJs.

From the beginning, Grey's songs have been connected to his ancestral Florida homestead 40 miles outside of Jacksonville, a landscape he writes about with passion and devotion. Back in 1986, Grey worked at an air conditioning company, where he befriended guitarist Daryl Hance. At the time, Grey had a young original band that needed a guitar player so he gave Hance the call. Grey was immediately impressed with Daryl's minimalist approach. "Daryl plays like Curtis Mayfield or Peter Tosh. He plays like the older generation, with patience."

Under the name of MOFRO (a nod towards a lumberyard he worked at), Grey and Hance recorded a demo together. They were courted by a number of record labels, but were not at all impressed by the seemingly false and unrealistic promises being offered. On his own, Grey researched and found Fog City Records, owned by producer/engineer Dan Prothero. The two hit it off instantly. Fog City -- with Prothero producing -- recorded and released BLACKWATER in 2001 (named by Amazon.com as one of the best CDs of the decade) and -- again with Prothero at the helm -- LOCHLOOSA in 2004. JJ Grey & MOFRO's rabid following, through hard work, touring and undeniable musical prowess, grew quickly.

A National Public Radio feature in 2001 brought the band music to more people than ever before. Doors at press, radio and venues opened across the country. Then JJ Grey & MOFRO performed at Bonnaroo, opened for Ben Harper, Widespread Panic, Galactic, B.B. King and Jeff Beck. Word of their live show spread quickly, and bookings at festivals and concerts around the world increased, including jaw-dropping shows at The Austin City Limits Festival and The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The band continues to tour relentlessly, and will hit the road hard in support of COUNTRY GHETTO.

From gritty funk to juke joint romps to contemplative country soul to blistering rockers, JJ Grey & MOFRO occupy a distinctive space in the music world. And, like the best of the great Southern novelists, JJ Grey fills his stories and songs with details that are at once vivid and personal, political and universal. Smell the cypress trees, feel the hot breeze, and remind yourself that home is where the heart is.

Hurricane Katrina fragmented the New Orleans music scene, but after the storm passed, the waters receded, and the devastation was surveyed, “Papa” John Gros made a commitment to his band, Papa Grows Funk, to keep its funky New Orleans music pumping.

I just made a commitment to everybody,” Gros said. “If everybody is in, I am putting the band to work. I am going back to New Orleans. That is home, that’s all I really know. We’re a New Orleans band. If we are going to be a New Orleans band we are going to be in New Orleans.”  The band said yes, and it hasn’t looked back since. The essence of Papa Grows Funk is built upon the rich musical tradition of the Crescent City, where musicians flow in and out of local haunts, vilified by the anything goes, collaborative musical environment.

Papa Grows Funk developed from a series of Monday night jam sessions helmed by Gros at New Orleans’ Maple Leaf beginning in 2000. Gros would invite some friends down to play, and the impromptu jams became a common bond for a handful of musicians, including guitarist June Yamagichi, sax player Jason Mingledorff, bassist Marc Pero and drummer Jeffery “Jellybean” Alex-ander, who now make up Papa Grows Funk.

After about six months, the phone began ringing, with callers seeking to book the quintet known for its New Orleans roots style and loose, innovative approach. Since then, Papa Grows Funk has wowed crowds across the United States, Europe and Japan. Each calender year is marked by approximately 200 performances by the band, and they have ramped up touring, playing nearly three times as many gigs than they were prior to the storm.

Gros said that coming off of Jazzfest in 2005 was one of the peaks for the band. It’s summer tour culminated with a successful month in Japan, from which the band returned home in a good financial situation raring to hit the road that fall and preparing to enter the studio to record its third studio release, a follow up to 2003’s acclaimed sophomore album, Shakin.’ As soon as the members could get there, the bandreconvened in New Orleans. It has only been recently, Gros said, that Papa Grows Funk has beenable to regain the momentum it was experiencing in the pre-Katrina months. It released a live album this year, culled from three performances before Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Entitled Live at the Leaf, the live offering boasts 72-minutes of Papa Grows Funk in their birthplace: The Maple Leaf. The quintet is also preparing to enter the studio to lay down a new album, one that Gros said will include some road-worn numbers and some new compositions.

In the mean time, he is confident that their home, New Orleans, and the music industry that has become its calling card, will recover. However, Gros’ concerns lie in the future. “Our school system has always been in shambles,” he said. “Now it is non-existent. The kids that come up and go hang out in the French Quarter and listen to the musicians there, the kids in the young brass bands .... All these families are now out of New Orleans. We’re fine right now, but what’s going to happen in 10 years? Where’s the next generation ofmusicians going to come from?” Papa Grows Funk plans to continue the to keep the legacy of New Orleans alive well into the future, and will inspire the future of New Orleans music in the process.

GiGi Love and Her 5 man Band.  If the name sounds familiar, perhaps it’s because you were among the thousands listening to her open for the Dave Matthews Band, or playing at the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Maybe her infectious sound—those smoky vocals and revealing songwriting loaded with energy, vulnerable passion and delicate poise burned a memory. Whether armed with an electric guitar or her worn acoustic, Love leaves an indelible imprint while juggling blues and rock with country and folk. Close of the heals of her hero, the great Loretta Lynn, Love’s influences include Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Shawn Colvin, and Neil Young.

Like Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons and Townes Van Zandt, she earned her honky-tonk chops in Texas. At the age of seven, Love began performing and playing guitar. By 12, she was filling venues with names such as Johnny High’s Country Music Review in Ft. Worth, and the Grapevine and Stephenville Opry Houses in Texas.

While at Southern Utah University, she founded the Gigi Love Band and played regionally throughout the west. After hearing her play on night, a rep from Yellow Moon Records signed her for her first album, Scorpio Rising (1997), which sold more than 3,000 copies regionally. Her second album Coyote Bones (2000) is a beautiful example of her rousing acoustic performance style. Love’s third album, Turning to Gold was released in January 2005. Returning home from her 2005 spring tour of Holland, Germany and the UK, Love is now on the festival and coffee house circuit for the rest of this year.

written by John Clarke Jr.
Rolling Stone and New York Times Journalist

Harmonizing vocals and deeply felt lyrics make the music come alive with passion. An eccentric blend of fun makes for an interesting evening." - The Crested Butte News

From Taos, New Mexico, The Last to Know has performed with Hot Buttered Rum String Band, The Motet, Culture, the Vince Herman Trio, the Skatalites, and Leftover Salmon. They have played the annual Taos Solar Music Festival - a stage shared by Los Lobos, Michael Franti and Spearhead, String Cheese Incident, Richard Thompson, New Monsoon, Michelle Shocked, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and Leo Kottke, among others. The Last to Know has been together, writing and performing since 1999.

"Last to Know is certainly a Taos creation and a local favorite appropriately billed as 'mountain punk, bluegrass funk.' If a band could be designed to play a summer jam fest in the mountains, this is it." - Brandt H. Legg, The Taos News

Last to Know is: Curt West on bass, Scott Barady on percussion, Howie Roemer on keyboards, Eric Riegel on guitar and vocals, Dan Irion on mandolin, fiddle and vocals, and Nathan Bonnette on drums.

"Together they create one heck of a full sound with rhythms that will keep you dancing throughout the night. Lyrically, the LTK is as powerful as they are musically. In their song 'Go Free' they remind us to love our fears away and our reality into existence..." - Lisa Micklin, The Crestone Eagle

Flying Desert Brigade is a troupe of seven female performance artists joined to entertain, inspire and captivate. Through music and movement, we seek to create an environment that encourages self-expression and evokes the healing joy of creativity within each of us.

Collectively, our talents include routines in aerial fabric, trapeze, dance, stilting, acrobatics, fans, and fire-dancing. Our creative energy also involves the design and creation of costumes, theatrical characters, handmade masks, and props. Mixing the flirtatious, sexy and comical, we create unique shows that capture the senses and uplift the sprit.

Those unfamiliar with Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams are often as shocked by the band’s rootsy, honky tonk music as listeners once were by the Beatles’ shaggy hairdos or Johnny Rotten’s snarling lyrics. But just as old-time beers like Pabst Blue Ribbon and Miller High Life are again topping the drink charts, classic honky tonk is back in style with a force. The echoey twang of the steel guitar, snap of the snare drum, thump of the stand-up bass and rippin’ electric guitar solos mix with Wofford’s distinctive vocals to create a solid sound that is familiar yet purely original. Not unlike hard-core bluegrass, The Hi-Beams’ style of honky tonk has a language and culture all to itself, but only takes one quick lesson to learn how to love for a lifetime.

Wofford’s growly, wavering tenor rings out across dive bars, theaters, municipal concerts and festivals all along the Front Range of Colorado and beyond, conjuring up images of Hank Williams Sr., Buddy Holly and Bob Wills. But while Wofford and his creative powerhouse of talented musicians are committed to playing real country music, they don’t stick just to the old, time-tested favorites. The band’s long collection of original tunes accompanies a handful of familiar crowd-pleasers to create a bulging repertoire of good music.

Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams’ first CD was released in 2003 to critical acclaim, topping the Freeform American Roots (FAR) Chart for two consecutive months. On the heels of a successful appearance on A Prairie Home Companion, the band’s second CD, Midnight Rodeo, is due out in June 2006.

Formed in the reputable music town of Ithaca NY, Revision is a funk/rock band made up of three Ithaca College music grads. Having the instrumentation of Soulive coupled with the songwriting savvy of Wilco, their music grooves, rocks, and has a sincere live energy.

Fueled by their Vegetable Oil van, Revision has averaged over 100 shows a year touring with acts such as Derek Trucks, Soulive, Michael Franti and Spearhead, and The Cat Empire. This summer they made their first appearance at the Burlington Jazz Festival.

The band is currently in the studio with producer Matthew Ellard (Morphine, The Slip, Billy Bragg and Wilco) working on a new album due out in early 2008.

Oakhurst has had a reputation for torching bar and theater stages throughout the US with its unique sound and unbridled stage energy for years. But lately, the band has also created a stir on major festival stages, cruise ships and European tours. The band's adept picking, sweet harmonies, and citybilly swagger have cleary come from playing 200+ shows a year in such varied environments. Oakhurst's unpretentious, go-for-it interpretation of a genre that's often handled too reverently, sparks interest in bluegrass by folks who don't know Doc Watson from Doc Holliday.

Along the way Oakhurst has shared stages with very diverse national talent such as John Hiatt, Nickel Creek, The Flaming Lips, Emmylou Harris, Barenaked Ladies, Yard Dogs Roadshow, Bela Fleck, The Ditty Bops, The Radiators, Junior Brown, Lyle Lovett, Lynard Skynard, Johnny Lang & Guster. 

Oakhurst has also shared the stage with  future and current Colorado legends as well.  The list includes Yonder Mountain String Band, Devotchka, Rose Hill Drive, the Motet, Pete Wernick, Drew Emmit, Billy Nershi and Vince Herman.

Early pioneers of the Mandolin/Electric Bass/Drumsound (MELD), the Bruce Hayes Band has been an influential part of the Colorado music scenery for the last decade. With Voodoo Chili, the Ragged Mountain Ramblers, The Pack of Dogs co-op,and on the first String Cheese Incident and Acoustic Junction releases, Bruce has helped define the possibilities of electro-acoustic multi-ethnicity.  Hayes’ various incarnations have appeared in almost every festival and club in Colorado. The new lineup may be the best yet.

The band’s drummer alumni include Colorado’s top brass, Michael Travis (S.C.I), Dave Watts (Motet), Jaimie Janover (Zilla); and the current lineup keeps up the tradition. Bones’ was the fire in the final incarnations of Jaka, Colorado’s seminal Afrikan Marimba band, and a current member of Shakedown Street. He's a walking, talking, Latin/Afrikan Funk Jam infusion.  Lane Baldwin is a recent transplant from Virginia. He lays it down with a 6 string Bass as he has with countless bands including Mason Ruffner, and Mongrel.  Lil’ Ernie Hatfield is a rarity in these parts. A profesional blues Keyboardist. With over 35 years experience, Ernie has more accumulative soul than a pair of fireman’s boots. His other projects include Little Ernie and the Big Thang, The Lazy Alien Blues Band and the Delta 88's.

Bruce Hayes brings his original songs and arrangements to fruition with Mandolin, Guitar, steel, and an amplified footboard of his own design.  Their shows are always a jamming party where Blues, Bluegrass, and Celtic meet R&B and latin influences. So what do you play? Rhythm and Celt? Latin Surf? Let’s just call it Mograss.

S

Smooth Money Gesture is:
 
Doug Diminico - Guitar/Vocals
Dan Diminico - Bass/Vocals
Josh Gitlin-Rich - Guitar/Vocals
Mark Sexton - Drums
 
Arriving on a shred of light, beamed from the depths of space, Smooth Money Gesture first descended on Planet Earth in the spring of 2005. The experimental project combines many varieties music including rock and roll, funk, blues, reggae, bluegrass, ethnic and electronic styles. The end result is a high-energy psychedelic groove rock with both planned and improvisational moments; lyrical and instrumental sections that transcend the boundaries of reality, but still reflect the truths about this strange planet.


Currently the band can been seen all over Colorado and surrounding states, at venues such as Boulder's Fox Theater, The Aggie Theater in Fort Collins, The Hog Wallow in Salt Lake City, and many others. Plans are being made to take the experiment even further, musically and geographically. So look for The Smooth Money Gesture to be landing in a town near you.
 

CHRIS CHAMBERS -
AMERICAN TRIBAL BELLY DANCE

Chris Chambers has been studying American Tribal Style Belly Dance (ATS) since 2001 and started teaching under the director of Mountain Gypsy Belly Dance Troupe, of which she became a member that same year. Since that time she has danced and taught classes in Breckenridge, Colorado at the local community college and at the Silverton Movement Center in Silverton. Chris immediately felt a deep soulful connection to this dance and has pursued learning as much as she can through various workshops with a variety of Tribal Fusion dancers in Colorado.  She is currently performing with the ATS troupe, Marrakech, in Evergreen, CO. Chris lives with her husband and twin five-year old children in Silverton.

 

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For more information about the Jamboree, contact
The Silverton Chamber of Commerce at 800-752-4494.
or email us.