Danielle Nicole

A Velvet Heart, A Voice Of Gold

Danielle Nicole Schnebelen, who performs solo as Danielle Nicole, is a contemporary blues singer, songwriter, and bass player from Kansas City, Missouri. Raised in a musical family that included her blues musician father, Bob Schnebelen, she began her music career in her early teens, singing at local coffee houses and open mikes. In 2000, while active in various other Kansas City-area bands, she and her brothers, Nick and Kris Schnebelen, formed the soul-blues band Trampled Under Foot. The group went on to release a self-titled album in 2006, followed by 2008's May I Be Excused, 2011's Wrong Side of Blues, two live records, and 2013's Badlands, which won Contemporary Blues Album of the Year at the 2014 Blues Music Awards; Danielle Schnebelen took home the award for Best Instrumentalist: Bass. After signing with Concord Music Group, she released an eponymous debut EP in March 2015. It featured keyboardist Mike "Shinetop" Sedovic, musician/producer Anders Osborne, and drummer Stanton Moore of Galactic. Her first solo full-length, the New Orleans-recorded, soul-bluesy Wolf Den, followed later that year with the same core band.

Victor Wainwright

The Legacy Of the Doctor

Born in Savannah, Georgia, Victor was surrounded by a musical family as he emulated his dad’s vocals and Grandpa Jessie’s boogie-woogie piano playing. Though his career began more than a decade ago with genuine rock n’ roll honky-tonk, Wainwright has broadened his artistic scope to include music representing virtually every corner of the blues. His high-octane Boogie piano blended with soulful vocals are backed by one of the most gifted bands on the scene – The Wildroots.

Wainwright’s insatiable interest in music discovery, sheer love for entertaining and curiosity have led him all around the world. The resulting perspective is a reflection of his passion for entertaining and creating progressive roots music in an effort to move the blues art form forward.

Composer, producer, vocalist, entertainer and Blues Music Award four time winning piano player, Victor Wainwright is a raucous, high-octane, dynamic performer and crowd pleaser with soul to spare.

“Wainwright serves as an electrifying guide to a good time spinning tales, telling his listeners how to beat the blues, and meticulously conjuring raw soul and energy out of his acoustic piano.” He displays a sharp sense of humor and a knack for storytelling.... Every track is brilliant.” -Living Blues Magazine

Marquise Knox

Marquise was born in 1991 in St. Louis while his mother was visiting family. They returned to their home in Granada, Mississippi, but moved back to St. Louis a couple of years later. Marquise still resides in St. Louis, but spends much of his time in Grenada and play the Delta’s many juke joints and festivals. Knox’s debut album Manchild (2009) was nominated for a Blues Music Award for Best New Artist Debut. The album was recorded when he was 16, in two nights, during an ice storm in a church with the renowned Michael Burks and his band. The release received worldwide acclaim, including Living Blues' Best Debut Artist Award and a Blues Music Award nomination for Best Debut Artist. Marquise released his second album, Here I Am (2011) once again recorded at the legendary Blue Heaven Studios in Salina, Kansas. It features Marquise and his band, with a little help from Wayne Sharp of Michael Burk’s band sitting in on B-3 and piano. Nine originals, and three reverent covers of Marquise’s favorite Muddy Waters tunes.

Selwyn Birchwood

"The Happiest Guy"

Selwyn Birchwood was born in 1985 in Orlando, Florida. He first grabbed a guitar at age 13 and soon became proficient at mimicking what he heard on the radio. But the popular grunge rock, hip-hop and metal of the 1990s didn’t move him, and he quickly grew bored. And then he heard Jimi Hendrix.

Birchwood, Florida’s rising young blues fireball, is a guitar and lap-steel-playing bundle of pure energy. He delivers his original songs with a revival tent preacher’s fervor and a natural storyteller’s charisma made all the more impactful by his raw, unvarnished vocals. Birchwood plays high-octane blues – at once deeply rooted, funky and up-to-the-minute – with true passion and honest emotion. With his band feeding off his drive and exuberance, the striking 6’3” 29-year-old with his trademark Afro roams the stage (often barefoot), ripping out memorable guitar licks with ease. His ability to win over an audience – any audience – is proven night after night on the bandstand. With his warm, magnetic personality, Birchwood is as down-to-earth as his music is fun, thought-provoking and vital. His mission is to spread his music far and wide, to share his joy, to play his heart out, and to push the blues into the future. “There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than playing the blues,” he says. “And I try to convey that with every song and with every performance.”
In 2013, Birchwood catapulted from local hero to shooting star. He won the world-renowned International Blues Challenge, beating out 125 other bands from the U.S. and abroad. He also took home the Albert King Guitarist Of The Year Award. It wasn’t long before Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer offered Birchwood a contract. His debut album, Don’t Call No Ambulance, is a fully realized vision of contemporary blues. Birchwood’s original songs range from raucous romps to hill country stomps, from searing, serious slow blues to modern blues rock. Between his uninhibited sense of fun and adventure and his serious-as-a-heart-attack musicianship, Don’t Call No Ambulance is a window into the future of the blues.

Jarekus Singleton

Jarekus Singleton was born into a family of church musicians and vocalists on July 11, 1984 in Clinton, Mississippi so hewas immersed in gospel music as a child. Jarekus began playing bass guitar at age nine in his grandfather's church band. He later switched to lead guitar and began to sharpen his instrumental and vocal skills, falling in love with the music of all three Kings (B.B., Albert and Freddie) as well as Stevie Ray Vaughan and rappers Twista and Jay-Z.
In 2009, he formed The Jarekus Singleton Blues Band, quickly building a reputation as a tremendously gifted musician and performer. Jarekus self-released his first CD, Heartfelt, in 2011, and fans and media quickly took notice of these brand new original songs.
At just 33 years old, Jarekus Singleton is a musical trailblazer with a bold vision for the future of the blues. Springing from the same Mississippi soil as Charley Patton, Muddy Waters and B.B. King, Singleton’s cutting-edge sound—equally rooted in rap, rock and blues traditions—is all his own. He melds hip-hop wordplay, rock energy and R&B grooves with contemporary and traditional blues, turning audiences of all ages into devoted fans. With his untamed guitar licks and strong, soulful voice effortlessly moving from ferocious and funky to slow and steamy to smoking hot, Singleton is a fresh, electrifying bluesman bursting at the seams with talent.

Toronzo Cannon

Hard Drivin' Man

Toronzo Cannon was born in Chicago on February 14, 1968, and grew up in the shadows of the notoriously tough  Robert Taylor Homes. Theresa's Lounge, one of the city's most famous South Side blues clubs, was nearby. As a child, Cannon would stand on the sidewalk outside the door, soaking up the live blues pouring out while trying to sneak a glance inside at larger-than-life bluesmen like Junior Wells and Buddy Guy. He also heard plenty of blues growing up in his grandfather's home, and listened to soul, R&B and contemporary rock on the radio.

Cannon bought his first guitar at age 22, and his natural talent enabled him to quickly master the instrument. Although his initial focus was reggae, he found himself increasingly drawn to the blues. "It was dormant in me. But when I started playing the blues, I found my voice and the blues came pouring out." He absorbed sounds, styles and licks from Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Hound Dog Taylor, B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, Al Green, Jimi Hendrix, J.B. Hutto, Lil' Ed and others. Although influenced by many, Cannon’s biting, singing guitar sound is all his own. 

From 1996 through 2002, Cannon played as a sideman for Tommy McCracken, Wayne Baker Brooks, L.V. Banks and Joanna Connor. But he was determined to prove himself. In 2001, while continuing to work as a hired-gun guitarist, he formed his own band, The Cannonball Express. By 2003, he was working exclusively as a band leader. Cannon's first three albums — 2007’s My Woman (self-released), 2011’s Leaving Mood (Delmark) and 2013’s Blues Music Award-nominated John The Conqueror Root (Delmark) wrere followed by his first attempt in chicago Alligator Records (2016) The Chicago Way.

Toronzo Cannon has become one of Chicago's most recognized and most popular bluesmen through the sheer force of his music, his songs, his live charisma, and maybe most impressively, his passion for what he is doing. He’s played the Chicago Blues Festival on nine separate occasions, either as a sideman, a special guest, a band leader or, most recently, as a main stage headliner. When he’s home, Cannon drives a Chicago Transit Authority bus by day and performs by night.

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram was born to in 1999. Exposed to the rich Gospel music emanating from his family’s church, combined with the Blues he heard being played by musicians in his Delta neighborhood, also learning at the Delta Blues Museum under the tutelage of Daddy Rich and Bill Howl - N - Madd Perry and being a cousin to the great and legendary Country music singer, Charlie Pride, Kingfish became a natural sponge of musical talent. At the age of 6, Kingfish began playing the drums. Three years later at the age of 9, he took up the bass guitar. At the age of 11, he began playing lead guitar. By the age of 14, he had mastered all three instruments and has added vocals to his ever growing list of talents. Kingfish's guitar influences run the gamut of the Blues from the Delta Blues of Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Lightnin' Hopkins to the electric Blues of B.B. King, Albert King, Big Jack Johnson, Albert Collins, Freddie King, Lefty Dizz, Lucky Peterson, Little Jimmy King and Buddy Guy to the Blues Rock of Lance Lopez, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Allman Brothers, Jonny Lang, Steve Marriott, Prince, Michael Burks and so many others. Surprisingly at such a young age, he can play just like his idols and mentors and possesses the additional ability to create a Blues sound entirely his own. It is refreshing to see a young person return to his musical roots and master a genre of music that was created and was popular even before his grandparents’ generation and renew its popularity by breathing new life into the music.

Kingfish has shared the stage with household names such as Bob Margolin, Eric Gales, Rick Derringer, Guitar Shorty, Buddy Guy and many more. He has played festivals and venues all over the U.S. and has performed in six different countries! He's even been a guest on the Rachael Ray Show and the Steve Harvey Show! Kingfish has also performed in Washington D.C. at The White House, right in front of First Lady Michelle Obama! Even though he’s from the Delta, surrounded by all of its plantations and and he travels Highway 49 and Highway 61 on a regular basis, unlike many of his musical predecessors from Mississippi, Kingfish never had to pick cotton or sell his soul to the devil at the infamous Crossroads. Yet, this child prodigy’s soul is possessed with the feeling, passion and fire of the much older men who created the most important genre of American music, the Blues.

Quintus McCormick

Born in Detroit in 1957 and fascinated by music and guitar all of his life, Quintus McCormick did not become “anointed” with the blues until about twenty years ago when he was playing in J.W. Williams’ Chi-town Hustlers band while earning his bachelor’s degree in music from Chicago’s Columbia College.  Since that time, Quintus has toured the world playing guitar for the likes of A.C. Reed, James Cotton, Lefty Dizz and Otis Clay. Buddy Guy and James Cotton encouraged Quintus to form his own band in the mid-nineties, and they have been a mainstay on the Chicago scene ever since. Quintus McCormick's acclaimed Delmark debut from 2009 Hey Jodie! (Delmark 801) was one of the best soul-blues albums of the new millennium's first decade. Quintus' second CD Put It on Me! (Delmark 815) proved he is one of contemporary Chicago's brightest stars. In 2012 Still Called The Blues (Delmark 821) was his last work until today.

MISSISSIPPI HEAT

Pierre was born on October 13, 1952 in Israel of Christian-Belgian parenthood. However, shortly after his birth, Pierre’s family moved to Germany and France before going back to Belgium in 1957. By the age of 6, Pierre had already lived in three countries. The sound of the harmonica was first introduced to him when he lived in Alsace, France. It was not until he came to Chicago in 1969, however, that he finally detected his destiny: playing the blues on the harmonica. It was there he heard Big Walter Horton live, an experience that forever changed his life. Pierre holds a doctorate degree in clinical psychology and worked in that field for several years, successful and accomplished by age 36. His desire and passion to play the blues would not let go, and in 1991 Mississippi Heat was born. Inetta Visor lead singer was born February 4, 1955 on the South Side of Chicago. Inetta has always had a passion for singing. She has been in several bands, and worked several jobs from child care to radio engineer, until finally finding a home in Mississippi Heat in 2001. Her Etta James style vocals seemed to be a perfect fit for both her and the band.
Michael Dotson on guitar is a true Chicago Blues man, an accomplished singer song writer in his own rite. For years he was a veteran of the Chicago blues scene, playing for three years with Aron Burton and then logging six years as a Teardrop with Magic Slim.Kenny Smith drums was raised in the heart of the Chicago blues scene. While other babies listened to nursery rhymes, Kenny listened to the blues, and the blues in Kenny’s house were played by America’s finest. His father, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, is one of the best-known living blues drummers. While Kenny acknowledges that his father taught him 99% of what he knows, he has also studied with such great drummers as Odie Payne, Fred Below, Earl Phillips, S. P. Leary, Francis Clay and Art Blakey. Kenny has performed with an impressive list of blues legends, that includes Pinetop Perkins, Big Bill Morganfield, Homesick James, Honeyboy Edwards, Henry Townsend, Rusty Zinn, Fingers Taylor, Mississippi Heat, and The Cashbox Kings – just to name a few. Besides playing and recording with Mississippi Heat since 1997.
Brian Quinn bass player is the newest and youngest member of Mississippi Heat. Born and raised in the small town of Athens, Ohio. He began playing piano at the age of six, but found his calling when he took up the bass at the age of fourteen. Brian attended Berklee College of Music in Boston on a scholarship, where he studied with world-class musicians such as Kenwood Dennard, Livingston Taylor, and Matthew Garrison. He has played with Mississippi Heat since 2011.

GRADY CHAMPION

Grady Champion was born Oct. 10, 1969 and grew up on a farm in Canton, MS within a religious household. The youngest of his father’s 28 children, he joined his church choir at the age of eight and realized his passion for music. When he was 15, he and his family moved to Miami, FL, but he only attended high school there for a year before moving back to Mississippi to graduate.

Grady returned to Florida at the age of 18 and started in the music industry as a promoter for the rap label Sun Town Records. By the early 90s he embarked on a brief career as a rapper, performing under the moniker MC Gold. However, he soon discovered that he had a natural talent for the blues, and he incorporated hip-hop into blues music. At the age 24, he worked for FJH Music, owner Frank J. Hackinson, once President of Columbia Pictures, for 5 years; learning the ins and outs of the music business as he worked to build his career as an entertainer/musician. In 1998, after learning to play the harmonica, Grady released his first album, the self-released Goin’ Back Home.

Champion enjoyed performing at blues clubs all over Florida, and was quickly scooped up by Shanachie Records, with whom he released Payin’ for My Sins (1999) and 2 Days Short of a Week (2001). In 2003, Champion’s song, co-written with Kevin Bowe, entitled “Trust Yourself” was included on Etta James’ Let’s Roll album (2003), won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album and a Blues Music Award as the Soul/Blues Album of the Year from the Blues Foundation in 2004. Back in Mississippi: Live at the 930 Blues Cafe followed in 2008, released on Grady’s own GSM Music Group imprint. In 2010, he won the International Blues Challenge, enabling him to expand his regular tour itinerary to include most of the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He has since played the Chicago Blues Festival, the Legendary Blues Cruise, and the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival.

In 2011, Champion released his album Dreamin’, his song “Make That Monkey Jump” won a Blues Critic Award in the Best Down Home Blues Song category. and Tough Times Don’t Last (2013) on his own Grady Shady Music imprint, the former of which was nominated for two 2012 Blues Music Awards: Best Soul Blues Album and Song of the Year for “Thank You for Giving Me the Blues.”

“I play what I feel,” says Grady Champion, whose socially conscious lyrics and inspiring live performances have earned him a 2014 cover story in Living Blues magazine. His appeal has crossed over between predominantly white fans of traditional blues and predominantly black soul-blues fans. “I think blues has a bright future . . . you just gotta be able to hang in the game.” With an album on Malaco and a touring schedule of approximately 180 performances per year, that is just what Grady Champion is doing.

Grady’s newest album, ONE OF A KIND, has been released on Malaco Records in September 2016