BILLYBLUES
Meet the Band
Colin Raitiere: bass, mandolin, and vocals
Mark Lucas: resonator guitar, bass, and vocals
Mike Norris: harmonica, guitar, and vocals
David White: drums
Billyblues began on a back porch in backwater Kentucky. Mark and Colin were thumb-picking Mississippi John Hurt songs when Mike came by with a bottle of Jim Beam and a suitcase full of harmonicas--and the band was born.
The sound the band developed over the next ten years and four albums took inspiration from all styles of blues--Delta to Chicago--but especially from mountain-South traditional music, which is bluesier than the people who make categories usually notice. They have become known for the dark wit and weathered three-part harmonies of their originals. In the words of one reviewer, "Tom Waits Meets the Soggy Bottom Boys."
David White, on drums, joined the band in 2005. He has backed Jerry Lee Lewis and Joe Ely and was the beat of the much-loved Metropolitan Blues All-Stars.
Beyond their club schedule, Billyblues has played such roots-music events as the Hot August Blues Festival, the Charleston Arts Festival, and the Hindman Folk Festival. Billyblues radio play includes WRVG, WHIR, Americana Crossroads, Kentucky Homefront, and WUKY. "Hoot Owl Blues" and "El Camino" were highlighted in a KET-TV feature on the band.
Discography: Where the River Meets the Mountains (1999), Moods of St. Mildred (2001), Third Shot (2004), Blind Date (2006).