Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets featuring Sam Myers

Thursday , June 24, 1999
12:00 am
Location: Elderly Instruments
in-store performance (free)

Delbert McClinton once said that "Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets with Sam Myers are the best blues band in the country." The blues greats will play a free, in-store performance at Elderly Instruments (1100 N. Washington, Lansing) at 4:00 p.m. Friday June 24. Later that evening Funderbourgh & company will play a full concert at Jambalaya’s in Laingsburg. Funderburgh has played with some of the finest blues, R&B and country musicians in the world, including such notables as the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Snooks Eaglin, Delbert McClinton, Boz Scaggs, David Sanborn, Huey Lewis, Betty White, Earl King, Hal Ketchum, Thunderbird Davis, Grady Gaines and Clarence Hollimon & Carol Fran. Funderburgh also has an abiding appreciation for the craftsmanship that goes into the creation of the music he has spent a lifetime playing. But music isn't his only interest. Funderburgh's fascination with things from an earlier era takes him into pawnshops and thrift stores across the country, as he searches for vintage guitars and watches. Singer / harmonica player Sam Myers' earliest recordings were made with the late great Elmore James on the Fire and Fury labels. Myers has written such notable blues songs as "Sleeping in the Ground," which was recorded by Robert Cray and post-Cream supergroup, Blind Faith. Myers' "Changing Neighborhoods" won a W.C. Handy Award, and has since become a blues standard. Drummer Danny Cochran, from Fort Worth, Texas, comes from a country music background. Cochran has played with Delbert McClinton and Mason Dixon, and has been a Rocket for nine years. Upright bassist J.P. Whitefield has been with the Rockets for the five years. Being a member of the Antone's house band in Austin, Texas has afforded him the opportunity to play with some of the greats of blues and rock 'n' roll. He was the Fabulous Thunderbirds' original bassist; played extensively with Albert Collins, and has backed up Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. Keyboardist John Street is the newest member of the band. He cut his teeth with a shag dance band in the Carolinas, where he learned how best to get folks on the dance floor. Hailing from St. Petersburg, Florida, Street has toured with Rock Bottom and the Gregg Allman Band. Earlier this year Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets released "Change in My Pocket." The band will be signing copies of the CD at the Elderly Instruments performance.

Check out recordings we carry featuring Anson Funderburgh