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ALLIGATOR RECORDS SIGNS LEE ROCKER!

NEW CD DUE IN JANUARY 2006

Alligator Records is proud to announce the signing of bassist/vocalist/songwriter (and ex-Stray Cat) Lee Rocker. His roots-rocking Alligator debut, “Racin’ The Devil,” will be released on January 31, 2006, followed by a major national tour. Rocker, with The Stray Cats, helped reintroduce rockabilly to a mass audience. Now he’s igniting the roots music fire. The new CD is a solid slice of Americana, filled with powerful, original songs and amazing musicianship. And when the band performs live, they leave audiences begging for more.

According to Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer, the signing is a perfect fit and an excellent direction for the label. “Alligator has devoted itself to deeply rooted, unpretentious American music that tells down to earth, emotional stories of real life. “Racin’ The Devil” is full of terrific songwriting, great playing and super-energized performances. Anyone who loves raw, rocking music, be it blues, rockabilly, or straight ahead rock 'n' roll has got to love this album.”

And Rocker couldn’t agree more. “For me, getting to work with Alligator Records is just fantastic. Alligator has always been THE label for honest, real, American music. It’s a natural fit. I’ve always been a renegade with my music, from The Stray Cats to my solo records, I’ve always done my own thing, and so has Alligator.”

“The Chicago Tribune” describes Rocker’s playing as “muscular and passionate.” “The Washington Post” says his music consists of “impressive, catchy, driving original songs, frantic romps, finger-snapping swing and brooding slow blues.” “Rolling Stone” declares, “Lee Rocker's singing naturally captures the spirit of rock 'n' roll. His catchy, well-written songs are very difficult to get out of your head.”

With musical muscle from his road-tested band (guitarists Brophy Dale and Buzz Campbell, and drummer Jimmy Sage) “Racin’ The Devil” is Rocker’s most diverse album yet, and a roots music fan’s dream come true. The CD features twelve songs of scorching rockabilly, roadhouse romps and straight-ahead, old-school rock ‘n’ roll, highlighted by nine originals that are by far the strongest of his career. And his reinventions of The Stray Cats mega-hit “Rock This Town” and his first post-Cats band Phantom, Rocker & Slick’s “Running From The Hounds” are foot-stomping and ecstatic statements of pure joy.

“This is the best record I’ve ever made,” says Rocker. “I worked harder on this record than any other I have done. I took my time with it and squeezed and twisted all I could out of the band and myself. There were days of wanting to give up and quit and other days I left the studio as happy as a kid. Now that I can sit back and just listen, I can say this is the record I’ve always wanted to make.”

Born Leon Drucker in Massapequa, Long Island in 1961, to world-renowned classical musician parents, Rocker grew up with music all around him. His father, Stanley, is a Grammy-nominated clarinetist with the New York Philharmonic. His mother, Naomi, teaches music at Hofstra University. So coming to a career in music was an easy choice for Rocker, whose family listened to jazz, blues, and rock while he was growing up.

Rocker began taking classical cello lessons at age eight, and initially hated them, but ultimately grew to enjoy playing. As his ears widened into rock ‘n’ roll, he picked up the electric bass, and quickly mastered the instrument. During grade school, his close friends included Jimmy McDonnell (later to become Slim Jim Phantom) and Brian Setzer. The three jammed together often, playing a wide variety of rock ‘n’ roll, before discovering classic blues musicians like Muddy Waters and rockabilly giants like Carl Perkins. Rocker picked up the acoustic bass to emulate the sounds he heard on those records, and the band began playing more and more roots music. By 1979, this trio, now known as The Stray Cats, began to single-handedly revive rockabilly music in the U.S. and, eventually, around the world.

Adding a contemporary punk attitude to traditional slap-bass, twangy guitar and drums, The Stray Cats headlined famous New York haunts like CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City, drawing overflow crowds every time they played. They moved to London in 1980 and became an even bigger success, even attracting The Rolling Stones to their shows. The fever-pitch excitement caused a major bidding war between record labels. The group’s first American album, 1982’s “Built For Speed,” became a huge hit, and held the #2 spot on the “Billboard” chart for 26 weeks, right behind Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

Non-stop touring took its toll on the band. By 1984 the group was exhausted and decided to call it quits, at least for a while. But the furious touring of the early 1980s turned Rocker into one of the best showmen working in any genre, which left his career options wide open. According to the “Orange County Weekly,” “there has never been a rock & roll bass player more fun to watch in concert than Lee Rocker.”

In 1985 Rocker and Phantom hooked up with ex-David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick to form Phantom, Rocker & Slick. They had a minor hit with “Men Without Shame.” The Stray Cats reformed in 1986, but didn’t stay together very long. Rocker, though, kept on rocking, as he befriended and collaborated with his hero Carl Perkins as well as with Dave Edmunds, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jeff Beck and Willie Nelson.

Rocker’s solo career took off in 1994 with the release of “Big Blue” and in 1995 with “Atomic Boogie Hour,” both on Black Top Records. Four more releases followed, and Rocker toured relentlessly, becoming one of the premiere Americana/rockabilly/roots artists in the U.S. and Europe. In 2002, Rocker toured the U.S. with ex-Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore. His 2003 CD “Bulletproof” found a large and appreciative audience, as he continued to perform all around the country. That same year, The Stray Cats reunited for an 18-city tour of Europe, culminating in a filmed show at London’s Brixton Academy. The show was released on DVD as “Rumble In Brixton” in 2004.

With “Racin’ The Devil,” Rocker has made the best solo album of his career. From garage rockers and deeply textured roots anthems to the rockabilly sounds he helped reinvent, the album is a rich piece of Americana, as timeless and unique as the music Rocker fell in love with as a youngster. The originals bite with a powerful snap, the covers become his personal statements, and the playing is first-rate, raucous, rocking and fun. Rocker spent over a year making this record, more time than he’s ever devoted to any other album, and he couldn’t be prouder. “I like to do something different on each album I do,” he says, “and this is by far the most diverse CD I’ve ever done.” A full tour calendar will bring Rocker’s high-energy live shows to fans across the country. From roots rock to rockabilly to swinging blues, “Racin’ The Devil” is a sure bet to win. 

Singing sensation Shemekia Copeland will appear on the nationally syndicated radio shows “World Café” and “Mountain Stage. National Public Radio’s “World Café” airs on Thursday, November 10, and features performances and an interview segment. Public Radio International’s “Mountain Stage” will air the week of November 18, and also features a live performance and a brief interview.

Copeland’s latest CD, the Steve Cropper-produced THE SOUL TRUTH, has received rave reviews across the country and substantial radio play for the first single, “Who Stole My Radio?” The second single from the album, “Breaking Out,” will impact radio on December 5.

For specific airtimes and stations for the radio programs, go to the following web addresses:

World Café: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4724307

Celebrated pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball joins fellow Louisianans The Neville Brothers and The Meters on September 15, 2005 on The Late Show With David Letterman. They will perform the New Orleans classic Fiyo On The Bayou. The appearance promotes the September 20 benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina at Madison Square Garden in New York, "From The Big Apple To The Big Easy."

“Who Stole My Radio?,” the lead single from singing sensation Shemekia Copeland’s THE SOUL TRUTH (produced by Steve Cropper), was the #2 Most Added song on the AAA radio format for the week of August 8, 2005. This is an exciting development for the CD, which will be released on August 16, 2005. Upcoming press for the CD includes features, reviews, and/or mentions in “Billboard,” “The Wall Street Journal,” “Paste,” “Harp,” “Vanity Fair,” “OffBeat,” “Relix,” “Entertainment Weekly,” “Jazziz,” “For Me” and many other publications around the country. In addition, the 53^rd Annaul “DownBeat” Critics Poll named Shemekia their “Rising Star Blues Artist.”

Also out on August 16 is FLASH FORWARD from Chicago’s beloved Siegel-Schwall Band. Corky Siegel, Jim Schwall, Rollo Radford and legendary drummer Sam Lay recorded their first studio album in 30 years, featuring their signature brand of fun-loving blues. “Ice” magazine, “Blueswax,” “Billboard” and many other publications will help celebrate the release of this remarkable recording.

Legendary and beloved blues pianist, vocalist and songwriter Emery “Detroit Junior” Williams, Jr., died at his Chicago home on August 9, 2005 of heart failure. He was 73. Over the course of his 50-plus year career, Detroit Junior led his own bands and appeared as a solo performer, in addition to playing in bands with Howlin’ Wolf and Eddie Shaw. He wrote hundreds of songs, had numerous local successful 45s, as well as writing hits recorded by Albert King and Koko Taylor.

He was a wildly entertaining performer in his own right as well, gigging constantly and recording on scores of other artists’ albums as well as four full albums under his own name. Two of his songs have become blues standards: “Call My Job,” which was a hit for Albert King, and the perennial favorite, “Money Tree.” Koko Taylor has recorded three of his tunes: “Tired Of That,” “Thanks, But No Thanks,” and “Never Trust A Man.”  His rambunctious personality, raspy voice and untamed stage antics (including playing the piano standing up, on his knees and from underneath the piano) earned him many fans and friends around the world.

Emery Williams, Jr. was already an experienced entertainer and piano player when he came to Chicago in 1956 from Detroit.  He was originally from Haynes, Arkansas where he was born on October 26, 1931, and spent his childhood in southern Illinois. He had led his own band, the Blues Chaps, since he was 19, playing clubs in Pontiac and Flint, Michigan. For three years they were the house band at The Circle Club in Detroit, backing touring stars like Roscoe Gordon, Eddie Boyd, John Lee Hooker and Amos Milburn. Milburn was Junior’s idol, and his humorous blues about the evils of alcohol inspired some of Junior’s best songwriting.

Blues musician Eddie Boyd first brought Junior to Chicago in the early 1950s, hoping to line up a contract for him with Chess Records. The Chess deal didn’t work out at first, but Junior fell in with J.T Brown, the city’s leading blues sax man. They landed a gig at Club 99, then at the legendary Squeeze Club. Junior quickly won a following with his percussive piano and energetic stage show. He paired up with harp man Little Mack Simmons, and they settled into a steady gig as house band at Cadillac Baby’s South Side club. He recorded his first single, “Money Tree” backed with “So Unhappy” in 1960 for the Bea & Baby label. That record marked the first appearance of “Detroit Junior;” before that time he had been known as Little Junior Williams, and when the record became a local hit, the nickname stuck.

Chess Records, sensing they had missed something, signed Junior, but subsequent singles didn’t sell, and he cut for Foxy, CL and Palos before waxing his next hit, the original “Call My Job,” on U.S.A., in 1965. The flipside, “The Way I Feel,” a spontaneous and sensitive piano solo, proved that Junior had talent for deep blues as well as novelty tunes.

During the ‘60s, Junior gigged with Mack Simmons, Eddie Taylor, Sam Lay and Johnny Twist. From 1968 on, he toured and recorded with the late Howlin’ Wolf, playing everywhere from college auditoriums to Big Duke’s Flamingo. When Wolf died in 1976, Junior stuck with the band, The Wolf Gang, under the leadership of sax man Eddie Shaw for a number of years.

Detroit Junior’s first full album under his own name, “Chicago Urban Blues” (on the Blues On Blues label) came out in the early 1970s. Alligator Records included four of his songs on the “Living Chicago Blues, Volume 6” anthology in 1980. The album helped establish him as a successful solo performing career. From 1995 through 2004, Detroit Junior released four CDs under his own name, three for Blue Suit Records: “Turn Up The Heat” (1995), “Take Out The Time” (1997), and “Live At The Toledo Museum Of Modern Art” (2004). His most recent CD was 2004’s “Blues On The Internet” on Delmark.

In the last few years, Junior often appeared on the Chicago’s North Side at clubs like Kingston Mines, even after losing a leg to diabetes. He was filmed for Martin Scosese’s PBS series, “The Blues,” and kept on writing and performing up until his death.

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Legendary Stax guitarist/songwriter/producer Steve Cropper produced Copeland’s THE SOUL TRUTH, flavoring the recording with solid doses of Memphis soul and punching horns. FLASH FORWARD is the first studio album from The Siegel-Schwall Band in 30 years.

Shemekia Copeland’s THE SOUL TRUTH is the funkiest, deepest, and most exciting statement yet from the woman CNN calls, “a legend in the making.” “Billboard” agrees, saying Shemekia has “extraordinary talent, Copeland is a vocalist who knows few stylistic limitations. She’s a true blues diva.” The album is musically steeped in the spirit of classic Memphis soul but is lyrically up-to-the-minute, featuring Shemekia’s powerful, emotional vocals over a blistering band with horns punching in all the right places, THE SOUL TRUTH is a tour-de-force of rock, soul and blues.

Born in Harlem, New York in 1979, Shemekia came to her singing career slowly. Her father, the late Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, recognized his daughter’s talent early on. He even brought her on stage to sing at Harlem’s famed Cotton Club when she was just eight. At that time Shemekia’s embarrassment outweighed her desire to sing. But when she was 15 and her father’s health began to slow him down, she received the calling. “It was like a switch went off in my head,” recalls Shemekia, “and I wanted to sing. It became a want and a need. I had to do it.” Within a year she was touring with her father.

Shemekia stepped out of her father’s shadow in 1998 when Alligator released TURN THE HEAT UP to massive popular and critical acclaim, with rave reviews running in newspapers and magazine across the country. In 2000 she returned with WICKED, then followed that with her Dr. John-produced release, TALKING TO STRANGERS in 2002. On the strength of these recordings, Copeland has appeared twice on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” and also performed on National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition” and the “CBS Saturday Early Show.” She’s appeared on “Austin City Limits and the “Late Show With David Letterman” (along with B.B. King), was featured in the Martin Scorsese-produced concert film “Lightning In A Bottle,” the PBS television series “The Blues” and even opened a show for the Rolling Stones in Chicago. She’s toured the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia.

With the powerful and radio-friendly songs on THE SOUL TRUTH and continued non-stop touring, Shemekia will continue to reach fans across all musical genres. Throughout CD, Shemekia Copeland delivers music for both seasoned blues and soul lovers and new fans. “I want people who love hip-hop to know where it came from,” she told “Vibe” magazine. “My music is rooted in blues, but it’s different. I’m singing about my era. I’m here and I’m singing about now and not yesterday.”

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It’s been over 40 years since harmonicist/pianist/vocalist Corky Siegel and guitarist/vocalist Jim Schwall met and formed The Siegel-Schwall Band, one of Chicago’s most beloved blues groups. From the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s, The Siegel-Schwall Band recorded ten critically acclaimed albums, performed constantly, and shared stages with artists such as The Allman Brothers, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane. Their subtle, acoustic-flavored blues, original songs and inventive interpretations of classics by Jimmy Reed, Willie Dixon and other blues greats were their calling card, fusing urban blues and folk into their own unique sound. In addition to their recordings, the band was renowned for their high energy, good-time live shows. In 1968, they defied boundaries by combining blues and classical music with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and established themselves as one of the most adventurous blues bands around.

In  1987 the group reunited and released the joyous THE SIEGEL-SCHWALL REUNION CONCERT on Alligator Records, with fans and critics alike heralding their return. FLASH FORWARD, The Siegel-Schwall Band’s new CD, and their first full album of new material in 30 years, picks up right where they left off, featuring their signature brand of fun-loving blues. Their “extended vacation” from recording (as founding member Corky Siegel calls it) has brought a new sense of inspiration to their music.

In addition to founders Siegel and Schwall, the band includes longtime bassist Rollo Radford, who has performed and/or recorded with music legends such as Dinah Washington, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Sun Ra, and legendary blues drummer Sam Lay, whose lengthy resume includes stints with Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, and Ray Charles. Sam was also a member of the original Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and backed Bob Dylan during his first electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. He also played on Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” album.

Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall met in Chicago in 1964 while both were in the Roosevelt University Jazz Band. The pair soon discovered their mutual love for the blues and eventually began performing as a duo, with Corky on harmonica and piano and Jim on guitar. They played every Thursday night at Chicago’s Pepper’s Lounge, often jamming with blues luminaries including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Otis Spann, Willie Dixon, Junior Wells and James Cotton.

In 1965, Vanguard Records signed the band to a deal, releasing “The Siegel-Schwall Blues Band” in 1966. That same year, Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor Seiji Ozawa, who frequented Siegel-Schwall’s gigs, approached the band. “Ozawa wanted my band to jam with his band, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,” Corky relates. Sure enough, the first jam took place in 1968, when Siegel-Schwall and the Chicago Symphony played William Russo’s “Three Pieces For Blues Band And Symphony Orchestra,” and it was a smash success.

Between 1967 and 1974, the group performed at the Fillmore West in San Francisco and scores of clubs and festivals, and played an important part in the era’s blues revival movement while gaining new fans along the way. The band signed to RCA-Wooden Nickel in 1971, releasing five albums on the label before splitting up in 1974.

Based on the success of 1988’s THE SIEGEL-SCHWALL REUNION CONCERT show and album, The Siegel-Schwall Band decided to join forces once again. Since then, The Siegel-Schwall Band has continued to play a number of live dates, including a triumphant appearance at the 2004 San Francisco Blues Festival.

With the release of their new CD FLASH FORWARD, The Siegel-Schwall Band leaves no doubt that their “extended vacation” is over, and they are ready to add another chapter to their impressive musical story. It’s the welcome return to recording of a beloved blues band that continues to inspire music fans everywhere.

Guitarist Harry Hypolite, 68, died in a car accident in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Wednesday, June 22, 2005. Hypolite played in Clifton Chenier's Red Hot Louisiana Band, and later with C.J. Chenier. He recorded on two of C.J.'s Alligator albums: "Too Much Fun" and "The Big Squeeze." Hypolite recorded one CD under his own name, 2001's "Louisiana Country Boy," for Analogue Productions.