“I remember the morning we got here,” Kelly, 47, said about his arrival to the state in 1987. “There had just been a blizzard. The weather was beautiful. It was 10 or 20 below. It had been gray and miserable back east and we got here, there was white snow and blue sky. It was magic.”

A bit of magic has propelled Kelly into a life of a musician as he took his musical talent and created one of the most popular touring bands of the ‘90s.

“I quit high school,” said Sean, speaking from his house in Highlands Ranch just outside Denver. “I’ve never taken a music lesson. I just know the basic chords. My focus has always been on making good music.”

Since its start, The Samples have cycled through band members – with Kelly always providing the anchor with his distinctive voice, songwriting abilities and guitar work. Now Kelly and The Samples are playing two Colorado dates. On Feb. 15, they’ll be at the PAC3 at the Third Street Center in Carbondale, and on Feb. 16, they’ll perform at The Grizzly Rock in Denver.

Playing in Colorado reminds Kelly of the touring the band did years ago around Vail, Aspen, Steamboat, Breckenridge and Telluride.

“It was a way for us to get our music out,” he said. “So many people come to Colorado from so many places, then they’d take our music back with them and spread it around.”

Birth of a name
Often described as a combination of Sting – Kelly’s voice has a similar pitch – and The Grateful Dead – The Samples are known as a jam band – the group is decidedly distinct. During the past 25 years, they’ve generated around 20 albums with more than a million records sold.

In 1987, singer, songwriter and guitarist Kelly, then 21, landed at 14th and Euclid in Boulder after driving to Colorado with his friend and fellow guitarist Charles Hambleton. The two drove from Burlington, Vt., where they had been playing music together.

“There were people crashed on the floor there,” Kelly said of the Boulder house. “We practiced in the basement, which was an unused garage. It was rock solid. And we played our first gig there. We were the entertainment for a party. We were getting our chops.”

Kelly and Hambleton soon added to their group when bass player Andy Sheldon joined them, along with drummer Jeep MacNichol and keyboardist Al Laughlin. The five started playing at FACs and in the frat party circuit in Boulder, and later in clubs like Tulagi’s.

Money was tight. Besides paying cheap rent at 14th and Euclid, the band members were always looking for ways to cut corners.

“We discovered the supermarket samples they passed out at King Soopers,” Kelly said. “After about three weeks of that, we thought, ‘Let’s call ourselves ‘The Samples.’ Eventually we graduated to the food at Happy Hours.”

Influences
For all the roots The Samples have established in Colorado, listeners can’t deny strong reggae-inspired influences in their music. Kelly said that came from drummer Jeep MacNichol who was with the band from 1987-1997. Songs like “Feel Us Shaking” feel more like beach tunes than coming from the mountains.

“Jeep was really affected by reggae,” Kelly said. “At the time when we were starting out, [rock/reggae jam band] Little Women was playing in and around Boulder. Some of their musical influences got blended into ours.”

Several other musicians have influenced the band as well. Kelly credits Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne as having an impact on his songwriting. And surprisingly, another musician close to home affected Kelly.

“John Denver,” said Kelly, who has written numerous songs about nature and environmental concerns. He said he used to listen to Denver’s songs growing up.

Currently, Kelly has recorded a couple cover bootleg acoustic renditions of his own, of “I Guess He’d Rather Be in Colorado,” and “Rocky Mountain High.” They sound entirely different than the originals, putting a new spin on some old classics.

Kelly said he wishes he could go to those musicians who have gone before him to ask how they have done it.

“I wonder how they made it,” Kelly said. “It’s a crazy world. I’d love to ask Neil Young, ‘How did you pull it off?’”

‘A new generation’
Kelly’s life leading The Samples has had its share of challenges, including several management and agency snafus, and music label buyouts. It recently took its toll this past year.

“I quit smoking cigarettes, I quit drinking,” he said. “It’s been really painful. It’s so mental. I’ve been punishing myself. I still was dealing with the sadness I had of my mom dying 17 years ago. I had to physically and emotionally remove myself. I can’t describe it. I had to heal.”

Now back and feeling strong, Kelly is ready with his new band mates to continue making music – and remaking it.

Just last year, The Samples song “Could It Be Another Change?” was featured in the major motion picture “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” starring Emma Watson. The song, which was recorded in 1993 has since had more than 400,000 hits on YouTube as a result of the film.

“It’s crazy,” said Kelly. “I got into The Doors way after they were around. Now there’s a new generation that is hearing The Samples’ stuff because of this movie and the Internet. Maybe they’ll get into the 20 albums we’ve done. There’s really cool stuff out there.”

Two Samples dates
Feb. 15
PAC3 at the Third Street Center
520 S. Third St.
Carbondale
970-379-5403
pac3carbondale.com

January 18th, 2012

Doors @7pm/Show @8pm

Tickets $17.00 advance/ $22.00 day of show

For an exhilarating glimpse into the future of rock piano, look no further than Marco Benevento. A melodically inventive musical adventurer who artfully employs pedals, amplifiers, circuit-bent toys and sundry effects around his acoustic piano set-up, Benevento has forged a fascinating repertoire of songs, including both wildly original compositions and renditions of those by the likes of Leonard Cohen, Pink Floyd and My Morning Jacket. Benevento first came to national attention with the experimental electric rock influenced Benevento-Russo Duo for which he partnered with drummer Joe Russo. Together they brought a bracing jolt of improvisation into settings like Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock and Bonnaroo. On his own Benevento has collaborated with the likes of Matt Chamberlain, Trey Anastasio and Mark Eitzel, while also holding down keys in the bands Garage A Trois and Surprise Me Mr. Davis. Benevento’s primary focus is his trio with which he’s released three critically acclaimed solo albums that have led to a number of prestigious appearances, including Carnegie Hall, Montreal Jazz Festival and Celebrate Brooklyn. In 2009, he also partnered in Royal Potato Family, an internationally distributed record label that features a growing catalog of releases. Benevento is currently touring in support of his latest LP, ‘Between The Needles & Nightfall,’ while working on material for his fourth studio album due in 2012.

“It’s been my life goal to make a real record,” says Gomez. “New West is like a family. I feel at home there.”

Of course, most of the other family members on the label are graybeards old enough to be his father, a point not lost on Briggs, who has also handled aging luminaries Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, and Randy Newman.

“We made a decision to get young,” says the avuncular Briggs. “Max is everything I was looking for. We needed a new face.”

The youngest of five brothers, by several years—“That’s why I got into
‘old’ music”—Gomez got a children’s guitar for Christmas when he was 10. The family moved from Santa Fe to Taos in the ’80s, and his father, Steve, became a furniture craftsman. “There’s a similarity between my dad’s work and mine,” says Gomez. “He really studied what he did; there were always a lot of books on old furniture in his studio.”

Gomez reports that growing up in Taos was “wild, man! It’s still the Wild West compared to any city or suburban lifestyle. You can get away with anything, and we were turned loose as kids.” At 14, when Gomez performed at a benefit concert,

he played “Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down”—a down-and-out classic by future labelmate Kristofferson. Soon he was play- ing at the Old Blinking Light, filling in for the house performer, Michael Hearn. “The school I went to was playing in that bar,” he says. Later, the Hotel St. Bernard became his regular venue.

“Taos has a great sense of community, it’s very kind,” says Gomez. “They embrace people’s goals and dreams. I’ve always had a few people who believe in me.” He’s friends with painter Ed Sandoval, among

Once upon a time in New Mexico,

there was boy who was born with golden ears. Whenever he heard great music, it became part of him, and it would shape his destiny in magical ways that would be revealed over time.

When the lad was four, his parents played John Prine’s The Missing Years, which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1992. It was the first music the boy liked well enough to learn to sing along with. Years later, he would befriend and make music with songwriter Keith Sykes, who had col- laborated with Prine on two of the boy’s favorite songs from that very album.

When he was 13, an older brother brought home Eric Clapton and B.B. King’s Riding with the King, the Grammys’ Best Traditional Blues Album of 2001. Their version of “Key to the Highway” led the boy to discover his favorite blues singer, Big Bill Broonzy, a country-blues legend who had died 30 years before his birth.
A dozen years later, Gary Briggs, who
had managed Clapton for Warner Bros.
at the time of that recording, would sign the boy—now a young man whose voice had ripened to a rich, warm, café mocha timbre, and who had learned to write songs and play guitar in the modes of his folk- blues masters—to his first record deal.

72 NEW MEXICO | FEBRUARY 2013

others, but as for the music scene, well, Taos is not Austin or even Santa Fe; as a solo singer-songwriter, he says, “I couldn’t help but feel like a loner.”

On a reconnaissance trip to Nashville,

Gomez saw first-hand the workings of the Music Row songwriting process, where hired guns crank out tunes all day, every day; it was an eye-opener about the music profession. “I realized that this is not far- fetched at all, that I can write and record,” says Gomez. “I came home and wrote ‘Rule the World’ in 15 or 20 minutes. When I wrote my favorite line—‘If I could rule the world / I’d take the pain from your heart

/ I would tear it all up, I’d tear it apart / I would drown out the cries with redemption songs / I’d part the truth from the lies and right from the wrong’—I knew it was really good. It had a catchy hook, and I knew it would do something for me.”

He recorded a demo version of the song and started flogging it. Briggs heard him sing it by accident (unless you believe in destiny, that is) in Austin in 2010, at a South by Southwest showcase, and was “intrigued. I couldn’t get him out of my head.” A year and a half later, Gomez was in Los Angeles, recording an album for New West with Jeff Trott, a songwriter and producer whose main claim to fame is as the architect of Sheryl Crow’s albums, all the way back to her 1993 breakout, Tuesday Night Music Club.

Trott knew exactly how to handle Gomez. Rule the World arrives as a fully formed piece of straight-up Americana, the debut of an artist you can anticipate listening to for years to come. Easygoing and expertly played blues, folk, country, and even gospel form a soundscape that creates
a comfort zone around Gomez. He sounds grounded and fresh, mature yet still youth- ful, sensitive and earnest but not sappy. Mid- tempo songs get up and gallop, choruses swell in all the right places—but there’s no strain, no overplaying, no impulse to rock out to score angry-young-man points.

In concert, Gomez expands on this impression. He’s got a low-key charisma, and guitar chops plenty good enough to

go it solo; he’s confident enough to wing
it, follow his muse off the set list, and turn a gig into something more than a mere recital. Here we learn that there’s more where the album material came from, and
a stage presence—including brown-eyed, boyish good looks—that could take him far.

“He makes it look easy, offhand, casual—without making it look like he’s not working on it,” says KBAC/Radio Free Santa Fe deejay Eric Davis, who’s been following Gomez’s career for a few years. “He gets who he is, but he’s just himself, and you either latch on to it or you don’t. Honesty comes natural to him.”

In songs with telling titles like “Never

Say Never,” “True Blue,” and “Love Will Find a Way,” Gomez confronts personal- relationship issues that usually resolve with an upbeat philosophical declaration of steadfastness and growth. He’s not naïve, and he’s optimistic—and why shouldn’t he be? Everything is going his way. A seasoned coach, Briggs, is bringing him along carefully, promoting him on Triple-A (adult album alternative) radio stations, putting him

on the road in middle America, and as an opener for established artists like Hiatt, Patty Griffin, and Shawn Mullins. Then, when the time is right—perhaps as early as next month—they’ll give the single, “Rule the World,” a chance to do just that.

Gomez may project a taking-it-in- stride, aw-shucks demeanor, but of course he’s excited. He’s also fully aware of the charmed, full-circle symmetry of growing up on records by the John Prines and Eric Claptons and B.B. Kings of the world, then getting to follow in just those footsteps by collaborating with their collaborators. “It’s hard to believe it came around in a perfect way,” he says. But if this sounds like a fairy- tale ending, it’s not. For Max Gomez, this is only the beginning. ✜

LISTEN UP To hear the songs “Rule the World” and “Run from You,” go to http://bit.ly/ QCWklg. Purchase the new album and singles on amazon.com. For information about gigs, etc.: maxgomezmusic.com.

nmmagazine.com | FEBRUARY 2013 73

Doors 7PM/Show 8PM

Tickets $25 advance/$30 day of Show

Founded and led by drummer Dave Watts, the group began over ten years ago and hasn’t let up since. Featuring complex compositions written and arranged by Watts himself, the music tells a story through syncopated rhythms and melodies. As music and technology evolve at an astounding rate, so too has The Motet pioneered their unique sound while continuing to defy categorization.

With roots in Jazz, Afrobeat, Funk, Salsa and Samba, The Motet keeps their audiences in a dancing frenzy by layering House and Techno rhythms into a style that is uniquely their own.

With its 6th release, Dig Deep, The Motet once again proves that it is a group committed to exploring and pushing the sonic envelope, while still remaining dedicated to the musical traditions that have defined their sound. A heavy-horned Afrobeat influence countered with a textural blanket of Electronica, this album showcases the talents and strengths of the cast of characters that drummer and producer Dave Watts has assembled. Keyboardist Joey Porter lays down the funk under the coursing melodies of saxophonist Dominic Lalli in pure Motet fashion, with the ever driving beats of Watts’ masterful rhythmic production pushing the music through sonic peaks and valleys that tantalize and invigorate listeners.

The Motet is a world-class ensemble that whips audiences into a whirlwind using sheer impromptu force. The rhythms are spontaneous and textured and the beats are hard driving. The band uses this energy to create a rapport between the audience and themselves that is rarely seen in today’s world of manufactured rock. The Motet consecrates the ground on which dance music meets free-form improvisation.

EUFORQUESTRA

Originally from Iowa City, IA, Eufórquestra (pronounced: yoo • FOHR • keh • struh, think Euphoria+Orchestra) relocated to Fort Collins, CO in August 2008 and has made a splash on the Colorado music scene with its progressive, genre-bending funk fusion and a relentless tour schedule. Eufórquestra is quickly spreading its unique, rhythmic blend of sound, integrating such genres as Afrobeat, Reggae, Funk, Soukous, Soca, Salsa, and Dub. The band’s music is igniting dance floors across the country, with a sound that “explodes, dances and melts in your ear with sheer bliss” (Chris M. Slawecki; AllAboutJazz.com). As the band puts it, “we just want to make people dance.”

In October 2009, Eufórquestra released their third studio album, “Soup”, a collection of 11 tracks that captures the band at new heights in terms of songwriting, energy and production. Following the success of “Soup”, the band released their first ever official live release, “Let Us In”, in March 2012. With “Let Us In” Eufórquestra were finally able to capture the energy of their live with a collection of songs from previous records, previously unrecorded tunes and brand new cover material. The album was summarized by Nicholas Stock of Colorado’s Music Marauders blog as follows: “Let Us In is a powerful example of what a live album should be. So often live albums are a rehashing of studio releases in a rumbling setting. Let Us In does everything it’s supposed to do and is a great introduction to this extraordinary band.”

Doors @ 7pm/show @8pm

Tickets $17 advance/$22 day of show

Want It All Back, Coco’s 7th solo album, was released March 23rd, 2010. The disc was produced by Keb’ Mo’ and Jeff Paris, who also play on the entire album: Keb’ on rhythm guitar and Jeff on keyboards.

*Best New Blues Artist Winner at the Blues Music Awards (1996).

Mentored by legendary bluesman Albert Collins, Coco went on to become the guitarist for John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers for ten years before leading his own band. A self taught guitar slinger who plays with an emotional intensity few string benders possess, he plays left-handed and up side down in the style of Albert King and Jimi Hendrix.

“In a world of blues guitar pretenders, Coco Montoya is the real McCoy. Be prepared to get scorched.”

Billboard

“The fiery blues that issue forth from Coco Montoya’s guitar are awe-inspiring and boogie requiring.”

The Village Voice

“Blistering contemporary blues… piercing attack, funky, shivery guitar tones and aggressive, soulful vocals.”

Blues Revue

“He is one of the truly gifted blues artists of his generation.”

Living Bluesy

Festival appearances include:

Santa Cruz Blues Festival (CA); Harvest Time Blues Festival (Ireland); Blues in Hell (Norway); Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival (UK); Gaildorfer Blues Festival (Germany); Göteborg Blues Party (Sweden); Rio Das Ostras Festival (Brazil), Great Atlantic Blues and Beyond Festival (Canada); Festiblues International de Montreal (Canada); St Croix Blues Festival (Virgin Islands); Lucerne Blues Festival (Switzerland); Copenhagen Blues Festival (Denmark); Auditorio de Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal); Getxo Blues Festival (Spain); The Great Southern Blues & Rockabilly Festival (Australia); Lakeside Blues Festival (Finland); Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA); Monterey Bay Blues Festival (CA); Natu Blues Festival (Brazil); Street Scene (San Diego, CA) and many more.

Doors @7pm/ show @8pm

Tickets $17 advance/$22 day of Show

Even after more than two decades on the road, 14 boundary bending recordings and collaborations, multiple Blues Music Awards, personal and professional breakthroughs Tommy Castro, a veteran road warrior – and one of the most successful blues musicians in the world – takes nothing for granted.

In 2012 Castro will weigh in heavily again and turn yet another corner.  Stlll inspired by his blues guitar and R & B vocal contemporaries and a strong desire to push the boundaries of today’s roots music Castro has brought together an all new band he calls “The Painkillers” to do exactly that.

Foregoing the horns this time out Castro returns to a more stripped-down lineup that recalls the earlier days of the band and even features original bassist Randy McDonald along with new band mates Byron Cage on drums and James Pace on keyboards. The leaner unit allows Castro’s versatile guitar work to come to the fore and his soulful voice to tell the story in every song.

Take caution, these Painkillers could be habit forming…..

Doors 7:30/Show 8pm

Tickets $12 advance / $15.00 at the door

Lori Callahan

The show was so popular last year that a second show has been added to accommodate the crowd.

Shows are at 3:30 and 6:30 at the Third Street Center.

Tickets are on sale at www.carbondalearts.com or by stopping by CCAH.

Proceeds from the show  support CCAH Education Programs throughout the year. CCAH provides free after-school art programming to Crystal River Elementary students throughout the year, as well as programs in the Middle and High schools.  Click here for tickets.

Doors @ 7pm/show@8pm

Tickets $27 advance/$30 day of show

2012 GRAMMY Nominee for her latest album Roadside Attractions (Best Blues Album), her fifth GRAMMY nomination overall and a very impressive fourth CD in a row of hers to be nominated, following Peace, Love & BBQ (2008), Live! Down The Road (2005) andSo Many Rivers (2003). She received an earlier nomination for Sing It! (1998) with Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson. (please see DISCOGRAPHY)

2012 Blues Music Award Winner - Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year. Marcia has been honored with 5 wins in the last eight years, and a total of 15 nominations, in this category. Marcia has also won best Contemporary Blues – Female Artist twice and has won Blues Music Awards for best Contemporary Blues Album of the Year for her CDs So Many Rivers andPresumed Innocent.

Inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame on April 22, 2012

2012 Living Blues Award Winner - Blues Artist of the Year (Female), Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard) and Best Blues Album of 2011 (New Release) for her CD, Roadside Attractions

2011 Living Blues Award winner for Blues Artist of the Year (Female) and Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard)

Gulf Coast Music Hall Of Fame Inductee (2010)

Winner of nine Blues Music Awards - five wins in the last seven years for Best Piano Player of the Year, plus recent wins for Best Contemporary Blues – Female Artist of the Year (twice), and once each for Contemporary Blues Album of Year for So Many Rivers, and Blues Album of the Year for Presumed Innocent.

Winner of two 2009 Living Blues Readers’ Poll Awards for Blues Artist of the Year (Female) and Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard), adding to her wins in the category in 2007 and 2008

Peace, Love & BBQ debuted at #1 in the Billboard Blues Charts (April 2008)

Featured in the film Piano Blues, directed by Clint Eastwood

Television appearances on Austin City Limits, Late Show With David Letterman, Today Show, CNN, and Mountain Stage (PBS)

Featured on In Performance At The White House with B.B. King and Della Reese, broadcast on PBS (1999).

Performances on NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion, World Café and Whad’Ya Know?, as well as Public Radio International’s Studio 360 and the nationally syndicated Mitch Albom Show.

Singer/pianist Marcia Ball knows how to raise roofs and tear down walls with her infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional brand of southern boogie, rollicking, roadhouse blues and heartfelt ballads. Over the course of her three-decade career, Ball has earned a huge and intensely loyal following all over the world. Her exquisite piano playing and passionate, playful vocals fuse New Orleans and Gulf Coast R&B with Austin’s deep songwriting tradition into a sound No Depression described as “a little rock, a lot of roll, a pinch of rhythm and a handful of blues.”

“A sensational, saucy singer and superb pianist… where Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp meet” – USA Today