We’re proud to announce the release of our seventh album Quirky Boogie on Upright Records! Engineered by GEORGE HARRIS at Creative World Recording in Largo, Florida, the new CD contains 15 songs, 10 new originals and 5 cover songs. Quirky Boogie was officially released July 25 when we began our seven-week summer tour, and it is now available on our “STORE” page- order now along with our other cool merch! Also, since we are celebrating the 30th year of our Upright Records label, you will receive a FREE CD of our first album Bluesy Atmosphere (1986) with every $10 you spend in our store, or at gigs. This FREE CD Offer expires December 31st, 2016, so hurry!
Amidst recording Quirky Boogie in April & June, Liz and I also flew to California for ten days in May, where Liz did five shows with the QUEENS OF BOOGIE WOOGIE, along with pianists WENDY DeWITT & SUE PALMER with KIRK HARWOOD on drums. Venues included the iconic jazz & blues club Yoshi’s in Oakland, Soper-Reese Theatre in Lakeport, and KRUSH Radio Concert in Santa Rosa. To our surprise, DENNY CHANDLER flew in from Las Vegas for the Yoshi’s show; Denny was the engineer for our first 4 albums at Chandler Audio (Huntington, WV) , and he is now running sound at Wynn in Vegas. Great to see you, Denny!
Our 2016 Summer Tour went well, and all the shows were basically CD Release Parties for Quirky Boogie. In addition to club dates, the tour also included three festivals: Diamond Teeth Mary Festival (Huntington), Bloomington Boogies Fest (Bloomington, IN), and our 22nd year at the Cincy Blues Fest (Cincinnati, OH). This year in Cincy, we got to meet CHUCK LEAVELL (piano player for the Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton “Unplugged”, etc), who also played the Arches Boogie Piano Stage. Chuck & his wife RoseLane are very cordial & engaging people, and it was pleasure to hang out with them and the other outstanding pianists for three days.
We had a great time when Doc’s older brother CHARLIE SHAMBARGER from Lincoln, Nebraska visited us in February. Sadly, after returning home, Charlie suffered a stroke and passed away in April at age 70. We’re so sorry to lose Charlie, yet we’re also grateful for the quality time we had with him during that final visit, and all the years of love we shared.
We were also shocked & saddened to lose longtime fan TERRY GREGORY in June, and also YANKEE BILL and JOEY GONZALES in October. We miss them every time we play their favorite songs, and are thankful for their support over the years.
Losing so many in 2016 makes us love & appreciate all of you even more. Hope to see you in the crowd soon!
DR. BLUES
