We can argue if he's a "modern" blues harp player, a "throwback" player, a copy cat, or whatever. The fact of the matter is that this guy is phenomenal, andthis has got to be the best version of this song I have ever heard. Period. And I've listened well to ALL versions of this song, 'cause it's one of my favorites. Bobby B. is a serious contender in the world of Blues Harmonica!
I've been listening to Bonnie B. on YouTube for a couple years now, and this guy is seriously talented. An undersung harmonica hero! ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.co,
Thanks for sharing. Never heard him before. Really like the way he stayes with the spirit of the tune, with a big tone and no more notes than needed. Less is more... You can hear he could present this song in a much more flashy way...
@harp-er: Whoops! That's my dyslexia working again! I really didn't notice it was Bonny and not Bobby!!! :) Thanks for correcting me, I would've gone on forever calling him by the wrong name! ;)
@Iceman: Yeah, his singing really seals it. His harp playing is great, but his singing really seals it... IMO, that's what takes this from a great rendition, to a phenomenal rendition at the top of the game... ----------
That is one stellar vid! BB got the magic and where the heck does that voice come from? Listen to the performance without lookin at the video and the song sounds even better!
I'm very proud that this guy lives only 100km from my house. He is a real Bluesman! Small guy with a huge energy. Please read "a small part" of his biography:
'' I was born under a sacred tree the Bagnan around 1974 during the War of Polpot ... ''
He spent his early years under the Pol Pot regime. In 1978, the Khmer pursued by him and his family took refuge in the jungle near the Thai border. After three days and three nights running, no food, they finally found safety in Thailand.
In 1979, with the help of Catholic sisters, the family arrived in Fribourg (Switzerland) where he obtained political asylum.
He started school in 1980 to fight for acceptance and a place in the community. This is from 1988 to 1991, when he was in high school, he began to take a liking to the harmonica and country music, "this time I copied and I listened to a lot of CD country. ' One day, the school organizes a day of entertainment, "they hired two of which played blues harmonica blues came like that. Was my first CD John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters and Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, Otis Rush, and all the old black bluesmen of the 50s. " Abandoning studies, Bonny follows from 1992 to 1995 training pastry, candy, activity which will meet his needs, but the music takes up more and more important in his life.
In 1992, he formed his first band "Bonny B. and Spirit of the Blues" and played their first gig two months after they met. Follow "Born To Blues" in 1994, "Bonny B. Blues Band" in 1996 and "Bonny B. Band" in 1998.
In parallel, he also plays in a duo with her brother Michael on guitar. It is also employed as a sideman with, among others, Tom Cat Blake, JC Little, Kevin Flynn. With these courses he plays 50 to 100 concerts a year, in Switzerland and abroad.
In 1994, he opened a school harmonica and singing. In May 1998, Bonny decides to go to Chicago in search of the blues, "he needed me to go on site, as a pilgrimage." Speaking almost no English, he is unfazed, however, and is found "jamming" with Louisiana Red, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Johnson, Kenny Neal, John Primer, Mc Kenzy and Bernard Allison in legendary clubs such as the Blue Chicago The Buddy Guy's Legend or Koko Taylor. In the course of money, he played in the bars and streets of Chicago to pay his return ticket.
It was also in 1999 that Bonny decided to record an album. He teamed up with his old friend, drummer Sal Lombardo, as well as guitarist Laurent Poget. This collaboration will result in the album "CAMBODIA" released in Switzerland in March 2000.
March 2001 release of the album in Europe in DixieFrog under the name of "Something's wrong." It is also found in several blues compilations (including "Levis, Blues compilation 2002").
In 2002, Bonny B. working with several American artists like Vic Pitts, Michael J. Robinson, Jesse James King, Sugar Blue, Mark Woodward, Napoleon Washington ...
etc etc...
More Bonny B's
---------- Youtube
Last Edited by on Nov 07, 2012 11:01 AM
