Doyle Bramhall II
(born 24 December, 1968) is a guitarist and vocalist in his band Smokestack and is also the second guitarist in Eric Clapton's band.
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DOYLE BRAMHALL II TICKETS
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Biography
Doyle Bramhall II is a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist. He was born in
Dallas, Texas and is the son of singer, songwriter and drummer
Doyle Bramhall, who grew up as a close friend of
Stevie Ray Vaughan and
Jimmie Vaughan. At age 16, Doyle Bramhall II toured with
Jimmie Vaughan's band,
The Fabulous Thunderbirds, as second guitarist. Some of Doyle's influences include,
Johnny "Guitar" Watson,
Donny Hathaway,
Freddie King,
Albert King,
Jimmie Vaughan,
Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Sly & the Family Stone,
Lightnin' Hopkins, and
Curtis Mayfield.
In 1992 Doyle formed
Arc Angels with
Charlie Sexton and Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm section of bassist
Tommy Shannon and drummer
Chris Layton (also known as
Double Trouble). Doyle and Sexton were only able to work together for one album but it was well received, with several songs receiving heavy rock radio airplay. They went their own ways after the album but have gotten back together and have been playing shows as Arc Angels again in 2006 and 2007.
Doyle released his self-titled debut album on the
Geffen record label in 1996 with backing support from
Wendy and Lisa (Bramhall is married to Wendy's sister, vocalist
Susannah Melvoin). In later interviews, he stated his intent with that album to establish himself as more than just a guitar player. The album received praise from reviewers but was received poorly with sales.
Bruce Flohr, a former RCA record executive, came to the first live performance Doyle threw after writing a batch of new material for his new album. Flohr was blown away by the performance and immediately wanted to sign Bramhall to his label. Doyle agreed and signed with
RCA, and released his second album
Jellycream
in 1999. He appeared on
Austin City Limits in an episode shared with
Robert Cray that fall. The record labels at RCA were unhappy at the sales records of the album and withdrew all funds for Doyle's new project. Flohr, who was a fan of Doyle's music and had faith in it, was powerless to prevent the waning financial interests of his label. It was at this time that Doyle phoned Flohr and asked to be cut from his deal with RCA.
Still being friends, Flohr passed a copy of the
Jellycream
album to
Eric Clapton. Clapton took an interest in Bramhall's music and included "Marry You" and "I Wanna Be" in a collaborative album he was working on with
B.B. King, released in 2000 as
Riding With The King
. Doyle also formed a new band, "Doyle Bramhall II & Smokestack," and recorded a new album produced by
Benmont Tench of
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers fame. Released in 2001,
Welcome
marked a renewed focus on guitar.
Doyle's recording relationship with Clapton continued to flourish, and he co-wrote "Superman Inside" for and played guitar on Eric's 2001 solo album,
Reptile
. He and Smokestack opened for Clapton on his 2001 world tour, and Doyle occasionally joined Eric on stage. By 2004, he was Clapton's second guitarist after
Andy Fairweather-Low backed out of the tour. The 2004 tour was Clapton's effort at channeling his hero
Robert Johnson and Doyle later admitted that he had never listened to Robert Johnson until getting the gig as Clapton's second guitarist. Doyle also appears with Eric in the 2004 CD/DVD release
Sessions for Robert J
.
Doyle also played guitar on the 1999-2002
In the Flesh tour (captured on the
In the Flesh Live
album) by former
Pink Floyd leader/bassist
Roger Waters.
Previous to that, Doyle also played a much lower key role backing his wife Susannah Melvoin's (who also toured with Waters during the In the Flesh tour as a backing singer) twin sister
Wendy Melvoin for her band
Girl Bros., and more recently with
Wendy and Lisa in the groups
Pacifico and
Funk Sway. Pacifico consisted of Wendy and Lisa, along with Doyle, Mike Elizondo and
Abe Laboriel Jr., and several recordings from a small club tour have surfaced. Funk Sway —
Erykah Badu, Wendy and Lisa
?uestlove of
The Roots, and Doyle, are featured in the music documentary
Before the Music Dies
.
As a session guitarist, he has worked with
Me'shell Ndegéocello,
Sheryl Crow and
Susan Tedeschi. He also toured with Eric Clapton as part of his 2006/2007 world tour along with
slide guitarist Derek Trucks and he performed at the 2007
Crossroads Guitar Festival at Chicago's Toyota Park.
Of his songwriting, Doyle has said that although the blues is one of his favorite genres, he finds that most of his attempts at bluesy songwriting end up sounding "corny," and his songs always tend to have more of a rock feel.
Doyle usually plays the
Fender Stratocaster but will occasionally play some Gibson guitars, either playing on left-handed models or right-handed models upside-down. Doyle plays guitar left-handed but his guitars are strung as if to be played by a right-handed player. In other words, the low E string is at the bottom of his guitar, and the high string at the top. This fact and his unique playing style can be seen clearly in the "
In the Flesh: Live
" DVD footage.
Discography
;with
Arc Angels
- Arc Angels
(Geffen Records, 1992)
;Solo
- Doyle Bramhall II
(Geffen Records, 1996)
- Jellycream
(RCA Records, 1999)
- Welcome
(RCA, 2001)
References