Kenny Neal
(born October 14 1957, New Orleans, Louisiana [1]), son of Raful Neal, is a blues and swamp blues guitar player, singer and band member. Neal comes from a musical family and has often performed with his brothers in his band.
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KENNY NEAL TICKETS
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Career
Neal preserves the swamp blues sound of his native south Louisiana, as befits someone who learned from
Slim Harpo,
Buddy Guy and his father, the harmonica player, Raful Neal.
[2]
In 1987, Neal cut his debut
album for the
Florida record producer, Bob Greenlee — an updated swamp feast initially marketed on King Snake Records as
Bio on the Bayou
.
Alligator Records picked it up the following year, retitled it ''Big News from Baton Rouge
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[1]
In 1991 he also proved to be a talented actor in the
Broadway production of the
folk musical Mule Bone
(by
Langston Hughes and
Zora Neale Hurston), singing numbers written by
Taj Mahal.
[2]
Neal has played with blues stars including
Lucky Peterson and
Lazy Lester, and was at one time a member of The
Downchild Blues Band, during a period of relocation to
Toronto.
[5]
In September 2006 Neal announced he was taking a year's break from
recording and performing, due to an undisclosed illness.
[6] He returned to the public eye at the Monterey Blues Festival in June, 2007. His illness was also disclosed as
Hepatitis C.
[7]
Awards
Blues Music Award (formerly W.C. Handy Award)
See also
- List of blues musicians
- Long Beach Blues Festival
- San Francisco Blues Festival
References
- Allmusic biography data
- The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
- Allmusic biography data
- The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
- Craig Harris, Biography of The Downchild Blues Band; www.allmusic.com.
- Living Blues website
- Monterey County Weekly - accessed January 2008