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Arkansas Bros. Band to play at KASU
Bluesday Tuesday
July 28, 2010
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Three Jonesboro
blues-rock-and-roots artists who have played together and in separate
bands for almost two decades will entertain the audience at KASU radio
station’s next Bluesday Tuesday event Aug. 10 at the Newport Country
Club.
The Arkansas Bros. Band is the new name for the trio of Jess Hoggard, Tim Hoggard and Matt Pierce who create the good humor and
relaxed feel of a back yard family jam session with guitars, harmonica
and vocals.
While drawing deeply from the blues well of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf
and Jimmy Reed, the Brothers also serve up Mick Jagger, Johnny Cash,
Hank Williams and even a bit of gospel – which isn’t a surprise after
learning that Jess and Tim Hoggard are sons of a minister who played
rock-and-roll in his earlier days. The trio also performs such original
numbers as “Arkansas Boogie” and “The Linwood Motel.” They have great
respect for the music traditions of the Delta, citing Sonny Burgess,
Albert King, Frank Frost and Willie Smith among the artists who have
influenced them.
Jess Hoggard’s musical résumé includes playing rhythm and lead guitar
with Mark Sallings in The Famous Unknowns, the first house band to play
at B.B. King’s nightspot in Memphis. Jess played with the Muddy Waters
rhythm section and the Jelly Roll All Stars, bands that included such
musicians as “Fuzz” Jones, Sam Carr and Willie “Big Eye” Smith.
Jess’s younger brother Tim wanted to carve his own niche with the blues
harmonica rather than guitar. He listened extensively to recordings of
“Little Walter,” the first blues player to amplify the instrument
electronically. Tim was also influenced by the work of legendary
harmonica player Frank Frost, who was born in the Jackson County
community of Auvergne. Practice paid off as Tim has become one of the
few blues harmonica players currently from northeast Arkansas. Jess and
Tim Hoggard have recorded in Clarksdale, Miss., and played at blues
festivals in Chicago and Peoria, Ill.
At Jonesboro High School, where Matt Pierce was in a grade a couple of
years behind Tim Hoggard, he became friends with both brothers. He calls
them his mentors who have shaped his life as a musician and music
storeowner. Matt is a guitarist for the Bow-Legged Rooster Band which
will play at the 2010 Hot Springs, Arkansas Blues Festival on Labor Day
weekend. The Bow-Legged Rooster frequently plays at Odie’s House of
Blues and Dinner Club in Hot Springs; Whitewater Tavern in Little Rock;
and Z330 in Fayetteville. Pierce has played guitar on two CDs recorded
with his brother-in-law Jimbo Mathus, a founding member of the Squirrel
Nut Zippers and a well-known roots musician from Oxford, Miss.
The Arkansas Bros. Band will appeal to those who appreciate the earthy
acoustic roots of the delta blues music that was such an influence on
what became known as “classic rock.” The trio brings those musical
streams together, for example, in a medley combining The Rolling Stones
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” with Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild
Side.” The next song on the program could randomly be Jimmy Reed’s “Big
Boss Man” or Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” And as Jess Hoggard
says, with emphasis, “All our stage moves come from professional
wrestling – we owe a great debt to Jerry Lawler.”
Bluesday Tuesday concerts are presented the second Tuesday of each month
at the Newport Country Club by the public radio service of Arkansas
State University in Jonesboro, KASU 91.9 FM; Arkansas State
University-Newport; and C and C Distributors. There is no membership fee
or admission charge; however, KASU passes the hat for the band. Music
starts at 7 p.m., Aug. 10.
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