Shawn Pittman and The Moeller Bros
Shawn Pittman and The Moeller Bros
Genres: rhythm and blues, blues, bluesrock, Texas Blues, Contemporary Blues
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About Shawn Pittman and The Moeller Bros
Shaw Pittman ”This is a young man who has the world at his fingertips and if he takes care of himself and his talent, we’ve got a crisp and shiny new star on our hands.” – Memphis Mojo ”His guitar work is professional and first-rate entertainment and his vocals will remind you of the true fervor and emotion of Buddy Guy. Full Circle is an unquestionable treat.” – Musicians Realm ”His remarkable work and gorgeous presence is a delight to see and a shame to miss.” – Josslyn Mikowm, Austin Monthly Magazine ”Shawn plays with the energy of a rebel rock n’ roller, and the depth and soulfulness of a seasoned bluesman.” – Blues Bytes ”This guy makes heads turn, ears perk up and bodies move.” Southwest Blues ”Pittman commands his guitar to speak the string slingin’ language of the Lone Star State.” – Art Tipaldi (Blue Revue) ”Chops plus soul equals dynamite!” – Jazz Times ”Watch out for this guy, he’s no flash in the pan!”Northeast Blues Society (BLUES Print) “Shawn is absolutely the best new young talent I have seen in years” Preston Hubbard (Bassist for Roomful of Blues and the T-Birds) “For exciting and dance-motivatin’ blues, consult Shawn Pittman. This great young talent, singer/guitarist plays whip-snap leads, chords with the propulsiveness of a smart bomb on steroids, and sings with a sly persuasiveness that belies his youth. When he takes the stages in Texas clubs, bedlam reigns, and now he’s taking on the world. That’s good news to those who want to know blues is in strong hands, as it makes its way to the new millennium” Tim Shuller – Dallas Observer “All the albums Shawn Pittman recorded establish him as part of that lengthy lineage of Texas bluesmen, a group that stretches all the way back to Lightnin’ Hopkins and Blind Lemon Jefferson and through Johnny Winter, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie Ray Vaughan. And he has put together the resume to go with it: a fiery teenage six-string phenom” Lone star music “Simply put, to be a respectable guitar player in the state of Texas you had better be damn good. Shawn Pittman is damn good. The basis of Pittman’s sound is his jagged, percussive guitar playing that really ignites a groove and a voice that is really improving as time goes on. Pittman combines the fire and intensity found in many of the younger guitar slingers out there but plays with much more substance and feeling than most of the others. He is also a naturally gifted singer with his understated vocals showing more true feeling than many performers twice his age. Pittman’s intensity has been compared to a youthful Buddy Guy as he plays with the energy rush of a young rock ‘n’ roller, and the depth and soulfulness of a seasoned bluesman. Shawn Pittman is one dynamic blues performer and you can hear his exciting playing and singing on his six album releases” BLUES ON STAGE “The music of Shawn Pittman has taken a giant step forward. He has always been a great guitar player, but is now hitting his stride as a vocalist and a songwriter. Given the success of other young blues based artists such as Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Derek Trucks. A great musician and perfomer”. Barry Gober – Southwest Blues From MOVIN’ and GROOVIN’ CD (June 2009) : Charlie Christian, pioneer of the electric guitar; Lowell Fulson, one of the architects of the California blues; Elvin Bishop, one of the first and best of the American blues revivalists – and now Shawn Pittman. OK, Shawn may not have achieved the prestige of those forebears – not yet, though the critics are forecasting great things for him and this overview of his recording career so far should help – but like them, he is Oklahoma-born (in Talahina in 1974) and pursued his musical dreams elsewhere. Shawn headed south to Texas at the age of 17. He was already familiar with the blues of Lightnin’ Hopkins and Jimmy Reed, but on hearing Anson Funderburgh and Mike Morgan, he decided The Lone Star State was the place to be. He moved to Dallas and hung around with such respected bluesmen as Hash Brown, Tutu Jones and Andrew ‘Junior Boy’ Jones. Andrew recently told me: “Shawn is a very talented player and singer. I met Shawn about 15 years ago at R.L. Griffin’s Blues Palace. He was one of the people to play my Gibson Les Paul hollow body guitar that Gibson gave me. I recognized the talent back then. He would come around me, and sometimes I would go to one of his gigs. I think Shawn is a special and deserving artist.” During his time in Dallas, Shawn recorded two albums which were released by the now defunct Minnesota-based label Cannonball Records. After spending most of the nineties in Dallas, Shawn moved on again, to Austin, Texas, in 1999. He is still based there, his reputation growing and a further three albums in his discography. A wise man once said, “A man is judged by the company he keeps”. No worries for Shawn there then. A glance through the personnel of this album reveals some of the very finest players of the modern blues, Texas or otherwise. Many of them have worked extensively with Shawn, which only enhances the cohesion and easy acquaintance so evident on these numbers. The late Stevie Ray Vaughn casts a long shadow over modern Texas blues and so it is a tribute to Shawn’s abilities that he can call on SRV’s rhythm section – Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon. Then there’s The Fabulous Thunderbirds – here we have Preston Hubbard, of whom that great talent scout (and world-class guitarist) Otis Grand opines: “Preston Hubbard is truly a legend. He is a truly amazing bassist, intellectually knowledgeable, and a very nice person to be around. Hubbard is that rare musician in the Blues world who understands both the old school and the new school of bass playing and combines them to create a very distinct sound of his own”. Jason and Jon Moeller have also worked with The T-Birds but have actually been associates of Shawn’s since Dallas. “The song ‘Movin’ is with the Moeller Brothers from a session that I produced myself in 2000. The rest of that CD remains unreleased”, remembers Shawn. Preston was also with Roomful Of Blues, a prime influence on today’s blues; so too was Ron Levy, co-producer of some of these tracks (“I don’t remember much other than Ron Levy sitting behind the mixing board and trying to get me to sing words that I wouldn’t normally use…like ‘sugar’…”). But in terms of producers, for modern blues, these days the name is Jim Gaines, whose presence is an indicator of high quality, whether it be Luther Allison or son Bernard, Charlie Musselwhite, Rocky Athas, Stevie Ray Vaughn or indeed Shawn Pittman. Shawn again: “working with Jim Gaines was interesting because he had worked with so many different artists. He was a real genuine nice person. He told me stories about working for Stax and mixing Albert King records. He gave me a lot of encouragement”. And Shawn’s gone on… That’s the verbal introduction to the talents of Mr. Pittman. Now play the disc and listen to some of the best and bluesiest Texas blues around today! Norman Darwen (contributor: Blues and Rhythm, Rock ‘N’ Reel, Blues In Britain, Blues Matters!, Blues In the South, Blues Art Studio and others) From TOO HOT CD (January 2010) : Shawn’s delicious use of the spare ‘less is more’ guitar style,which is frequently displayed, by one of Texas’s premier guitarists, Jimmy Vaughan, allows the listener to appreciate the skilful artistry of Shawn’s individual approach to Texas blues. He raises the quality bar with each successive album release. Here, we find him recording with a very fine group of Italian musicians who have backed him on his recent successful European tour. Speaking to Shawn he informed me that the album came about after Tano had heard him perform the Jerry McCain number “Too Hot” during one of the concerts on the tour and heasked Shawn if he and the band would go into the studio and record the number as it had become a particular favourite of his. So, as a consequence of this request Shawn and the rest of the band went into the Electric Honey Studios on the ninth of November two thousand and nine which also just happened to be their only day off in the middle of the tour; they recorded not only the Jerry McCain number but fourteen others as well such as Howlin’ Wolf’s “How Many More Years”, Lazy Lester’s “The Same Thing Could Happen To You”, another excellent choice is Jerry McCain’s “Geronimo Rock”, and Larry Williams’s “Slow Down”, these are but a few of the numbers which make up this album. As a measure of the band’s sharpness and spot on musicianship all the numbers were recorded live in a four hour session and each of them completed in ‘one take’, afterwards it was back to the whistle-stop tour of Italy which included eighteen shows in nineteen days. To give the numbers that extra edge Shawn played his guitar through a bassman amp. His obvious enjoyment at playing hard driving shuffles is fully recognizable throughout each number on the album, at some points as Shawn states the music is “pure out furious”. These fifteen new recordings have the vitality and urgency of a man on a mission; his almost stabbing and jagged guitar runs introduce a new kind of Texas guitar style to the genre, his confidence and composure whilst performing indicates a maturity beyond his age. Shawn’s voice has a no nonsense, raw and gritty edge throughout the set I wonder if he has been on a diet of emery cloth and vinegar? The very fine musicians that are accompanying Shawn play not only on this album but also throughout the tour, they are that powerhouse of a drummer “John Lee” Emanuel Zamperini and the very tight bass player Martin” Keith Punch” Iotti, joining them as guest harp player is the outstanding Max Lugli, together they create a top class rock solid collection of blues blasters. The relaxed ease of manner, the fluidity of play and very obvious bluesy feeling from Shawn and the band just simply oozes out in fierce waves of pleasure. Some reviewers may say that what you are bout hear is a Texas blues blaster; well, I would go further and say ladies and gentlemen that there is only one phrase for what you are about to experience and that is A Searing and Scorching session of “Blitzkrieg Blues Blasters” Texas style! which takes no prisoners whatsoever!. So I humbly suggest that you pull on your snakeskin boots and start stompin’ those blues! From this album Shawn can expect to gain many more lovers of fast and furious goodtime Texas blues. Brian Harman (Contributor to: Blues Art Studio, Blues in the South, MN Blues and Blues Matters) Source: Feeling Good Productions - Shawn Pittman Moeller Brothers On Facebook: Moeller Brothers
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