Award-Winning
Keyboardist Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne Is Inspired by the Blues on New CD
Coming September 28 from Stony Plain Records
Special Guests Include Harp Master Billy Branch, Guitar
Legend Duke Robillard and Long-Time B.B. King Bass Player Russell Jackson
EDMONTON, AB – Acclaimed award-winning keyboardist Kenny
“Blues Boss” Wayne will release his new CD, Inspired by the Blues,
September 28 on Stony Plain Records. The new disc was
recorded at Dan/Lyn Studio in Edmonton, Alberta, and produced by the
“Blues Boss,” himself. Inspired by the Blues features 11 original
songs, plus a live bonus track of Kenny performing “Georgia on My Mind” that
was recorded in Mexico.
Watch an exciting behind-the-scenes video about the making
of Inspired by the Blues here:
Stream
the first single, “Start Rockin,’” off the new album here:
The
Boogie Woogie Hall of Famer’s new release includes special guests Billy Branch
on harmonica, guitarist Duke Robillard and B.B. King's long-time bass
player, Russell Jackson, who’s also a member of the new B.B. King Blues Band.
The zoot-suited “Blues Boss” tours Russia (where he just finished an
extensive tour), South America, and Europe, in addition to playing various
North American clubs and festivals. Living Blues magazine
named him the “Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard)” for 2015. “There's no
boogie-woogie-blues piano man out there today who pounds the 88s with his
conviction,” wrote the Chicago Sun-Times.
“I have always said that each time I record a new album this
one is my best, and each time I’ve been right; however, I should’ve said that
each time it gets better,” Wayne says. “This recording is truly better and with
the help of my ace band members and guest artists, it surpasses my previous
recordings. I wanted to pay tribute to two of my favorite musical legends that
have both passed on: Ray Charles and Fats Domino. I also wanted to bring back that
classic style of blues that has been missed for years. I’d like to especially
thank Chicago legend Billy Branch and the East Coast legend Duke Robillard for
their contributions to this recording. A big thanks to B.B. King’s bass alumni
Russell Jackson and to the rest of my well-respected musicians on board: Joey
DiMarco, Yuji Ihara, Dave Babcock, Bob Tildesley and Lynne Chwyl.”
Inspired by the Blues is Kenny’s fourth album
for Stony Plain Records. His 2011 first album for the label, An Old Rock
On a Roll, garnered him a nomination for the Pinetop Perkins Piano
Award from the Blues Foundation, as well as being awarded two 2012 Living
Blues magazine awards, one for “Best
New Contemporary Blues Recording of 2011” and one for Wayne as “Most
Outstanding Musician (Keyboard).”
Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne is a veteran blues and boogie piano
player and also a three-time Juno Award nominee (Canada’s Grammy), including a
win for his Let It Loose CD. His main influences are Fats Domino,
Ray Charles and Chuck Berry’s long-time piano player Johnnie Johnson, as well
as Amos Milburn, Bill Doggett and Johnny Otis, king of the West Coast blues
sound of the ‘50s.
He was raised in Los Angeles,
San Francisco and New Orleans, but has been a long-time resident of British
Columbia. A touring musician from his teens onward, Wayne
settled in Vancouver some 30 years ago, and is now based in Kelowna, BC, but is
rarely home — thanks to extended tours in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. His
bass-heavy boogie piano work, as well as his original songs, makes for powerful
live performances, enhanced by the flashy splendor of his boldly colored,
French custom-tailored stage suits.
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