PHANTOM BLUES BAND "OUT OF THE SHADOWS" Liner Notes by Scott Dirks

“Phantom” is defined as appearing unreal or ghost-like, or seen only in the mind. As it applies to The Phantom Blues Band, nothing could be further from the truth. These guys are as real as it gets, living, breathing, and soaked in R&B sweat. They first came together as a studio band to back Taj Mahal on his “Dancin’ The Blues” album, and won Grammies with him for the “Best Contemporary Blues Album” twice, for “Senor Blues” in 1997, and again for “Shoutin’ In Key” in 2000. But they’ve been living the blues for decades, paying dues since the 1960s with such folks as Freddie King, Jimmy Reed, Albert Collins, Etta James, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Between them they’ve earned shelves full of awards, and together they’ve forged a live band that’s a force to be reckoned with. So just who are the mysterious figures behind the ‘Phantom’ mask?

Guitarist/vocalist Johnny Lee Schell served an apprenticeship with legendary Buddy Holly producer Norman Petty before making his way to Los Angeles. Beginning in the late ‘70s, he toured and performed with Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Ron Wood and John Fogerty among others, and has scored several films, and recorded the score for the ABC sitcom, 'According to Jim.' Keyboard player/vocalist Mike Finnigan has been playing professionally since the early 1960s; highlights include keyboard work with Jimi Hendrix on the landmark 'Electric Ladyland' LP, touring and recording with Crosby, Stills and Nash, Dave Mason, Etta James, Dr. John and Carlos Santana, and numerous recording and gigging credits fronting his own projects. Like most of his Phantom bandmates, guitarist Denny Freemen started his career in Texas, where he played in The Cobras, sharing lead guitar duties with a kid with the initials SRV plastered on his guitar. Denny later toured and recorded with Angela Strehli, Jimmy Vaughan, and carved out a reputation on his own with several powerful solo albums; in his spare time he’s a member of Bob Dylan’s band. Saxophonist Joe Sublett started his musical career in Austin, Texas, where he, like Freeman, played in The Cobras along with a young Stevie Ray Vaughan. He’s worked with The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat, and B.B. King among many others, and in recent years formed the The Texacali Horns with trumpet player and fellow ‘Phantom’ Darrell Leonard. Leonard’s musical resume includes work with Delaney and Bonnie, Dr. John, Little Feat, Glen Frey, Henry Mancini, The Rolling Stones, and Solomon Burke and many others; he’s also composed music for numerous film and theater productions including “Cold Mountain”, “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” and others. Bassist Larry Fulcher began his musical career in Houston, singing in church at the tender age of five. A triple threat instrumentalist, Larry has also toured and recorded on guitar and keyboards, and recorded with Smokey Robinson and The Crusaders among others. In addition to impeccable R&B credentials, he brings a taste of reggae flavor to the proceedings via his work with reggae stars The Wailers, Third World and Andrew Tosh. Yet another Texan, drummer Tony Braunagel started playing in Houston in the mid-sixties, eventually following the gigs to England, where he was hired as studio drummer for Island Records. Tony moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s and picked up right where he’d left off, touring and recording with Eric Burdon, Rickie Lee Jones, Bette Midler and Bonnie Raitt among others.

Along with such an immense pool of musical experience comes an amazingly deep understanding of R&B history and repertoire. Each player brings with him an intimate familiarity with a broad spectrum of soulful sounds, from Memphis Soul to New Orleans Funk, from gutbucket blues to sophisticated swing, and a whole lot more. And they’ve chosen a program of outstanding songs from that deep well of knowledge that perfectly showcases all their many strengths, putting their unique stamp on seldom heard material cherry-picked from recordings by The Meters, Syl Johnson, Chuck Berry, Hank Ballard, Little Willie John, Don & Dewey, Lowell Fulson, Bobby Bland and more, and making it all sound exactly like their own.

Successful bands have been built around less combined talent than any one member of The Phantom Blues Band, but when mixed, stirred and left to simmer, these guys come together into one of the tightest, sharpest, most top-heavy R&B bands in the music today. But don’t take my word for it – the proof is in the grooves, and the grooves are non-stop with The Phantom Blues Band.