Bluesy bunch is sure to keep you going

Acclaimed blues band The Insomniacs bring their smooth tones to Lincoln City at 9 p.m. Saturday, June 20, with a live performance at Roadhouse 101.

Their new release "At Least I'm Not With You," the follow-up to their critically-acclaimed debut "Left Coast Blues," was recorded in only two days.

The Portland-based band - led by 27-year old vocalist/guitarist/song-writer Vyasa Dodson, together with bassist Dean Mueller, keyboardist Alex Shakeri and drummer Dave Melyan - laid down an astounding set of material that had been finely tuned night after night on the road over the past two years. And this time the band had the benefit of utilizing a professional recording studio for superior sound with access to a grand piano and a Hammond B-3.

Joined by special guests Al Blake on harmonica, Mitch Kashmar on harmonica, Joel Paterson on pedal steel guitar and Jeff Turmes on tenor and baritone sax, The Insomniacs expand on their original intoxicating formula - a mix of blues, swing, jump and roots rock.

The Insomniacs seemed to literally explode onto the scene out of nowhere in 2007 as a fully formed and functional unit, delighting audiences with their joyous, yet highly contagious musical sound and irresistible sense of swing. Their self-produced debut release "Left Coast Blues," recorded in the living room of bassist Dean Mueller's house, was quickly snatched up and issued on Delta Groove Music, hitting a peak position of No. 5 on the national Living Blues radio charts. Critical praise and industry recognition from the blues community soon followed garnering the band a 2008 Blues Music Award nomination for Best New Artist Debut, as well as a 2007 Muddy Award presented by the Cascade Blues Association for Best Contemporary Blues Act.

They play vintage instruments and channel a blues style from the 1950s, but there is a distinct new cyberspace bent to this award-winning quartet.

These musicians, who have quickly jumped into the top tier of clubs, tour endless highways in a beat up van, babying a gut-string upright, the 1951 Fender "Nocaster" guitar, the 1964 Framus Star bass and their Magnatone and Ampeg tube amps.

But they fill the long drives between gigs surfing the Web on wireless laptops, looking at the MySpace and Facebook friends lists of the clubs down the road and personally e-mailing blues fans to get them to listen to the band and come to the show. As a result, they get hundreds of plays per day on MySpace, a site usually focused on alternative, pop and hip-hop music. And they've enrolled a whole new generation of first-time young blues fans, as well as older ones who recognize the roots of their music.

Dodson says he had a revelation when he switched from emulating Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton to studying jump blues masters such as Junior Watson, Tiny Grimes, Charlie Christian and Little Charlie Baty.

"The Blues isn't dead," Dodson says. "It's just going in different directions. B.B. King and Buddy Guy got started when they were young. The same thing is happening today."