Joe McMurrian is a Delta Blues/Roots songwriter/ guitarist based in Portland Oregon. He has a rich capability to infuse tradition with contemporary invention through his intense finger-style, slide guitar work and original storytelling. Joe is deeply influenced by the Delta Blues and American Hill country masters like Skip James, Son House, Doc Boggs, Robert Pete Williams, Fred McDowell, Robert Johnson, Bukka White, R.L Burnside, Roscoe Holcomb, Blind WIllie Johnson, Lightning Hopkins and modern players like Buddy Guy, Bert Jansch, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Leo Kotke, Doc Watson, James Blood Ulmer, Chris Whitley, Junior Kimbrough and Rajeev Tarnoth. Joe blends all these influences into a powerful modern gumbo that can switch from gut wrenching hard driving deep blue’s to intricate acoustic ballads. Recently Joe has formed the power quartet Woodbrain, signed with Memphis Label Yellow Dog Record and has picked up the electric guitar he used to play so much as a teen and plugged into an amp full of electricity to explore the endless possibilities available to this dynamic new band sound. The result is the new release, Swimming in Turpentine, an album that promises new & exciting things things to come for Blues and Roots music.

When he was 9 Joe found his father’s steel slide guitar up in the attic and decided to start playing. His father still played a little slide and standard guitar that he used to play in the 40's, so Joe learned the basics of various Willie Nelson, Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers songs. 32 years later he still likes it.

Joe is a native of the Northern California, San Joaquin Delta region. 8 years ago He relocated with his family to Portland after a ten year stay in various areas of Los Angeles where he went to art school and performed on streets and in the clubs to hone his craft. As a solo artist, McMurrian released his debut, "Rain of Days", which was voted the #2 best independent blues release of 2006 by the International Blues Foundation of Memphis as well as reaching the #5 slot on Japan's Tower Records chart.

In Los Angeles he played every acoustic venue available, as well as receiving weekly airplay on the prominent radio station KCRW in Santa Monica. Joe has performed at countless venues & numerous festivals Including the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival (the past 4 years), Portland Brewers Festival, Park City Utah Founders Tile Bluegrass and Folk Festival, Pasadena Blues Festival, String Summit and the Listening Room concert series in Los Angeles. He has appeared with such luminaries as John Mayhall, Paul Geramia, LouisianaRed, Keb Mo, Paul Livingstone, Eddie Kirkland, John McEuen, Charlie Musslewhite, Preacher Boy, Canned Heat, Sonny Landreth & Little Charley and the Nightcats to name a few.

In addition to being a musician, Joe is a highly trained Fine artist who paints and creates any number of strange things. He holds a Masters Degree in Painting and exhibits nationally. Art for Joe is a unified exploration, one that doesn’t have borders to separate different pursuits. Art and Music are one for him and ask him which one is more important and he'll probably say "who cares, it's all trying to do the same thing in the end...make people wake up and enjoy reality.." When he performs on stage he is in a way painting with sound, ebbing and flowing towards new realms of experience in the moment.

 

 

 

Photo: Andrew Walsh

With a guitar/harmonica/bass/drums line-up, Woodbrain (formerly Joe McMurrian Quartet) might be mistaken for a typical blues collective — at least until this fiery Portland, Oregon foursome begins to play, when it quickly becomes apparent they are potentially an evolutionary force in the genre. Or several genres at once.

Woodbrain’s energy is incendiary; their music deeply rooted in tradition. And yet their songwriting and improvisation pull those roots in all kinds of directions informed by the generations of Son House, Jimi Hendrix, and John Coltrane. Without sacrificing an iota of heart or soul, their sound effortlessly skirts boundaries to reach blues, rock, Americana, and jam scene listeners alike.

Together as a collective, Woodbrain is massive machine of sound, - Imagine If Robert Johnson had heard Hendrix and had hooked up with Jack Bruce, John Bohnam and Little Walter, mix in contemporary song writing and one of a kind musical performances and you have an amazing band.

"We are a progressive blues based band," says McMurrian about the quartet's sound. "influenced by all music and a whole lot of old American music like the blues, But what we do is anything but regular blues; it's new blues, if you will, and should be seen as modern yet approachable by young and old listeners."

Progressive high energy music, Gut wrenching emotion and energy transitioning to graceful melodies, complex harmonies and challenging meter changes make for the most powerful Roots/Blues music around. The sound is rooted in Delta Blues and Old American Roots music, but it is weaved into a modern concept of improvisation and original story telling that owes as much to John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix or Led Zeppelin as it does to Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, R.L Burnside or Bert Jansch. JMQ is the new face of American Roots & Blues music, one that crosses limiting musical boundaries, trivialities and fads and soars up within the infinity of sound.

 

 

The Band 

 

Woodbrain's drummer is non other than the legendary Jimi Bott also originally from the SF Bay Area.
Formerly of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Rod Piazza & Mark Hummel, Jimi is one of the most recorded blues drummers in recent history appearing on an amazing number of more than 60 cds! Nine time BMA (Blues Music award) Nominee and his five time CBA Muddy Award Winner for Blues Drummer of the year he brings blazing drive yet percussive sensitivity to JMQ's unique original sound. In a current interview Jimi was quoted saying..
"This band is threatening to be THE MOST DYNAMIC BANDS I will ever play with!"

 

Holding the bass chair is Jason Honl. Formely of ,Pieces & Big Mouth Bass and the only native Portlander in the group. While assembling mellifluous, flowing lines with the mastery of a seasoned Jazz elder he can also seemingly Channel Jack Bruce, Bob Glaub and Noel Redding simultaneously, never losing site of the given song's origin. In recent interview Jason said, his signature Shoeless stage presence is more than just for comfort but rather ..."keeps me grounded in the relentless waves of improv that are crashing through my mind and across the stage!"

 

Portland harmonica player David Lipkind is a St. Louis , Mo. born and bred third generation harp blower. Lipkind is one of the most in-demand players in the area, and is known as a versatile, musical, exciting player. Lipkind has recorded with many Pacific Northwest artists and bands as a guest soloist, including rock icons the Supersuckers, Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormans, folk singers David Rea and Darrin Craig (Jackstraw), indie rock heroes the Decemberists, Americana bands Spigot and Drunken Prayer, bluesman Mark Lemhouse and Hillstomp, among others.Lipkind was also a longtime member of legendary rock band I Can Lick any Son of a Bitch in the House.David has found a home with new project Woodbrain, as he is allowed to stretch out, become an integral part of the song structure, while masterfully improvising, help steer songs in different directions, as well as help accompany his band mates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2003