The Lee Boys & Oteil Burbridge @ Wanee Festival 2011

The Lee Boys & Oteil Burbridge – Going To Glory 4/15/11 Wanee Festival

I told you I was going to hip you to some funky music you wouldn’t otherwise run into! It’s Easter Sunday, so give this gospel music a chance. The Lee Boys are a Sacred Steel group in the style of Robert Randolph & The Family Band. Their chief asset is their pedal steel player, Roosevelt Collier. Just press play and enjoy, keeping in mind that the real heat begins around 7 minutes when Oteil brings a jaw-dropping scat bass solo.

And if you want to go deeper, follow this link to listen to Roosevelt sit in with Dumpstaphunk at Tipitina’s on a version of The Rolling Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil: http://www.archive.org/details/Dumpstaphunk2009-05-03_742.
The Lee Boys have many great live recordings on the Live Music Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/TheLeeBoys.

The Funky Meters October 8, 2000 Cincinnati, OH (VIDEO)

About ten years ago I packed some friends in my car and drove up to Cincinnati, Ohio to see The Funky Meters perform. The festival was free and they performed during the daytime, down by the river. The situation was ripe for my old Sony Digital Hi8mm video camera to capture it all. Ten years later it’s still one of my favorite videos. I used an external microphone (the same mic I still use today) so the sound quality is great, despite being a little “hot” due to the extreme volume (I can’t believe I didn’t wear earplugs back then!).

Poppa Funk Art Neville was still in good health and George Porter Jr was ten years younger. Russell Batiste played with focus and Brian Stoltz shredded with experience. I’ve decide to post the entire 80 minute video on youtube in 7 parts, and I am also seeding the full DVD here: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=347253
and here: http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=89869.

If you made it this far, then you probably know that The Funky Meters have been doing some shows recently with Brian Stoltz returning (after Ian Neville took over guitar duties for about 4 years). Here are links to some recent recordings:
1/14/11 NOLA @ Tipitina’s (Louie’s SBD + onstage matrix!!)
2/16/11 NYC @ Brooklyn Bowl
2/17/11 NYC @ Brooklyn Bowl