Altered Five Blues Band

Last updated
Altered Five Blues Band
Also known asAltered Five
Origin Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Genres Blues
Years active2002–present
LabelsVarious including Blind Pig Records
Members
  • Jeff Taylor
  • Jeff Schroedl
  • Mark Solveson
  • Alan Arber
  • Steve Huebler
Past members
  • Scott Schroedl
  • Raymond Trevich
Website Official website

Altered Five Blues Band (originally known as Altered Five) is an American five-piece blues band. Formed in 2002 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, they have released six albums since 2008. [1] [2] Their 2021 release, Holler If You Hear Me, reached number three on the US Billboard Top Blues Albums Chart. The current line-up consists of frontman Jeff Taylor, guitarist Jeff Schroedl, bass player Mark Solveson, drummer Alan Arber, plus the returning keyboardist Steve Huebler. [3] [4]

Contents

Career

The group was formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, in 2002 and originally billed as simply 'Altered Five'. Bluesified, their debut album composed entirely of cover versions, was released by Cold Wind Records in June 2008. [5] Cold Wind were based in Minneapolis, but the record label's head died and Altered Five were forced to move to another local distributor. [6] This led to the release of Gotta Earn It on Conclave Records (2012). [1] Their fortunes changed for the better with their next recording, Cryin' Mercy (2014). It was produced by Tom Hambridge and was the group's first release on OmniVibe Records. The record was deemed to be the 'Best Self-Released CD' at the 2015 International Blues Challenge. [6] As the band was effectively between percussionists at the time, Hambridge played drums on all tracks on the album, although Jeff Schroedl's brother Scott played drums on their YouTube videos, produced alongside the album's promotional release. [6] By now the band was well known as the Altered Five Blues Band and the band's members wrote every track on Cryin' Mercy. [7]

The group then signed to Blind Pig Records, who had been recently acquired by the Orchard, a subsidiary of Sony Music. [6] The Altered Five Blues Band next album, Charmed & Dangerous, was issued via Blind Pig in 2017, and the album track "Cookin' in My Kitchen" won 'Song of the Year' in 2018 at the Independent Music Awards. [4] Guitar World called the album's title track a "menacing, swampy blues". [3] Altered Five Blues Band were nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Best Emerging Artist Album' category in 2018. [4]

Their next album, Ten Thousand Watts, was released on September 6, 2019, on Blind Pig Records and was again produced by Tom Hambridge, being recorded at Ocean Way in Nashville, Tennessee, in four days. [4] Ten Thousand Watts reached number 10 on the Billboard Top Blues Albums Chart. [3] A track from that album, "Great Minds Drink Alike", won first place in the blues category of the International Songwriting Competition. [3] [8] Over the years, the band has performed at festivals and venues including the Grolsch Blues Festival, W.C. Handy Blues Festival, Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, King Biscuit Blues Festival, Baltic Blues Fest, Milwaukee Summerfest, Magic City Blues Fest, Fargo Blues Fest, and at B.B. King's Blues Club, plus Buddy Guy's Legends. [4]

The band's members are not all full-time musicians. For example, vocalist Jeff Taylor's day job is as a principal of a school in Wisconsin. Guitarist Jeff Schroedl is concurrently an executive vice president of the Hal Leonard Corporation. He has also served as a board member of the Music Publishers Association of the United States since 2011 and, in 2010, was recognized as one of the Milwaukee Business Journal's '40 under 40.' [6]

Altered Five Blues Band celebrated their 20th anniversary as a band and released their sixth album, Holler if You Hear Me on September 3, 2021, via Blind Pig. The album was featured in Guitar World. It was again produced by Hambridge and recorded within five days at Ocean Way Nashville. Holler if You Hear Me also featured a guest appearances by the harmonica player Jason Ricci on five tracks. [9] It debuted at number 3 on the Billboard Blues Chart and garnered three Blues Music Award nominations, including 'Album of the Year' and 'Song of the Year'. [3] All of the 13 original songs were penned by Schroedl. [8] When commenting on equipment used on the album, Schroedl opined, "I used two Strats on the entire record – my 1966 and a 1962 that was at the studio. The '62 had a lot of mojo, so I played that quite a bit, using different pickup combinations. I mostly plugged directly into the amps and cranked them up to about eight – including my 1968 Super Reverb, tweed Bassman and 1964 Vibroverb." [10] Schroedl in another interview stated, "Several years ago I simply stopped trying to sound like someone else and started to build my own style around […] the quirky things that set me apart, and started to emphasize those things." [11]

Awards

The 44th Blues Music Awards nominees in 2023 for 'Song of the Year', included Altered Five Blues Band's "Great Minds Drink Alike" (written by Jeff Schroedl). [12]

Band members

Formerly

Discography

Albums

YearTitleLabel US Billboard Top Blues Albums Chart
2008BluesifiedCold Wind Records–
2012Gotta Earn ItConclave Records–
2014Cryin' MercyOmniVibe Records–
2017Charmed & Dangerous Blind Pig Records –
2019Ten Thousand WattsBlind Pig Records10
2021Holler If You Hear MeBlind Pig Records3

[1] [13]

Singles

YearTitleLabel
2019"Great Minds Drink Alike"Blind Pig Records

[14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Harper</span> American musician

Benjamin Chase Harper is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances, and activism. He has released twelve studio albums, mostly through Virgin Records, and has toured internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spin Doctors</span> American alternative rock band

Spin Doctors are an American alternative rock band from New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong", which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 7 and No. 17, respectively.

<i>Whats Going On</i> (Marvin Gaye album) 1971 album by Marvin Gaye

What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. It was released on May 21, 1971, by the Motown Records subsidiary label Tamla. Recorded between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, and United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California, it was Gaye's first album to credit him as a producer and to credit Motown's in-house studio band, the session musicians known as the Funk Brothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dion DiMucci</span> American singer

Dion Francis DiMucci, better known as Dion, is an American singer and songwriter. His music incorporates elements of doo-wop, pop, rock, R&B, folk and blues. Initially the lead singer of the vocal group Dion and the Belmonts, Dion embarked on a solo career, and was one of the most prominent rock and roll performers of the pre-British Invasion era. He had 39 Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a solo performer, or with the Belmonts and the Del-Satins. He is best remembered for his signature hit songs "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer", "Ruby Baby" and "Lovers Who Wander", among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keb' Mo'</span> American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter

Kevin Roosevelt Moore, known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician and five-time Grammy Award winner. He is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link to the seminal Delta blues that travelled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America." His post-modern blues style is influenced by many eras and genres, including folk, rock, jazz, pop and country. The moniker "Keb Mo" was coined by his original drummer, Quentin Dennard, and picked up by his record label as a "street talk" abbreviation of his given name.

<i>Truth</i> (Jeff Beck album) 1968 studio album by Jeff Beck

Truth is the debut studio album by English guitarist Jeff Beck, released on 29 July 1968 in the United States on Epic Records and on 4 October 1968 in the United Kingdom on Columbia Records. It introduced the talents of his backing band the Jeff Beck Group, specifically Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, to a larger audience, and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Tedeschi</span> American blues musician

Susan Tedeschi is an American singer and guitarist. A multiple Grammy Award nominee, she is a member of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, a conglomeration of her band, her husband Derek Trucks’ band, and other musicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anson Funderburgh</span> American blues guitarist

Anson Funderburgh is an American blues guitar player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978. Their style incorporates both Chicago blues and Texas blues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Musselwhite</span> American blues musician

Charles Douglas Musselwhite is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader, one of the white bluesmen who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago Blues movement of the 1960s. He has often been identified as a "white bluesman".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drivin N Cryin</span> American rock band

Drivin' n' Cryin' is an American Southern rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Want You to Want Me</span> 1977 single by Cheap Trick

"I Want You to Want Me" is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick. It is originally from their second album In Color, released in September 1977. It was the first single released from that album, but it did not chart in the United States in its original studio version, which was influenced by music hall styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MercyMe</span> American band

MercyMe is an American contemporary Christian music band founded in Edmond, Oklahoma. The band consists of lead vocalist Bart Millard, percussionist Robby Shaffer, bassist Nathan Cochran and guitarists Michael Scheuchzer and Barry Graul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mose Allison</span> American pianist, singer, and songwriter

Mose John Allison Jr. was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to New York in 1956, he worked primarily in jazz settings, playing with jazz musicians like Stan Getz, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims, along with producing numerous recordings.

"Cocaine Blues" is a Western swing song written by Troy Junius Arnall, a reworking of the traditional song "Little Sadie." Roy Hogsed recorded a well known version of the song in 1944.

Peggy Scott-Adams was an American soul, blues and R&B singer. Earlier in her career, she was billed as Peggy Scott, and was known as 'The Little Lady with the Big Voice'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Lost Trailers</span>

The Lost Trailers are an American country music band. Established in 2000, the band originally comprised Ryder Lee, Manny Medina (guitar), Andrew Nielson, Stokes Nielson, and Jeff Potter (drums). Originally known as Stokes Nielson and the Lost Trailers, the band made its debut at a Fourth of July picnic held by country singer Willie Nelson. That year, the Lost Trailers self-released its debut album Story of the New Age Cowboy, followed in 2002 by Trailer Trash, followed by 2004's Welcome to the Woods on Universal/Republic. After switching to BNA Records in 2006, the band issued a self-titled effort, which produced the singles "Call Me Crazy" and "Why Me", both of which entered the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. A fifth album, Holler Back, was released in August 2008, producing a top ten country hit in its title track and a top 20 in "How 'Bout You Don't".

<i>The Oracle</i> (Godsmack album) 2010 studio album by Godsmack

The Oracle is the fifth studio album by American rock band Godsmack, released in the United States on May 4, 2010. It is the first Godsmack album to be produced by Dave Fortman. The Oracle marks the first Godsmack studio album to be released since 2006's IV. It received generally favorable critical reviews and became the band's third consecutive album to reach number one on the Billboard 200.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Hambridge</span> American drummer

Thomas Jay Hambridge is an American rock, country, and blues, producer, songwriter, musician and vocalist. Hambridge has received two Grammy Awards, an ASCAP award, seven Grammy nominations, seven Boston Music Awards, and has been inducted into the Buffalo Hall of Fame. In December 2015, Hambridge was given the key to his hometown of Buffalo, New York with Mayor Byron Brown declaring December 28 "Tom Hambridge Day." Hambridge's songs have been recorded by several notable artists and have been featured in movie productions, commercials and television programs. He has been referred to as "The White Willie Dixon" by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Buddy Guy and Susan Tedeschi's "Secret Weapon".

Mystery Road is the third studio album by the Hard Rock/Southern Rock band Drivin' N' Cryin', released on March 28, 1989, by Island Records. The Washington Post said the album "remains a classic of the genre".

<i>The Blues Dont Lie</i> 2022 studio album by Buddy Guy

The Blues Don't Lie is a studio album by blues guitarist and singer Buddy Guy. It was released as a CD and as a two-disc LP on September 30, 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Altered Five Blues Band Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". AllMusic . Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Altered Five". Discogs.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Altered Five Blues Band | Bio". Alteredfive.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ehrenclou, Martine (August 27, 2019). "Review: Altered Five Blues Band 'Ten Thousand Watts'". Rockandbluesmusic.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Altered Five - Bluesified". Discogs.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wilcock, Don (July 27, 2018). "Featured Interview – Altered Five Blues Band". Bluesblastmagazine.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Altered Five Blues Band - Cryin' Mercy Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic . Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 "The Altered Five Blues Band CD: Holler If You Hear Me (CD)". Bear-family.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  9. ↑ Warden, Jamie (February 23, 2022). "Altered Five Blues Band: Holler if You Hear Me Review". Bluesrockreview.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  10. ↑ Sharma, Amit (January 25, 2022). "Altered Five Blues Band's Jeff Schroedl: "With slow blues, take your time. Don't empty your magazine too soon"". Guitarworld.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Altered Five Blues Band - Holler If You Hear Me". Guitarsexchange.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  12. ↑ Ehrenclou, Martine (10 January 2023). "2023 Blues Music Award Nominees Announced". Rockandbluesmuse.com. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  13. ↑ "Altered Five Blues Band". Billboard.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Great Minds Drink Alike (With Horns) - Single by Altered Five Blues Band". April 22, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2022– via Apple Music.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.