Carolyn Wonderland (born Carolyn Bradford, November 9, 1972) is an American blues singer-songwriter and musician. She is married to comedian and writer A. Whitney Brown.
Carolyn Wonderland was born Carolyn Bradford[1] in 1972 in Houston, Texas, United States. Wonderland dropped out of Houston's Langham Creek High School to pursue her music ambitions.[2]
Career
During the early 1990s, she toured with her own group, Carolyn Wonderland and the Imperial Monkeys. In 1999, Wonderland moved to Austin, Texas; in 2001, she lost her apartment lease after her landlord became ill, and decided to live out of her van since she was spending more than 300 days a year on the road performing.[2]
Wonderland's instrumental abilities include guitar, slide guitar, mandolin, trumpet, and piano. Although primarily a blues artist, Wonderland likes to incorporate elements of country, swing, zydeco, surf, gospel, soul, and cumbia into her musical mix. She usually performs with Cole El-Saleh on keyboards and Kevin Lance on drums.
In February 2008, Wonderland released the CD, Miss Understood, on the Bismeaux Productions label,[3] and the title song has been on the Top 50 of the 'Roots Music Report' chart since the album's release.[4] Fans of Wonderland's music include Bob Dylan,[5] and Ray Benson, founder of Asleep at the Wheel. Benson produced Miss Understood, and has been one of her songwriting collaborators. Wonderland credits several blues and Texas musicians as influences on her music. One notable influence is Austin singer-songwriter Terri Hendrix, as Wonderland covered two Hendrix songs, ("I Found the Lions" and "Throw My Love"), on Miss Understood.
Carolyn Wonderland jamming at Antone's in Austin (2008)
Wonderland has been involved in a number of recordings, including several that were self-produced on independent labels. She was the lead singer fronting the band Imperial Monkeys. Wonderland released Bloodless Revolution in 2008, and is the primary singer on the Jerry Lightfoot's Band of Wonder Texistentialism CD with Lightfoot and Vince Welnick (Grateful Dead, Tubes.)[6]
Wonderland was a founding member of the Loose Affiliation of Saints and Sinners (with Papa Mali, Eldridge Goins, Guy Forsyth, and others), with several of her songs being featured on their Sessions from the Hotel San Jose Rm. 50 CD.[6] She was also the lead guitarist in the all-girl, southern rock band Sis DeVille (other members include Shelley King, Sarah Brown, Lisa Pankratz, and Floramay Holliday), and a founding member of the Austin Volunteer Orchestra.[6]
Wonderland appeared on Austin City Limits in 2008,[7] and has had her music used on NBC's Homicide and Fox's Time of Your Life. She was a headlining artist at the annual Rochester International Jazz Festival summer 2009 at the Eastman Theatre and New York. In 2003, Wonderland opened the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, after performing there for the previous ten years, singing the National Anthem with 'The Imperial Monkeys'.[8]
Wonderland also performs with the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers, raising money for local Austin charities, food banks, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and on behalf of the legalization of marijuana.[6]
On April 6, 2018, Wonderland joined John Mayall's band as his first female lead guitarist in his 60+ year career.[9]
Best Rock/Pop Album of the Year ("Bursting With Flavor") and Local Musician of the Year and Best Female Vocalist – 1997 Houston Press Music Awards
Local Musician of the Year & song of the Year ("Blue Lights") – 1998 Houston Press Music Awards
Best Blues Songwriter of the Year – 1999 Houston Press Music Awards
Gold Award – Flagstaff International Film Festival – Music Video Awards – Alan Ames & Assoc. "Party on Houston" featured artist 'Carolyn Wonderland'[when?]
Best Female Vocalist – 2000 Houston Press Music Awards
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "the Voice", she is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. In 2023, Rolling Stone named her the second-greatest singer of all time. Houston influenced many singers in popular music, and was known for her powerful, soulful vocals, vocal improvisation skills, and use of gospel singing techniques in pop music. She had 11 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the only artist to have seven consecutive number-one singles on the chart. Her accolades include eight Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, two Emmy Awards, and 28 Guinness World Records. Houston's inductions include the Grammy Hall of Fame (twice), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are an English blues rock band led by multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter John Mayall. The band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues musicians. Many of the best known bands to come out of Britain in the 1960s and 1970s had members that came through the Bluesbreakers at one time, forming the foundation of British blues music that is still played heavily on classic rock radio. Among those with a tenure in the Bluesbreakers are Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie, Mick Taylor, Aynsley Dunbar, Jon Hiseman, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Tony Reeves, and numerous others.
John Mayall is an English blues and rock singer and musician whose career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians.
Marcia Ball is an American blues singer and pianist raised in Vinton, Louisiana.
Deborah Cox is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before becoming a professional backing vocalist for Celine Dion. In 1994, Cox relocated to the United States and was signed to Arista Records by Clive Davis, releasing her self-titled debut album the following year. Her second studio album, One Wish (1998), was certified platinum in the United States. It was marked by the commercial success of the pop crossover single "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here", which would become her most successful entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number two and remaining there for eight consecutive weeks. Cox signed with J Records for her third studio album The Morning After (2002), which saw moderate commercial success.
Vincent Leo Welnick was an American keyboardist-singer-songwriter best known for playing with the band The Tubes during the 1970s and 1980s and with the Grateful Dead in the 1990s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead.
Texas Tornados is a Tejano supergroup, composed of some of country music's biggest artists who modernized the Tex-Mex style including Flaco Jiménez, Augie Meyers, Doug Sahm, and Freddy Fender. Its music is a fusion of conjunto with rock, country, and various Mexican styles.
Debbie Davies is an American blues guitarist.
Still Alive and Well is an album by blues rock guitarist and singer Johnny Winter. It was his fifth studio album, and his first since Johnny Winter And almost three years earlier. It was released by Columbia Records in 1973.
Ruthie Cecelia Foster is an American singer-songwriter of blues and folk music. She mixes a wide palette of American song forms, from gospel and blues to jazz, folk and soul. She has often been compared to Bonnie Raitt and Aretha Franklin.
Patrice Pike is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.
Guy Schwartz is an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, videographer, music journalist, media activist, and 2016 presidential candidate, mostly known for his collaborative involvement with other Texas musicians, a couple of regional minor-hit records in the 1970s and 1980s, his three local Houston, Texas cable access TV series featuring local and regional original music, and live performances featuring set pieces plus spontaneous music and lyrics.
Lillia Lavell "Lavelle" White is an American Texas blues and soul blues singer and songwriter. After performing most of her adult lifetime, White released three albums, the first of which was issued in 1994, when she was aged 65.
Diunna Greenleaf is an American blues singer and songwriter.
Nobody Told Me is a studio album by British blues musician John Mayall. It was released on 22 February 2019 through Forty Below Records.
Annika Shattrelle Chambers is an American soul blues singer and songwriter. Chambers has released three albums, and she won a Blues Music Award in 2019 in the 'Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year' category.
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