The West Michigan blues band, which plays the Kalamazoo Blues Fest, debuted new songs on the radio show, which also boasted new tracks by In the Valley Below, Luna Puer and more. (Podcast, video)
SCROLL DOWN FOR PODCAST, VIDEO
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
West Michigan’s Big Boss Band has gone through a fair number of changes and lineup shifts since forming in 2008 – including one just this month involving its lead guitarist – but one thing’s remained the same: a commitment to its bluesy foundation.
“Even our rock-type songs are heavily rooted in blues, but they aren’t standards,” says bassist, band founder and chief songwriter Bill LaValley.
“They aren’t standard blues progressions, but very bluesy. I’ve been playing blues – and (lead singer/harmonica player) Joe Ferguson also – for 30, 40 years. It just colors everything you do.”
The trio version of the band brought those blues hues to the Local Spins on WYCE radio show this week, performing acoustic renditions of original tunes from Big Boss Band’s brand new studio album, “Love Wins.” Watch a video of their in-studio performance of “Play My Song” here, with the full radio show podcast below.
VIDEO: Big Boss Band, “Play My Song” (Local Spins on WYCE)
The regular band lineup featuring LaValley, Ferguson, drummer Eric Busch and guitarist Max Brown is getting a bit of a shakeup this month because Brown recently was invited to join the fast-rising, in-demand Michigan act The War & Treaty on a national tour.
So, guitarist Alfredo Balcacer, a native of the Dominican Republic and a student in Western Michigan University’s jazz program, is filling in for shows, along with West Michigan guitarists Andrew Ogrodzinski and Jim Beebe.
Big Boss Band plays the Kalamazoo Blues Festival at Arcadia Creek Festival Place in downtown Kalamazoo at 2:30 p.m. Saturday (July 14). Get more information about the star-studded festival and a full weekend schedule at Local Spins here.
The band follows that with a return to Holland’s Itty Bitty Bar at 9:30 p.m. Saturday (July 14) and plays Zeigler Motor Sports Bike Night in Kalamazoo on July 27, part of a busy summer for the group which just wrapped up 10 gigs in 11 days..
Big Boss Band spent two years on the new album, released earlier this month, and LaValley says he continues to write new material for another project.
“We’re going to keep going forward as long as we can,” he said. Get more information about Big Boss Band online at reverbnation.com/mibigboss.
The July 13 edition of Local Spins on WYCE – which spotlights local and regional music at 11 a.m. every Friday on 88.1 FM – also featured the on-air debut of new tracks by In the Valley Below, Luna Puer and Slumlord Radio as well as music from Nashon Holloway (this week’s musicians’ pick, courtesy of Big Boss Band), Dale Wicks, Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish, EPCYA, Brad Fritcher’s MOODS and May Erlewine. Listen to the full podcast here.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (7/13/18)
Copyright 2018, Spins on Music LLC