BlindDog Smokin'

Based in Southern California, Blinddog Smokin' are a thoroughly modern 21st century blues band -- a good-time party band as indebted to the sleazy, slippery rhythms of funk as they are to slow-burning soul and juke joint blues. Blinddog Smokin' first formed in 1994 but they didn't find their way into the national spotlight until 2014, when they backed <a href="spotify:artist:7LdFlcnzWpySPKngmFCnLi">Bobby Rush</a> on the Grammy-nominated Decisions, a project that helped push their 2015 album, High Steppin', to a greater audience.

Blinddog Smokin' had been gigging regularly for a full two decades prior to that mid-2010s breakthrough. Singer/harpist Carl Gustafson formed the first incarnation of Blinddog Smokin' with drummer/vocalist Chicago Chuck Gullens back in 1994, when they were both in Laramie, Wyoming. Over the years, the group has been more of a collective than a band, with Gustafson being the mainstay and other players rotating in and out. Junior Bacon -- born Roland Pritzker -- is another more recent mainstay, joining the band in 2003, and keyboardist Mo Beeks became a regular in 2009; guitarist Chalo Ortiz came aboard in 2013, by which time the band also had Chris White and Linda Gustafson as backing vocalists.

During this time, recordings came at a steady pace, all showing up on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Crying+Tone+Records%22">Crying Tone Records</a>, and Carl Gustafson also blogged about his experiences leading the band, writing that helped form the basis of his 2010 memoir, Ain't Just Blues It's Showtime: Hard Times, Heartache and Glory Along Blues Highway. This book, combined with the ever-increasing crowds Blinddog Smokin' attracted, helped the band switch to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Silver+Talon+Records%22">Silver Talon Records</a> in 2011, a move that helped increase their profile. Up from the Tracks was their first album for the label, showing up in 2011, and then in 2014 they supported <a href="spotify:artist:7LdFlcnzWpySPKngmFCnLi">Bobby Rush</a> on Decisions. The record turned into a hit, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Blues Album, and Blinddog Smokin' capitalized on the success with their 2015 full-length, High Steppin'. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi