Album:
Stateside (With Martin & Kennedy)
Size: 128,4 MB
Time: 55:01
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1994
Styles: Electric Blues, Harmonica Blues
Art: Full
01. Early In The Morning (4:43)
02. It Takes Time (4:55)
03. Have You Heard About The Blues (4:24)
04. Stateside (6:02)
05. Move (6:04)
06. Remember (5:12)
07. Harp Dance (3:31)
08. Living In The Shadow (2:30)
09. You Know The Rules (4:03)
10. Home Sweet Home: Reflection I (4:27)
11. Home Sweet Home: Reprise (3:31)
12. London Blues (5:34)
Johnny Mars (born December 7, 1942) is an American electric blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter. Over a long career, Mars has worked with Magic Sam, Earl Hooker, B.B. King, Jesse Fuller, Spencer Davis, Ian Gillan, Do-Re-Mi, Bananarama and Michael Roach. Mars was born in Laurens, South Carolina, United States to sharecropping parents. His family regularly moved house when Mars was a youngster, but at the age of nine, he was presented with his first harmonica. When he was aged fourteen, and on the death of his mother, Mars and his younger siblings moved to New Paltz, New York, and having left high school, Mars began playing in various clubs in New York. He signed a recording contract with Mercury Records whilst a member of a band named Burning Bush, and they recorded several sides with the label. By the mid 1960s, Mars had moved to California and formed the Johnny Mars Band, who found work but no recognition beyond their North California base. However, they toured with Magic Sam, and played on the same bill as Earl Hooker, B.B. King and Jesse Fuller.After advice from Rick Estrin (Little Charlie & the Nightcats), Mars toured the United Kingdom in 1972, and subsequently recorded two albums there before fully relocating to London in 1978. Mars worked with the record producer, Ray Fenwick, plus Spencer Davis and Ian Gillan. His 1984 album, Life on Mars, received critical acclaim. In 1988, Mars was a guest musician on the Do-Re-Mi album, The Happiest Place in Town. Mars later worked with Bananarama on "Preacher Man" (1990) and their 1991 cover of "Long Train Running", appearing in the group's music video for the former track. Mars also taught for 15 years in primary schools in England, and worked with teenagers in music projects. Mars continued touring across the UK and Europe where he had a strong fan base. In 1992, Mars played at the San Francisco Blues Festival. In 1999, Mars released Stateside, and On My Mind followed in 2003. In 2003 and 2004, Mars played with the The Barrelhouse Blues Orchestra. More recently, Mars teamed up with the blues guitarist, Michael Roach, and appeared at the Bath Music Festival (2008, UK), Pocono Blues Festival (US) and the Kastav Blues Festival (Croatia). In January 2010, the pair toured the Middle East.
...Johnny Mars has been called a Jimi Hendrix of the mouth organ....Mars remains doggedly untraditional....Fans of high-octane harpists...should enjoy Johnny Mars' long-overdue journey STATESIDE... ~Living Blues
Personnel: Johnny Mars (vocals, harmonica); Dan Kennedy (vocals, baritone guitar, programming); Stephanie Kennedy (vocals); Bill Martin (Keyboards): Robert Berry (organ); David Lauser (snare drum).
Stateside (With Martin & Kennedy)
Album:
King Of The Blues Harp
Size: 120,9 MB
Time: 51:23
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1994
Styles: Electric Blues, Harmonica Blues
Art: Full
01. I'll Go Crazy (2:31)
02. Imagination (3:20)
03. Mighty Mars (2:22)
04. Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash (3:01)
05. Watch Yourself (2:46)
06. If I Had A Woman (8:44)
07. High Temperature (2:47)
08. You Don't Have To Go (2:40)
09. Mellow Down (2:15)
10. Desert Island (8:32)
11. Horses & Places (3:20)
12. Rocket 88 (2:25)
Songwriter, harmonica player, and singer Johnny Mars was raised in a sharecropping family. He was given his first harmonica at age nine. His family lived in various places around the South, including North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. When Mars' mother died in 1958, the older family members settled in Florida, while Johnny and his younger brother went to live in New Paltz, N.Y. After he graduated from high school, he played club shows around New York and recorded with his band Burning Bush for Mercury Records.
In the mid-'60s, Mars moved to San Francisco, where he met Dan Kennedy and formed the Johnny Mars Band, playing clubs and festivals in northern California, as well as shows for rock promoter/impresario/producer Bill Graham. However, Mars could not seem to expand his audience much in San Francisco. After hearing about the greener pastures across the pond from his friend Rick Estrin of Little Charlie & the Nightcats, he toured England in 1972. There, he recorded a couple of albums, eventually moving to West London in 1978. Working with producer Ray Fenwick, who also worked with Spencer Davis and Ian Gillan, Mars met with success on the much praised album, Life On Mars.
In 1991, Mars became a featured soloist with the British new wave pop group Bananarama. The group used him on their singles "Preacher Man," "Megalomaniac," and "Long Train Running," and he appeared in the group's video of "Preacher Man." Throughout the '90s, Mars retained his strong European fan base, and he enjoys particularly strong followings in Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia. Critics there have called him "the Jimi Hendrix of the harmonica." Over the years, Mars has shared bills with Hendrix (before he was well-known) and Magic Sam. In 1992, after a long absence from the Bay Area blues scene, owing to his new foothold in England and the rest of Europe, Mars was invited to play at the San Francisco Blues Festival. Mars' 1994 U.S. release for MM&K Recordings, Stateside with Johnny Mars, features brilliant, original, topical compositions and superb, unique harmonica playing, unfettered by the standard Chicago blues conventions. ~Bio By Richard Skelly
King Of The Blues Harp
