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On
February 7, 2009 Little Joe realized a goal, four years in the
making, by taking 1st Place at the 25th Annual Blues Foundation's
International Blues Challenge [IBC]
held in Memphis. With three stellar sets in his fourth consecutive
trip to the IBC, Little Joe walked away with the crown, all
by himself.
Since winning the IBC, Little Joe has traveled from coast to coast and to Europe playing festivals and club dates. These dates have included the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon, the Illinois Blues Fest, the Heritage Blues Festival in Wheeling, West Virginia, the Rootsways Blues Festival in Parma, Italy and the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise into the Pacific. Another 2009 highlight was the release of his fourth album, "Believe I'll Make a Change", on the Roots Blues Reborn record label. The new CD is being hearlded as Little Joe's finest work to date. highlight
Little Joe McLerran, "Perhaps
the finest Piedmont Blues player on the face of God's green
earth", writes Billy Austin, editor of "Blues News".
No small wonder. Little Joe has spent 16 of his 24 years on
God's green earth working on his Piedmont chops. For his first
public performance Joe sang a Leadbelly song and played another
by Rev. Gary Davis as his 4th grade classmates provided theatrical
support.
Little Joe was born in Boulder,
Colorado in July 1983. By the time he was 9 years old Joe and
his younger brother Jesse hadstarted
their first band, "Buddy Hollywood". With Jesse on
drums they would set up on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder
playing Beatles, Bob Marley and all those great old blues songs
Joe was learning. The mall patrons were amazed to see these
young kids playing songs by Big Bill Broonzy, Skip James and
Mississippi John Hurt followed by Ob La Dee Ob La Da or Redemption
Song. They could make a couple hundred bucks in a couple of
hours. They always filled the hat whenever they made an appearance
on the mall, much to the dismay of the homeless guys hanging
out playing Eagles songs.
When Joe turned 15 the McLerran
family moved to Tulsa, Jesse took up the washboard and they
started playing the old blues songs again. Jesse patterned his
washboard after that of an old family friend, Washboard Chaz
Leary from New Orleans. Chaz was Jesse's godfather and Jesse
had been watching Chaz play all his life.
Joey
changed his name to "Son Piedmont", taken from the
term Piedmont Blues, a style popular in the southeast USA in
the 20s and 30s, and Jesse became "Washboard Jesse".
Without a street mall in Tulsa, gigs were hard to come by and
they're tender young ages, 16 and 17, the bars were out of the
question. They finally landed a steady Sunday afternoon gig
at the Rivers Edge Bistro in Tulsa and began to catch the attention
of many of Tulsa's finest musicians. This led to a few restaurant
gigs and private parties. That year Jimmy Junior Markham invited
them to play the Oklahoma Blues Festival and gave them a lot
of encouragement.
Enlisting their father on
bass they began working on a CD project. For several months
they worked on the CD inviting their

- Little Joe's
new CD -
Released OCT 2009
Believe
I'll Make a Change

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friends, Dexter Payne, a
multi-instrumentalist from Boulder, and Big Mike T. Travelletti,
a harp player from Sapulpa, to join them. During the final stages
of mixing the CD Jesse was killed in an accident. Joey was devastated
by Jesse's death and nearly a year passed before Joey could
listen to those tracks again. Playing music, other than in the
solitude of his home, was the last thing on Joey's mind. In
memorial and as a tribute to Jesse, the "Pearly Gates"
CD was released in 2004 as Son Piedmont and the Blues Krewe
on the Roots Blues Reborn label.
Joey performed as a roving
busker during the 2004 Oklahoma Blues Festival held in Tulsa.
Scheduled to appear the final night on the Blues Stage was one
of Joey's heroes, 93-year-old Homesick James. Homesick's traveling
companion, Johnny Long, a great country blues player himself,
had known Joey since his days in Boulder. When scheduled travel
plans fell apart Joey volunteered to drive Homesick and Johnny
back to Springfield, MO. Joey was in the catbird seat having
Johnny Long riding shotgun and Homesick James in the backseat
cussing up a storm. After spending the day together Homesick
gave Joey the name Little Joe, a hundred dollars and told him,
"Go buy a new pair of shoes". Joey did that and a
new hat too.
Little
Joe booked himself into the Shades of Brown coffee shop on Brookside
in Tulsa and played every Monday night for the better part of
a year. He invited other players to join him and jam those great
old blues songs he had collected. These weren't your standard
12-bar blues songs. Little Joe's set list included classic rags,
delta slide songs on the National Steel, Piedmont tunes and
swing tunes, a vast repertoire of songs from the greats, Blind
Blake, Big Bill, Tampa Red, Georgia Tom Dorsey, Lightnin' Hopkins,
Blind Boy Fuller, Bumble Bee Slim, Leroy Carr, Lonnie Johnson,
Mississippi John Hurt, Muddy, Robert Johnson and of course,
Homesick James. Some spirited music came out of those Monday
night jams. His most faithful sidemen were bassist Robbie Mack,
who showed up every Monday night, Ryan Patterson on snare drum
and trombonist Chris Tucker.
At a jam session in Tulsa
one Sunday afternoon Little Joe attracted the attention of David
McKnight, a record producer fromFayetteville, Arkansas. Guitarist
Lloyd Price had suggested to David that Little Joe, and the
style of music he played, might be just what David was for.
David was contracted by the Hit Records label in Fayetteville
to produce another CD for the label. David produced the "Hard
Way" CD at the Cat House Studio in Fayetteville. Although
Homesick James declined an invitation to appear on the CD, Lloyd
Price and Canadian Harp giant, Ray Bonneville, made notable
contributions. Robbie Mack played bass on the CD and warned
Joey of the perils of working with a record label. Sure as heck
they misspelled Joe's name on the liner notes.
Little Joe started experimenting
with a larger band and the use of a keyboard player. When Hurricane
Katrina leveled New Orleans, Joey's old friend Washboard Chaz
evacuated to Tulsa and played gigs withJoey for about a month.
The Dusk til Dawn and the Stillwater Blues festivals were among
the gigs they played together on that trip.
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| 1st
Place Winner - Little Joe McLerran performing at the finals
at the 25th Anniversary of the Blues Foundation's International
Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN - Feb 2009 |
In January 2006 Little Joe
represented the Oklahoma Blues Society at the International
Blues Challenge held in Memphis. Although he did not win the
competition, he sparked a lot of interest in the blues community
and put on two thrilling performances. Everyone (but the judges)
thought he won it. Said Little Joe? "There's always next
year". And so it was. In 2007 Joe returned to Memphis with
bassist Robbie Mack, this time representing the Blues Society
of Tulsa, with a solo/duo performance at the IBC. No sour grapes
here.
That spring while on tour
in Colorado, Little Joe recorded his third CD, "Live At
Last". With his harp and clarinet playin' buddy Dexter
Payne, an old friend and contributor on Joe's first CD, along
with the Legendary Damprock on the drums and Robbie Mack on
bass. Joe was rockin'. The CD is available, along with all of
Little Joe's CDs, at cdbaby.com or Joe's website, www.littlejoeblues.com.
In 2008 Little Joe took
his band to the IBC after winning the competition in Tulsa.
The band is comprised of Joe's closest musical allies and is
a force to be reckoned with.
Comments from a blues
legend & the media
After a road trip with Homesick
James, Homesick commented on Joey McLerran, "This kid
is providing a service to humanity by carrying on this great
tradition".
A quote from the Denver
Post: "The hottest blues to come down that dirt road
in a long time" (Joey Mclerran, Son Piedmont at the Red
Fish, Boulder, CO)
"The
music is from really deep down in the delta - I dig it."
Tulsa World
Jimmy Markham commenting on Joey's performance at the Oklahoma
Blues Festival BluesTent - 2003 and 2004.
Chosen four times as "Editors
Choice" - Urban Tulsa
"Little Joe is the
real deal! We need more young players of his caliber to carry
on the blues tradition..." - David McIntyre, KGNU Bluesoligist
& Mayor of Blues Town - Oct. 2006
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Little Joe in the news...
2008
International Blues Challenge in Memphis
2007
photos from the International Blues Challenge -
Memphis
2006
International Blues Challenge photos- Memphis, TN
Photos
from the Colorado appearance - March 30, 2007
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