The Tangiers Blues Band formed in 1998 after guitarist Chris Scianni (Dangerman, Echobrain with Jason Newsted) and drummer Dave Borla (Dangerman, Echobrain) met photographer/harmonica player Danny Clinch and discovered their mutual love for blues music. The first Tangiers Blues Band jam session took place on Thanksgiving night that year with other musicians and friends, including Huey Morgan from the Fun Lovin’ Criminals, King from Cooley High, Mick Jones from Foreigner and tennis player/guitarist John McEnroe. The original line-up was formed after that with Chris (guitar), Dave Borla (drums), Danny (harmonica), Huey (lap steel), King (vox and guitar) adding their long time friends Dave Sellar (bass) from Darlahood and Peter Levin (keys).
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In the early days, The Tangiers Blues Band had a weekly slot at Lot 61 in NYC where they started experimenting with their set list. They soon realized that by “down-dating” current hits and reworking non-traditional blues songs, they could appeal to an audience that was not familiar with the blues, while throwing in “up-dated” versions of blues standards and originals to appeal to blues enthusiasts. On any given night, the TBB can play a set including music by Lady Gaga, Elvis Costello, the Clash, Bob Dylan, Prince, Talking Heads that morph into blues classics that one could see being performed by Junior Wells, Muddy Waters and Albert King.
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The band has performed their eclectic set of blues from clubs as Brooklyn Bowl, The Stone Pony, The Iridium, Bowery Ballroom, Joe’s Pub, The McKittrick Hotel to the stages at Bonnaroo, opening for Dave Matthews Band, Gregg Allman, Willie Nelson, Gary Clark Jr, Southside Johnny and playing at Preservation Hall during Jazz Fest in New Orleans & Voodoo Fest.
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The line-up on the TBB studio recordings consists of Chris, Danny, Pete, King and Dave with Jon Graboff (Ryan Adams and The Cardinals) on lap and pedal steel guitars and Mo Roberts (Shemeka Copeland) on drums. The recording was done in one day at Moon Palace Studios, mixed and produced by Tim Latham (Lou Reed, Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu, Britney Spears).