After playing “Battle of the Harmonicas” in San Francisco a few times, I created Texas’ own Harmonica Rumble and expanded the idea by making the harp players use the same back-up band.  I booked the festival in Dallas at the Prohibition room for 4 years and then moved it to Antone’s in Austin for another 6 years.  The festival did 3 tours in Europe and 1 in Russia.  During this time, two Texas Harmonica Rumble albums were recorded. This new recording is a tribute to the great memories and a reunion of some of the best Harmonica players in the world.
Eddie Stout

Orange Jefferson
“The harp will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no harp.”

Orange uses Lee Osker and Marine Band harps and plays straight harp into the mic using the PA and monitors; he likes to cup the harp and bend the reeds.  He plays country blues and likes Light’n Hopkins.  He heard Lee Osker play with War and it showed him that you could play more than just 3 chord blues.
Orange’s grandfather gave him his first harp, a Marine Band, when he was six years old.  The harmonica has been a part of every aspect of his life.  When he was young he played harmonica while his grandmother sang gospel and in 1972 he played while in the army.  Later in life, he was sent to prison three separate times, each time the warden would make sure Orange had his harps.
His playing was influenced by his life, but his advice to novices: “You don’t have to live the blues to play it; listen to the old guys.”
 Orange would like to thank: Terry Owens, Marry Ann, Slim Richey, and Clifford Antone

Lazy Lester
“Blow hard, play hard, die young, and don’t quit your day job.”
There are only a few musicians’ names you can call off on stage that everyone in the band will know how to play and the sound you are going for; Lazy Lester is one of them.
Lester plays Hohner Marine Band harps, mostly straight through the PA but can also play with a bullet mic, whichever method works best for the song.  One of his favorite sounds is playing through a Turner mic with a Gibson amp; he also remembers liking the sound of a Telefunken mic and the old brown RCA mic for playing harp in the studio.
There are no tricks to what Lester plays, he just knows how, what, when, and how much to play.
He has always loved music and his favorite harp player was Little Walter.  While growing up, Lester always listened to the Radio, especially to Roy Rogers, the Grand Ole Opry, and WTPS radio out of New Orleans.  His mother could play bluegrass, country, blues, and all kinds of music on harp.  Lester’s brother would always buy harps and leave them lying around; he couldn’t play but Lester would pick them up and the skill came naturally to him.
Lester would like to thank: Jay Miller, Jimmie Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson, Wayne Rainy, Lonny Glosman, and all the great country singers.

Bobby Rush
“Grabbing everybody’s licks is like the blueprint for building a house, but building the house is your own sound.”
Bobby likes the Hohner chromatic harmonica and plays through the PA; he loves to play in the lower keys on the harp.  He plays the big harp upside down because when he was a kid he had the chickenpox and had pox on one side of his mouth so to work the button he had to turn the harp over.  His dad gave him his first harp around 1949 and Sun Scott gave him his first guitar.  He lived just two blocks from Little Walter and played harp with him all the time when he was growing up.  In 1958, he moved to Chicago and stopped playing harp because everyone had a harp player (all the harp players were side guys and people looked down on them).  In 1968, he picked the harp back up and started with 2 or 3 songs a night but now he is playing about 80% of his show with his harp.  He likes Little Walter, both Sonny Boys, and Junior Parker.

Sammy Meyers
“Do what I did, listen to a lot of harmonica or sax players and incorporate their styles with your own.”

Sammy plays Master Class Hohner harps with a bullet mic and two old Fender Bassman amps; he can play professionally in 3 or 4 keys with just one harp.  He started his musical career playing trumpet in the Piney Wood school band in Mississippi.  While in school, he started buying 25-cent plastic harps so he could cross over his licks from the trumpet to the harp.  Sammy learned the blues from records his schoolmate had, records like Louie Jordan, T-bone Walker and just a lot of big band sound.  His favorite harp players are Walter Horton and Sonny Boy Williamson.
Sammy would like to thank: Robert Lockwood, Jr.

Mel Davis
“Listen to the blues and learn the 1,4,5.”

Mel uses a Lee Osker 12 hole harp and plays straight harp through the PA mostly single notes, not so much chording and stays in the 3 chord blues.  He plays some of the same licks he learned from playing saxophone.
Everybody in his family played music.  His cousin, Willie Son Garrett, gave him his first harp at the age of eight.  Willie also owned the “Son to Sweet Club” in Conroe, TX where Mel saw T-Bone Walker and was motivated to play the blues.  His influences include T-Bone Walker, T.D. Bell, Erbie Bowser, and Houston radio (KCOH and KYOK).  Mel can be seen playing with his band, the Blues Specialists.

Joe Jonas
“Get a harp and keep it with you at all times and just make a sound.”

Joe uses Marine Band Hohner harps and plays straight into the PA and occasionally uses a bullet mic through an amp; he likes to cup, bend, and flicker.  Clifton Morgan gave him his first harp in ’48 or ’49.  At that time, Joe had one of the only harps in Beaumont, TX, Sonny Boy was playing at the Ravens Club and borrowed Joe’s harp but he never gave it back.  “Music was always in me, and the harp was a convenient way to express myself at any time, anywhere.  I always have a harp with me.”  One of Joe’s favorite harp players is Little Walter.

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