Jamie Eubanks Band

Saturday night's show with Jamie and Ronnie Baker Brooks was one of the most raucous we've had. The place was almost full when Jamie took the stage and by the time Ronnie kicked off, we had lines of people waiting to get in. Jamie turned in his usual scorching show-- bolstered by the fact that he was opening for his idol. Ronnie took
that energy and magnified it into in a sea of boogying bodies. By
the time he took his stroll into the crowd and came behind the bar to
swig his cup of beer, he had the crowd in a frenzy. He returned to
the stage with Jamie in tow, slipped his guitar over Jamie's shoulder and Jamie picked right up without missing a note or a beat. The crowd frenzy was turning into a firestorm. Ronnie, standing behind Jamie, then put his arms around Jamie while they both played the same guitar. By then, it was a 5 alarm conflagration and when the set ending song finished, the crowd let loose with a roar the likes of which I've never heard before in the Club. Amazing. Truly amazing. Ronnie and Jamie are an incendiary combination and Ronnie showed why he is such a favorite among the festival and blues cruise crowds. That was a special show and we can't expect to top that energy level. - Gary Anton

On Friday, April 29, The Jamie Eubanks Band returns to the corner stage. Over the last year or so, Jamie's shared the stage with many of the legends and guitar slingers(Guitar Shorty, James Cotton, Kenny Neal, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Eddie Kirkland, Carl Weathersby, EG Kight, Debbie Davies, and Johnnie Marshall among many others) that have
passed through the hallowed halls-and he's always left quite an
impression with them and the audience. These veterans have continued the tradition of providing the next generation of blues players the same opportunities they got on their way up. Jamie has soaked up these lessons and continues to amaze folks with his play. Jamie's put together his own talented band, including his dad, Randy, whose a pretty fine picker and singer himself, David Collins on bass, Darius "Doc-D" Baker on keyboard and Taurus "T-Love" Loveley on drums. Jamie, who recently turned 14, plays a fiery, soulful and varied mix of blues with a skill that belies his age. Folk's will get to see how accomplished this young man has become. The future of the blues is indeed in good hands.
- Gary Anton of The Bradfordville Blues Club

Saturday's b-day party for Jamie Eubanks was one of those nights that'll go down in BBC lore. As Jamie said, it was the best 15th birthday party anyone could have. It started early with folks arriving around 8 pm. Much cake and frivolity, balloons, decorations and many gifts--Jamie even got a new amp and me thinks Randy and Gail Eubanks were more excited than Jamie! Everyone was bedecked in Jamie Eubanks t-shirts--you wouda thought it was some kind of blues gang gathering. By 9:30, the place was full and folks were lining up outside waiting to get in. Jamie and the band lit into some scorching licks and before long, the dance floor was full of folks lettin' loose. Jamie continues to amaze--his playing and singing reach new levels every time I hear him. If you close your eyes, you would have no idea that a 15 year old was burning up the frets with such feeling and skill. The band is also exceptional--Taurus "T-Love" Lovely on drums and Darious " Doc D" Baker on keys are great additions to the group; David Collins' funky bass lines and solos rattled fillings and Randy Eubanks provided rhythm and vocal back-ups that rounded out the unit. Truly an excellent ensemble. At the start of the second set, Jamie was presented with a photographic portrait, put together by Peggy Adair, that brought an excited smile to his face. It'll adorn the BBC walls with the other great blues guitarists. Many other musicians showed up and turned much of the second set into an energetic jam session that had the walls shakin' and the folks quakin'. Johnnie Marshall and Jamie traded licks while Chris Thomas, Johnnie's drummer, took over the corner riser. Other keyboard, bass players and guitarists traded places concluding in an ovation that raised the roof. The second set lasted 2 hours with Jamie leaving folks shakin' their heads in disbelief with his dazzling and soulful fretwork. This area is blessed with two exceptionally talented young guitarists in Jamie Eubanks and Rick Lollar. Its been a real pleasure watching Jamie and Rick each come into his own. I'm enjoying these two while I can--before they move on to bigger stages. The future of the blues is in great hands.

Gary Anton
8/10/05 - Gary Anton of The Bradfordville Blues Club

The BBC sho' nuff rocked on its foundations last weekend. Lil' Ed
packed the place and kept folks boogyin' with his high energy and
unending smile. He may be short in stature but he's a giant in the
blues. That was more fun than people should be allowed to have. At least I thought that way until Jamie Eubanks brought down the house with his cd release party. His cd, Am I Too Young To Play The
Blues?, is an excellent first outing that displays Jamie's skills as
a songwriter. Unquestionably, he's answered his own question in a
big way--almost as big as the crowd he drew. People were waiting outside most of the night trying to get in. Jamie didn't disappoint-- he just keeps getting better with each show. He had folks partyin' until he couldn't play anymore--literarily--his fingers were raw! You can get Jamie's cd at his website: www.jamieeubanks.com Good
stuff! - Gary Anton

"I don't hire kids because they're kids or because they're cute, I hire them because they're great. This kid is great."
- Barbara Strauss

SARASOTA -- The blues is a family affair for Randy and Gail Eubanks of Thomasville, Ga., whose 16-year-old son Jamie opened the Sarasota Blues Festival with an hour-long set that brought much of Saturday's early crowd to its feet.

"I've got a driver's license and a guitar," said Jamie from the stage. "I'm unstoppable."

He just may be. "I don't hire kids because they're kids or because they're cute," said festival organizer Barbara Strauss. "I hire them because they're great. This kid is great."

"Prodigy" is a word he has heard a lot in his brief career, but Jamie isn't buying it.

"They say I'm pretty good, that's all I know," he said, just before facing the biggest audience -- 400 to 500 at high noon -- he's ever had.

"He's still got a lot to learn," said Randy Eubanks, who plays rhythm guitar with his son's band when he's not installing cable TV systems. "But, yeah, I have to say he's pretty darn good."

"He's awesome," said Gail, a nurse, who moonlights as a T-shirt and CD hawker at her son's gigs. "We're amazed, to tell you the truth. You hear him play and you wonder where it all comes from in somebody his age, all that heartache."

Heartache being the stock-in-trade of the blues, Jamie finds it where he can -- "women trying to run your life," he said, "that sorta thing" -- but mostly it comes from someplace even he can't pinpoint.

"I was born to play the blues," he sings, and who can doubt it. A gawky kid whose baby-smooth skin shows only trace amounts of beard, Jamie Eubanks pulls notes out of his thousand-dollar Fender guitar that surprise even him sometimes, just as it kind of surprised him when, at 12, the urge to play the blues struck.

"It's just a feeling you get," he said, "and once you get it, there's nothing that gets rid of it except playing it out on the guitar."

It took two years before he could do "anything at all," said his father, but by 14 Jamie was able to sit in for a set at the Bradford Blues Club in Tallahassee, where his band now appears as a headline act.

Jamie is booked every weekend from now until the first of next year, says Gail, who handles bookings and travels with the group.

The night before the Sarasota Festival, the band played at the Speakeasy on Siesta Key, a gig that didn't get them back to their hotel until 3. Their wake-up call was at 8. On Saturday night, there was a gig to play at a New Port Richey club on the way home.

Tough life? "No, man, I got all the time I need to be a normal kid," said Jamie, who is a solid B student in the 11th grade with a new girlfriend he met in school and a fondness for video games and text messaging and the standard accoutrements of high school life in the 21st century.

It's only on stage that the kid steps away and the musician takes charge.

"Am I too young to play the blues?" he asked his audience on Saturday.

The applause was all the answer he needed. - Bill Hutchinson @ Sarasota Herald Tribune