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If Graham Ronne's guitar and production work help many bands' and artists' sound, that spans generations of rock, it's because of his own musical reaches down to the roots of the form. Graham's unique sense of melody, song and bold playing was sharpened on the nightclub and festival stages all over Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. Back in 1994, he formed the eclectic, texas tinged outfit, Preachin' Blues, a high octane trio that quickly gained a reputation for long musical reach and blistering sets. The band's blend of disciplined attack and outright virtuosity, built on a foundation of raw blues laid by artists like the Allman Brothers and Stevie Ray Vaughan, permeated its 1999 full length release, Darkness Before Dawn. But it was in live shows-over 150 a year between'94 and 2005-that Preachin' Blues wielded its Knock-out power, leading to appearances to five editions of the world-renowned Montreal International Jazz Festival, as well as regular sets of other festivals around Quebec.
One highlight in this long string came at Quebec City's Festival d'Ete, in the summer of 1996, when Preachin' Blues opened for guitar great Buddy Guy. Graham's favorite Hall of Fame moment, though, was the 1996 gig that put the band on the same Metropolis stage as the legendary Johnnie Johnson, former piano man of Chuck Berry and co-writer of "Johnnie be Good", "Roll over Beethoven", "Nadine" and other landmarks. So natural was the energy generated that night between Johnson and his new-found cohorts that the 72 year old statesman gladly extended his usual hour and fifteen-minute-set to another hour and fifteen minutes. Neither Graham nor Johnnie ever forgot the show, and the two stayed in touch right up until Johnson's death in 2005.
And that, was one of Graham's trip to the source. Others came with Montreal's Blues Summit alongside luminaries such as Wilson Pickett's old guitarist, Robert Ward and Johnny Jones, one-time sideman for Freddie King, Howlin' Wolf and Jimi Hendrix.
So, when Graham moved to Vancouver in 2005 and crossed paths with former
musical partner, Zufo, he brought along a set of ideas and approaches based on rock's most fundamental forms and ambitious styles of playing. The result was the strange, powerful mix that was Zufo and the White Martians.
Now, flying solo, Graham Ronne has something wholly new, both cool and fierce, laced with addictive, 21st century hooks, and carrying the current that has powered rock music from day one.
