LEADFOOT RIVET

ALAIN"LEADFOOT" RIVET: One of the official cajun names listed by the Cajun foundation in St. Martinville - Louisiana. Part of this family moved from France in the 17th century to Acadia (Canada) (Nova Scotia these days) then was deported by the British to south & west Louisiana at the end of the 18th century. Families bearing this name still live in Lafayette/Breaux Bridge/St. Martinville/Scott/Opelousas & Lake Charles. That’s what Leadfoot discovered during his first trip to the US while looking for a common heritage!Alain ‘Leadfoot’ RIVET comes from a musical family who got exposed heavily to American culture right after World War 2; at the age of 12 his first cousin turned him on to Ray CHARLES. From then on he soon discovered Chuck BERRY, Bo DIDDLEY, Muddy WATERS & Howlin' WOLF.He founded his first band in 1962 playing the music of his idols. The British blues boom’s expansion convinced him he was going in the right direction, finding similar approaches in the works of Long John BALDRY, the PRETTY THINGS, the YARDBIRDS, the ANIMALS, THEM & the ROLLING STONES.In 1966 he started what was the first rhythm'n'blues & soul integrated band in the country on the footsteps of Bobby Blue BLAND, Otis REDDING, Wilson PICKETT, Solomon BURKE, Jimmy HUGHES & James CARR. The band played France extensively and also Belgium, Switzerland and Italy where they stayed 8 months in 67/68 like Rocky ROBERTS & the Airedales, Wes JOHNSON, the Alan PRICE Set & the Alan JACK Blues Civilization. They recorded 2 cover songs for a compilation released on FONTANA/PHILIPS records plus an EP (4 songs) for the french VOGUE label, notably a soul version of ‘Pushin'too hard’ by the Seeds ! The artistic director of the musical ‘Hair’ chose him for the belgian cast in which he stayed 8 months.During this time in Brussels he met the gospel & soul singer Bill COMBS, brother of Dorothy MORRISON, lead singer with the Edwin Hawkins Singers for the worldwide hit ‘Oh Happy Day’. Combs then asked him to produce the first album of his newly founded band BAD CHILD.RIVET then moved back to Paris and signed a deal with RCA records cutting 2 albums (only one was released) and 3 singles. In 1978 he started with now famous french blues colleague Patrick VERBEKE (who later collaborated with Luther ALLISON) a band called ROCKIN'CHAIR, blending blues/country/rock & soul. They record 2 albums for the European department of the US label OVATION records, first one including the hit ‘Soyez nature’. 1986 saw the release of an adventurous solo album blending blues & funky music with drum machines and synthesizers! This risky artistic approach leads to complete misunderstanding by both the media and public.RIVET then launched DIXIEFROG records together with friend Philippe Langlois and started a booking company dedicated to blues oriented music. He tours and often shares the stage with artists such as Junior WELLS, Johnny COPELAND, Bo DIDDLEY, Wilson PICKETT, Johnny ADAMS, Bobby Blue BLAND, Little MILTON, Honeyboy EDWARDS, Homesick JAMES, HOT TUNA, Amos GARRETT, Joanna CONNOR, Sue FOLEY, Debbie DAVIES, jimmy THACKERY, Roy ROGERS, Tom PRINCIPATO and many others.Louisiana bluesman Larry GARNER gave him the nickname ‘Leadfoot’ on stage inviting him to sit in after a high speed trip between gigs!Soon after the creation of VOODOO records he went back in the studio cutting his best work so far with the cream of the crop of french blues musicians plus the help of no less than Tommy CASTRO/Larry GARNER/Amos GARRETT/Roy ROGERS and Popa CHUBBY! The album titled ‘Bluesmaniac’ received rave reviews everywhere, outselling many American releases in Europe. Since then Leadfoot RIVET has played most of the famous festivals in his native country, sometimes venturing in other neighbourhood lands. He is a powerful and soulful singer so deeply immersed in American culture that he is one of the very few european artists who can make classics his own and write credible originals in english.LEADFOOT RIVET'S New CD "GREYBOY BLUES" is scheduled for release October 2007 on DIXIEFROG Records and features Top Gun Players like: Tom PRINCIPATO, Joanna CONNOR, Neal BLACK, STAN NOUBARD-PACHA, PAT LAMOT-BOUDOT, CHRIS MELLIES, LARRY CROCKETT, FRED CHAPELLIER ....... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++en français:Né de parents chanteurs classiques et élevé dans un milieu américanophile, Alain Rivet, rebaptisé "Leadfoot" par Larry Garner pour sa tendance à appuyer sur le champignon, est l'un des premiers français dans les années 60 à chanter du blues, du rock et de la soul. Il tourne notamment avec les Turnips (avec Captain Mercier et Gil Neau) et les Murators (avec Alain Chamfort à l'orgue) et enregistre une poignée de titres pour Fontana/Philips et Vogue. Il joue ensuite dans "Hair" à Bruxelles, voyage de par le monde, signe sur RCA en 75 pour deux albums (un seul paraîtra) et qques singles. Il fonde en 79 le groupe ROCKIN' CHAIR avec Patrick Verbeke et Claude Langlois: parution de 2 albums sur le label US Ovation records et mini tube avec le titre "Soyez nature". Tournées et festivals (dont 2 fois le "Printemps de Bourges"). Il participe aussi à l'explosion des radios libres et anime des émissions sur Radio 7 et RFM avant de fonder en 86 Dixiefrog records. Puis de 90 à 97 il fait tourner la fine fleur du blues et de la soul: Albert King, Junior Wells, Johnny Copeland, Little Milton, Bobby Bland, Bo Diddley, Denise La Salle, the Muscle Shoals rhythm'section, Wilson Pickett, Jimmy Rogers, Kim Wilson, Jimmy Thackery, Tommy Castro, Sue Foley, Tab Benoit, Honeyboy Edwards, Homesick James, John Hammond et bien d'autres. Il retrouve le chemin des studios et sort en 98 un album en deux versions, anglaise "Bluesmaniac", et française "St Blues", une réussite, composés d'originaux dans les 2 langues et d'adaptations de même ! Participent à l'aventure, outre qques uns des meilleurs musiciens français, Benoît Blue Boy et Patrick Verbeke (venus en vieux complices), Roy Rogers, Poppa Chubby, Amos Garrett, Tommy Castro et son band et Larry Garner. En 2004, il monte avec Neal Black et Nico Wayne Toussaint The BLUES CONSPIRACY, un plateau blues à géométrie variable, accompagné par the Bluesmaniacs, son groupe habituel (Pat Boudot-Lamot et Stan Noubard-Pacha aux guitares, Chris Melliès à la basse et Larry Crockett (ou Vincent Daune) aux drums). Parution d'un album sur Dixiefrog et tournée européenne de festivals. Enfin, il enregistre en 2007 l'album en anglais "Greyboy blues" à paraitre en octobre sur Voodoo/ Dixiefrog records dans toute l'Europe. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ALBUM "GREYBOY BLUES": Un album de blues atypique, très personnel. Entre blues shouter ironique et soulman écorché vif, sa voix puissante, expressive, au timbre particulier, sert parfaitement ses propres compositions ou les covers empruntés à Earl King, Hoyt Axton, Bobby Charles, Eric Bibb ou David Ackles. Auteur et compositeur d'une grande partie de son répertoire, souvent avec Pat Boudot-Lamot (tant en français qu'en anglais-bilinguisme), Leadfoot Rivet est un interprète passionné qui aborde avec humour des sujets très variés, sentimentaux, introspectifs ou sociaux. Pour ce "Greyboy blues", il s'est entouré de la crème des musiciens hexagonaux et de qques invités américains prestigieux: Tom Principato, Joanna Connor (pour un duo explosif!), Neal Black et Larry Crockett.