THE PAPPY JOHNS BAND are long time friends and brothers of the blues. They provide, without a doubt, one of the tightest, most soulfull and fat backbones any blues band could wish for...period. The core players of THE PAPPY JOHNS BAND, Oren Doxtator and Don Powless and have been playing together for nearly 30 years. Musically, achieved some measure of success with the bands they have backed including The Bar Road Band, Roadhouse, Painted Pony.
HISTORY
The Pappy Johns Band came to be when they were originally fronted by Chris "Pappy" Johns (nicknamed because he has a lot of kids), and were playing gigs in and around the Fort Erie area with sideman Lorne Greene (Graham's bro) on guitar. After recruiting vocalist Faron Johns, the band decided to make a DEMO CD in order to help them get gigs. Liking what they heard in the studio, they decided to release that CD and "Blame It On Monday" was born. The band gained both critical & commercial acclaim from this CD, combining that with national television exposure as 'house band' on the APTN series "Buffalo Tracks" The line-up however was somewhat short lived when Murray Porter came looking for a band to lay tracks to help compliment his songwriting. To make a long story short, exiting the band was "Pappy" Johns and Lorne Greene, in was Murray Porter and new guitarist Joe Mafoud and they released "Full Circle". They decided to keep the name "Pappy Johns Band" largely to the fact that the name has been established, well earned and well-known. After the recording sessions for Full Circle , the PJB realized that guitarist Joe Mafoud was not working out, and they added the services of stand-out young guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Joshua Miller. One CD seemed to be enough for Murray as he left to pursue a solo career and shortly there after Faron also parted ways with the band. Adding the services of piano virtuoso John Lee, The brand new Pappy Johns Band CD is currently in production and will be released the summer of 2007.
THE PAPPY JOHNS BAND were 2005 JUNO Award nominees for Aboriginal Recording of the Year for 'Full Circle'. The band won Best Blues Album at the 2004 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards for Full Circle, in November 2004. They were also nominated for a 2005 Indian Summer Music Award for Best Blues, in Milwaukee.
For the first time in their career, The Pappy Johns Band, performed in Europe. They performed at Blues sur Seine, a blues festival in Mantes la Jolie, France, from November 17-20, 2005, to an extremely enthusiastic response!
In Canada, they can be seen on REZ BLUEZ TV on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (www.aptn.ca) and BRAVO Canada and in the U.S on Sunshine Network, which starting airing on Sat. Dec. 31, 2005 and is currently in re-run on the same networks. Josh Miller was part of the posse of hosts and writers for this series. The Pappy Johns Band are in Show 1, and are seen performing at the 2003 Chicago Blues Festival. NOT TO BE MISSED MUSIC TV!!!
The band also won 4 awards at the 2002 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards: for Best Male Artist (Faron Johns); Best Group/Duo; Best Producer/Engineer (Alec Fraser & Band); Best Song & Songwriter for Blame It On Monday (Faron Johns).
Since reuniting the band has played such prestigious festivals as the 20th Annual Chicago Blues Festival, May 2003, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Grand Opening of the Smithsonian Institution's 'National Museum of the American Indian', on the Four Directions Stage (mainstage) for the closing concert.
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