Ankh156

Emerging from an early childhood in Liverpool in the mid 50s it was difficult not to be affected by the energy which would explode into public consciousness in the wake of rock'n'roll and 'youth culture'. By the time I was transplanted to Birmingham in the English Midlands in the early 60s the Merseybeat and rhythm'n'blues explosion was fully underway and I hassled all the members of my family until when I was 8 somebody finally gave in and saw to it that I had a rudimentary acoustic guitar. To everybody's surprise I learned to play it. By the time I was 14 I had discovered Bill Broonzy, Brownie McGhee, Leadbelly, and was attending concerts, festivals and already playing in groups at school. Then Jimi Hendrix arrived. An electric guitar wasn't just a choice, it was a necessity. My parents' bitter divorce and my subsequent penchant for music and drugs led to my dropping out of school and trying to make my way as a jobbing guitarist on the lively local band scene. Amps, vans, gigs, acid trips ... it was the early 70s and I was 17 years old and developping a reputation as a bluesman.Nearly 40 years later I'm still at it. I'm still a guitarist, and still a bluesman, but my tastes have widened (as this miscellany will attest). Now I play Hammond organ and electric piano, and mandolin too. I've been in lots of bands since - soul and funk, country and western, jazz, folk and pop...Presented here is a selection of Å“uvres from the period 2000-2005 when I was mainly involved in composition, eperimentation, studio work and digital technologies. More of this, plus 'electroacoustic', and quite a bit of my band stuff can be found here :http://www.esnips.com/user/ankhclviSince recovery from a major illness in 2005 I've been busy with band projects again. I'm organist for a country/psychedelic band called 'A Cake A Room'' and I'm guitarist, mandolinist and backing vocalist for 'Los Burros se mueven' whose mayspace page can be found here :http://www.myspace.com/losburrossemuevenorangefr.I helped found a collaborative multi-media project called 'Combinandi' some of whose musical output can be found here :... ... ...I'm now trying to reform my own soul/blues band which I intend to call 'The Johnson Family' (it existed back in 1994-5, but I reckon it's time for a reincarnation) and I'm wide open to the possibility of new collaborations. Contact me if you think I can help with or add to something you're working on - live or studio. I'm busy with music all the time - it's something I just can't live without. I knew from a very early age that it was for me, and here I am half a century later still passionately immersed in it.I hope you find something you like here, or in the links I've provided. Thanks for looking in. Thanks to all the wonderful musicians and fans who've befriended me. Keep listening, keep playing and inventing. Music is the greatest adventure of my life, I hope it is for yours too.Blessings, Grady / ankh156 MYFLYPROFILE.NET