Delta Moon

"Tom Gray and Mark Johnson are the rusty, banged up Cadillacs of the slide guitar, side by side coughing up smoke and spitting backwoods dirt, but unswerving in their precision and singular style." - Hittin' the Note

"Gray and Johnson's double-slide style works to perfection." - Chicago Sun-Times

"A perfect example of contemporary Southern roots music at its most affecting." - All Music Guide

"Music as it should be - raw and honest." - NetRhythms (UK)

"Classic work! Keep rockin', Delta Moon!" - Rocktimes (Germany)

Tom Gray and Mark Johnson first met in an Atlanta music store. Tom tried to sell Mark a Dobro guitar out of the trunk of his car, the girl with Mark started whispering, “Let’s get out of here.” Mark didn’t buy the guitar, but he and Tom exchanged phone numbers. Soon the two were getting together regularly, Tom playing lap steel and Mark on bottleneck slide guitar.

At first, neither gave a thought to the idea of forming a double slide guitar band. Then Mark saw Ry Cooder and David Lindley perform together at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. “It was like a light came on over my head,” Mark said. “I thought, that’s what Tom and I do.” The two, along with singer Gina Leigh and a rotating cast of drummers and bassists, formed Delta Moon. Their idea was to weave the two slide guitars into one big sound, in the tradition of great two-guitar bands like the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, and early Fleetwood Mac.

Playing clubs and festivals around Atlanta and the South, the band quickly gathered a wall full of local “best” awards. After Delta Moon won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2003, the band widened its travel to include the US, Canada, and Europe. Gina Leigh left the band in 2004, and Kristin Markiton sang with the band for the next year and half. After her departure, Delta Moon became a quartet with Tom Gray writing and singing all the lyrics, and the band’s focus intensified. Relix magazine said in a review of 2007’s Clear Blue Flame, “Delta Moon has found its true voice.”

“I didn’t start out to sing lead in this band,” said Tom, “but like kudzu I’ve taken over.” Actually, he has plenty of experience fronting a band. In his pre-lap-steel days Tom was songwriter and vocalist for The Brains, a group that recorded two albums on Mercury. Cyndi Lauper, Manfred Mann, Carlene Carter and many other artists have recorded his songs. Since becoming the band's sole front person, Tom has felt freer to cut loose on stage. "I can step wherever I want now," he said. "Mine are the only toes up here."

In late 2007, after years of revolving-door rhythm sections, Delta Moon settled on Darren Stanley on drums and Franher Joseph on bass. The two have played together since their time in the University of Georgia marching band, when Darren played snare and Franher played Sousaphone. “We’ve got the line-up we need now,” said Tom. “There’s a whole world of music for us to make.”