Meet Big Mike & The Booty Papas! Big Mike, Hal, Cuzz have been playing music for an accumulative total of 100 years! That's a lot of gigs! They have been playing interactively for the past 10 years.
1996 was a new beginning for these fellows. After spending 30 years playing every kind of gig known to musicians, Big Mike & The Booty Papas were formed from many jamming Sunday nights at The Back Porch Lounge in Macon, GA. Many different players that include Ronnie Hammond (A.R.S.), Mike Causey (Stillwater), Phil Palma, Ken Wynn, Mike Copeland & Elbert Durham helped to make those nights special, along with lots of other musicians that dropped by. Ronnie Hammond played bass and Mike Copeland played lead regularly with the group, formerly known as "Big Mike & Friends". These hot sessions eventually led to the grouping of the Big Mike ,Cuzz, Chris Crider and Greg Stewart on Drums and Ed Smith on Sax.
Next it was off to a recording session at Phoenix Sound (formerly Capricorn Studios Macon, GA). Skip Slaughter, engineer of Phoenix Sound, added his welcome expertise to the project and 4 cover tunes and 7 original songs were born of the session. 6 of the original tunes were penned by Big Mike, and one instrumental by Chris Crider (CC). Together they show the innovative, exciting and fresh new approach to a style of music that this group truly loves. The band's next project also came from the same line up but, adding Walt Scott on Keyboard, Mike Causey on guitar, David Ragsdale on Violin, Jimmy Hall sang "she caught the Kati" with Big Mike and "Harp" and a real 54 voice gospel group The Gospel Movement and the Atlanta Horns. This CD was also loaded with some real good originals and a really good cover of a Lynard Skynard tune , "Curtis Lowe" and they have just finished a new project with the current line up. The new project was recorded at "Wild Bean Studios" in Macon, Ga. with our old friend Michael "Goose ' Goodrich. They have also are on world wide Television on the Food Network "Food Nation with Bobby Flay"
Big Mike & The Booty Papas are: Michael "Big Mike" Ventimiglia (guitar, vocals), Hal Register (guitar, vocals), Glenn "Cuzz" Hutchison (bass guitar, vocals) and Jerome "J.T." Thomas (Drums) and Tony Cooper on (Key boards). They have 3 CDs, were nominated for 2 Grammy's in 1998 (first round). They play 260-300 dates a year and have played with or opened for acts such as Johnny Winter, Bob Dylan, Jr. Walker, Government Mule, Warren Haynes, Steve Morse, Les Dudeck, Jimmy Hall, Ronnie Hammond & The Atlanta Rhythm Section, Wet Willie, & Dr. Hook. They have played for WC Handy Blues Festival, Key Palace Theatre - Red Key, IN; Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar - Nashville, TN; Key West Bar - PCB, FL; Tobacco Road - Miami, FL. We have songs released on The Learning Channel (Reunions - CC and his daughter) and Jubilee (Kentucky Public TV from The WC Handy festival), Food Nation with Bobby Flay on the Food Network, and we have a song being used as a radio show theme on Bay FM - Byron Bay Australia and airplay all over the US & Europe & Asia (as per Radio Reports).
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