Anson Funderburgh (born James Anson Funderburgh; November 14, 1954) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

player and

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978. The band's style incorporates both

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but is performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African Americans of the fi ...

and

Texas blues Texas blues is blues music from Texas. As a regional style, its original form was characterized by jazz and swing influences. Later examples are often closer to blues rock and Southern rock. History Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900 ...

Career

Funderburgh was born in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "flat surface" /'plano/) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the largest city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County. A small portion of Plano is located in Denton County, Texas, Denton Count ...

, United States. Anson was with The Bee's Knees in 1976 and recorded ''Cold Hearted Woman''. In 1977 the Rockets began with Anson, Mark Hickman on Fender bass, David Watson on drums and vocalist Darrell Nulisch. In 1981, Funderburgh released the Rockets' debut album ''Talk to You By Hand'' from

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

based

Black Top Records Black Top Records was an American, New Orleans, Louisiana-based independent record label, founded in 1981 by brothers Nauman S. Scott, III and Hammond Scott. The label specialized in blues and R&B music. The first release was "Talk To You By Hand" ...

. The band consisted of Anson, with Darrell Nulisch on vocals and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

. The album included a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Earl King Earl Silas Johnson IV (February 7, 1934 – April 17, 2003),
known as Earl King, was an American singer, guita ...

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

, " Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)". ''Talk to You By Hand'' was also the first ever release by the Black Top

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

. Before the debut album's release in 1981, Funderburgh participated that same year with

The Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds is an American blues rock band formed in 1974. Singer Kim Wilson is the only constant member through the band's entire history. Their 1986 album ''Tuff Enuff'' sold over a million copies, and spawned two minor hit singl ...

in recording of their '' Butt Rockin''' album. Funderburgh and the Rockets appeared at the 1984

San Francisco Blues Festival The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was one of the longest running blues festival in the United States. History Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the bl ...

. When Nulisch left the band in 1985, Funderburgh invited the blues harmonica player

Sam Myers Samuel Joseph Myers (February 19, 1936 – July 17, 2006) was an American blues musician and songwriter. He was an accompanist on dozens of recordings by blues artists over five decades. He began his career as a drummer for Elmore James but was ...

from

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

to fill in the spot. Myers stayed with the band until his death on July 17, 2006, appearing on eight albums with them. The first Rockets

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

featuring Myers was ''My Love Is Here To Stay'', released in 1985. Funderburgh and the Rockets appeared in the 1994 film ''China Moon,'' starring Ed Harris and Madeleine Stowe. They are shown playing "Tell Me What I Want To Hear" from the self-titled release. As well as the

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

recordings, in 1990 the band played the

Long Beach Blues Festival The Long Beach Blues Festival, in Long Beach, California, United States, was established fully in 1980, and was one of the largest blues festivals and was the second oldest on the West Coast (first being the San Francisco Blues Festival). It w ...

. The same year, they appeared on show number 109 of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

television program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

, '' Sunday Night''. In 1989 and 1990 the band's

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

was

Mike Judge Michael Craig Judge (born October 17, 1962) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known for being the creator of the animated television series ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' (1993–1997, 2011, 2022–present). He ...

, future

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

and creator of ''

Beavis and Butt-head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, Stupi ...

'' and ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels that initially aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, with four more episodes airing in First-run syndicati ...

''. Their song "Can We Get Together" was also featured in the film, ''

21 Grams ''21 Grams'' is a 2003 American crime thriller film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It is the second installment in the duo’s informal “Trilogy of Death,” preceded by ''Amores perros'' (2000) ...

'' in 2003. In 2007, Funderburgh played on and produced

John Németh John Németh (born March 10, 1975) is an American electric blues and soul harmonicist, singer, and songwriter. He has received five Blues Music Awards for Soul Blues Male Artist, Soul Blues Album, Traditional Blues Album of the Year, Instrumental ...

's album, ''Magic Touch''. Németh had briefly replaced Myers in Funderburgh's backing band. In 2011, ''The Mill Block Blues'' album was released. The CD was unique in that a portion of the sales of the album was donated to help fellow musicians in need via the HART Fund (Handy Artist Relief Trust), a service provided by the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs t ...

that provides for acute, chronic, and preventive medical and dental care as well as funeral expenses for blues musicians. October 2012 saw the first U.S. and European tour of 'Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue', an all star package that included Funderburgh; Little Charlie Baty on guitar; former Rockets drummer Wes Starr; bassist Richard W. Grigsby; and leader, harmonicist, and singer Mark Hummel. The quintet were first featured on Hummel's 2014 Electro-Fi Records release ''The Hustle Is Really On'', which was nominated for a

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

for 'Best Traditional Blues Album' in 2015. In 2013, Funderburgh produced and featured on The Andy T–Nick Nixon Band's ''Drink Drank Drunk'', released on Delta Groove. In 2014, he was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Best Instrumentalist – Guitar' category. More recently, Funderburgh co-produced

Dany Franchi Dany Franchi (born 3 February 1990) is an Italian electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Franchi has recorded three albums to date, with the first two crediting his backing band. His third studio album, ''Problem Child'' (2018), peaked ...

's album, ''Problem Child'' (2018). He also produced Breezy Rodio's 2022 album, ''Underground Blues''.

Discography

*1981: ''Talk to You By Hand'' with Darrell Nulisch ( Black Top 1001) *1983: ''She Knocks Me Out!'' with Darrell Nulisch (Black Top 1022) *1984: ''Harpoon Man'' with Fingers Taylor (Red Lightnin' 0058) *1985: ''My Love Is Here To Stay'' with

(Black Top 1032) *1987: ''Sins'' (Black Top 1038) *1989: ''Rack 'Em Up'' (Black Top 1049) *1991: ''Tell Me What I Want to Hear'' (Black Top 1068) *1992: ''Thru the Years: A Retrospective'' (Black Top 1077) compilation *1995: ''Live at the Grand Emporium'' (Black Top 1111) *1997: ''That's What They Want'' with Sam Myers (Black Top 1140) *1998: ''Grand Union'' with

Otis Grand Fred Bishti (February 14, 1950 – June 2023), known professionally as Otis Grand, was a Lebanese-born American blues musician, best known for his album, ''Perfume & Grime'' (1996) and his exciting live performances. He was honoured with the Pre ...

, Debbie Davies (Blueside; Valley Entertainment) *1999: ''Change In My Pocket'' (Bullseye Blues/ Rounder 9573) *2003: ''Which Way Is Texas?'' (Bullseye Blues/Rounder 9619) *2006: ''Blast Off: The Best of Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets'' (

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

) compilation *2007: ''Magic Touch'' (John Németh) produced, featured on *2011: ''Mill Block Blues'' (Ruff Kutt Blues Band) produced, featured on *2013: ''Deal With It'' (4 Jacks: Big Joe Maher, Anson Funderburgh, Kevin McKendree, Steve Mackey) (EllerSoul) *2013: ''Drink Drank Drunk'' (The Andy T–Nick Nixon Band) (

Delta Groove Productions Delta Groove Productions is an American blues record label in Van Nuys, California, United States. The label was founded by Randy Chortkoff ( Rand Jay Chortkoff; 1949–2015), a producer, concert promoter, and harmonica player. Chortkoff's biog ...

) produced, featured on *2014: ''The Hustle Is Really On'' ( Mark Hummel) ( Electro-Fi) featured on *2016: ''Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue'' (Mark Hummel, Little Charlie Baty, Anson Funderburgh, Wes Starr, R.W. Grigsby) (Electro-Fi) produced, featured on

References

External links

Anson Funderburgh's web site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Funderburgh, Anson 1954 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists People from Plano, Texas Texas blues musicians Chicago blues musicians Black Top Records artists Contemporary blues musicians Guitarists from Illinois Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians

Career

Discography

See also

References

External links