4/12/2023 0 Comments Johnny hoy and the bluefish![]() Every year I think about a pilgrimage to Martha’s Vineyard just to see these guys. This relatively obscure Blues band remains one of my very favorites. However the one that I love the most is Fred Neils “I’ve Got a Secret” a.k.a “Sweet Sugaree”. Slim Harpo’s “Don’t Start Crying Now” opens the album. “What’s The Story With Time” is about how time creeps up on us. “Everything You Said” is about the woman usually being correct. “Greasy Rooster” is a great harmonica instrumental. Berlin’s stride like piano combines with Hoy’s harp. ![]() This time Hoy sings “bring it home, bring my mojo back to me”. Hoy sings “I didn’t know right from wrong”. “Rolled and Tumbled” opens with Anzalone’s infectious drumming. This time Berlin’s accordion mixes nicely with Hoy’s harp. “The Dance” is about an aging couple who still “got it”. I imagine this is very popular on those Tuesday nights when the locals are “puttin’ on the Ritz”. “Dancing Danny O” is a very dancible blues tune. ![]() “Daddy Right” is an exuberant piece of funk featuring Joanne Cassidy and Sabrina Leuning on background vocals. Johnny Hoy has written seven new songs and co-written two more with the band. The band consists of Johnny Hoy, vocals and harmonica Jeremy Berlin, keyboards Chris Anzalone, drums and Buck Shank, guitar. During the summer months they can be seen every Tuesday night at The Ritz Café. Johnny Hoy and The Bluefish are from Martha’s Vineyard, Ma. Their last album was 2006’s self-produced “Film Noir Angel”. Finding common ground with a broad range of different American lifestyles and music styles, black soul or white trash, Hoy’s output refuses to be limited to a strict genre category.In the 1990’s Johnny Hoy and The Bluefish recorded three great albums for Tone-Cool Records 1995’s “Trolling The Hootchy”, 1996’s “You’re Going To Loose Your Head”, and 1998’s “Walk The Plank”. Hoy’s lyrics often display a wild, unpretentious sense of humour on ‘Love Dog’, he sings ‘I wanna be your mutt. So far Hoy and the Bluefish have encompassed styles such as blues (Trolling The Hootchy, You Gonna Lose Your Head) and zydeco, rockabilly, pop (Walk The Plank), all released on Tone-Cool Records. A couple of long-standing fellow musicians are Jeremy Berlin (keyboards) and Paul Size (guitar). The band saw over 30 personnel changes over the years, with Hoy, always shifting direction with whatever current members’ inclinations and influences led them. ![]() Playing his harmonica in an ad hoc band at a friend’s wedding gave Hoy the impetus to organize a full-time line-up for his new band, Johnny Hoy And The Bluefish. He experienced a nomadic childhood with his parents’ divorcing when he was 10. Hoy became a musician more by default than plan. John Cravin Hoy, 10 January 1957, Middletown, Connecticut, USA. The decision to play professionally was cemented by the birth of his daughter and a new-found sense of commitment. Johnny Hoy & The Bluefish Follow Artist + b. He jammed with other musicians when he met them but never formed long-term partnerships. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his rootless, lonely existence drew him towards the blues, finding rhythm in the pace of his footsteps. Wherever he travelled, he always had a harmonica in his pocket, which he described as ‘just a kind of companion’. Never graduating high-school, Hoy did a round of various labouring jobs, even passing a brief stint with a circus. He ricocheted from coast to coast visiting his mother and father, hitchhiking and stowing-away on freight trains. ![]()
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