Ricci/Krown - "City Country City"

New Orleans-based artists Jason Ricci and Joe Krown, and will release their debut duo album, City Country City, on October 22. Harmonica player/singer Jason Ricci is a multiple Blues Music Award-winner, while organ/piano player Joe Krown has legendary Crescent City credentials and is currently the keyboardist in Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s band. Together, they team up as Ricci/Krown on their new CD, City Country City, a retro soul-infused outing that features Jason’s gutsy vocals and stellar harmonica, overlaid with Joe’s melodic and earthy organ playing. City Country City brings back the sound and feel of early 1960s jazz/blues with an original sound all its own.

Jason Ricci is one of the best and most imitated blues harmonica players of the 21st century. He picked up the instrument as a teenager when he started playing in a punk rock band. His journey started in earnest when he watched and later was mentored by legendary harmonica player Pat Ramsey in Memphis. As Ricci gigged and grew as a player he found work and support from the southern blues community. He lived and played with Junior and David Kimbrough in Mississippi and then worked as a sideman with Big Al and The Heavyweights for more than a year. In the late ‘90s, he formed Jason Ricci and New Blood, a band that toured around the world for more than a decade and released critically praised albums like Done with the Devil and Rocket Number 9. Ricci’s latest chapter is the New Orleans band Jason Ricci and The Bad Kind, which is influenced by the sounds of New Orleans and artists like The Meters and Doctor John.  What defines Jason Ricci as an artist is the fearlessness with which he approaches his instrument and music and translates the hardships we all face into unforgettable music. 

Joe Krown is a New Orleans-styled piano and Hammond-endorsed B-3 player. He held the keyboard chair with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown & Gate’s Express from 1992 until Gatemouth's passing in the fall of 2005. Joe is featured on the chart topping Gatemouth albums The Man, Gate Swings, American Music Texas Style and Gate's final studio recording, Back to Bogalusa. Joe's played the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival every year since 2001 and the French Quarter Festival every year since 1998. Along with touring all over the U.S. and the world as a solo artist or with one of his bands, he is currently performing as the organ/piano player for the multi-award-winning Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, and played on Shepherd’s The Traveler and Straight to You Live albums. Krown has also toured with Mavis Staples and Allen Toussaint, among many others, as well as recorded a dozen of his own albums.
In addition, Krown has won multiple local New Orleans “Big Easy” and “Offbeat” awards. City Country City Track Listing and Credits

Musicians: Jason Ricci – Vocals (tracks 3,5,7,9 & 11) & Harmonica
Joe Krown – Hammond B3 Organ & Piano
Doug Belote - Drums

Produced by: Jason Ricci, Joe Krown and Jack Miele
Recorded at: Jack Miele Production Studios

City Country City (WAR)
Down n’ Dirty (Joe Krown)
Badger The Witness (Jason Ricci)
My Mama Told Me So (Joe Sample)
Feel Good Funk (Jason Ricci)
It Starts With Me (Jason Ricci, Joe Krown)
Down At The Juke (Jason Ricci)
Upshot (Grant Green)
Drifting Blues (Charles Brown, Eddie Williams, Johnny Moore)
The Jimmy Smith Strut (Taj Mahal)
Just A Playboy (Ricci, Miller, Robey)
Ode to Billy Joe (Bobbie Gentry)

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