Papa Hoodoo Medicine Show was formed in 2004 by the guitar duo PoorBob and Doc Lane with the intention of creating a band different from most groups on the jamband scene. Their vision is to combine their current jamband style with a unique feel, capturing the gut of delta blues guitar while applying contemporary grooves and rhythms. This vision led the duo to go on to find band members Wes Jensen, Jay Roosa and Billy Cristiani. Billy has since left the band and we wish him great success and good swamp'in throughout his career. Papa Hoodoo now welcomes Sanjay Subramanian as our new Bassist. The bands sound continues to develop with Sanjay, his jamming abilities are inspiring new avenues within the creative backbone of the band, staying true to Papa's jamband genre of blues, jazz, folk, rock, americana and world music. The band enjoys "swamping out" their songs, both covers and originals, to create a melting pot of old and new.
Papa Hoodoo has shared the stage with many artists including Marshall Tucker, Commander Cody, John Hammond and Rick Derringer, at venues such as BB King's, The Turning Point, Mexicali Blues, and the Meadowlands. With strong songwriting and composition abilities combined with the finest improvisational skills, Papa Hoodoo continues to recreate themselves and shape-shift into many forms leaving hints of The Grateful Dead, Miles Davis, Gov't Mule, Jimi Hendrix, Delta Blues, and Voodoo Swamp.
Band Member Bios
PoorBob's journey began 25 years ago on his back porch with a twelve string Nashville Acoustic " I had to walk up to DiBella's Music store everyday just to have it tuned ! ". These days you'll find him playing his metal-bodied National Resonator and Fender Strat's & Tele's in different tunings. He has lived and studied with King Crimson guitarist and founder Robert Fripp, continued his studies with NYC guitar legend Johnny 'Jewel' Berenzy and Jazz guitarist Bern Nix from Ornette Coleman. After gaining some noteriety playing at Woodstock '94 and in Europe opening for John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) with local bands and award winning Spoken Word Artist Frank Messina, PoorBob co-founded 'Papa Hoodoo Medicine Show' which highlights the composition abilities of both he and fellow guitarist Doc Lane.
PoorBob has also performed with:
Jazz icon Derwin Holder (Sonny Stitt & Danny Gatton)
R&B Soulman (Nina Simone's brother) Sam 'MagicMan' Waymon
Composed music for Tony Sokol's ' Vampyre Theatre '
The Legendary T.K. Walker Band
Avalon Ballroom NJ's GratefulDead tribute band fronted by Danny 'Doc' Lane
The Stingers with the fabulous Ralph Jones & Joe Nevolo
Professor Wes Jensen
The Roland HPD-15 Electronic Drum has been my weapon of choice for years now.. When I first bought this fantastic instrument I leaned towards playing and practicing technique on the "hand drum" type patches, conga, tabla, udu drum, etc...and did not focus on the drum kit patches because I wasn't playing the unit with sticks. However as time went on I discovered the huge potential that this instrument holds and it opened my eyes to some interesting things that can be done when applying "hand drum" techniques to a "drum kit" and vice versa. So now when I gig with Papa HooDoo I can back up on Congas, cut loose on Percussion, trance out on Tabla, groove with a Udu Drum or keep a pocket with a variety of kick ass Kits! To check out the HPD-15 for yourself go to HPD-15 DEMO and have some fun! Please visit my Web Site for my bio, MP3's, Pics and more!
Capt.J Roosa (JByrd) started playing piano at the age of 3. My folks told me that any melody I heard I could go to the piano and play it. I've been playin ever since. ( I actually jammed with PoorBob many times at age 14, who would a thought? ) Since then I have played in over 20 great bands completing well over 3000 live shows and concerts, and many recording projects. I'm the proud owner of Mountainview Recording Studio where I have engineered and produced bands and artists ranging from Blues, Jazz, Rock, Ska, World, and New Age. My roots come from blues and rock, Leon Russell to Pink Floyd, Ry Cooder to Led Zeppelin, and ELP to J.Geils Band. I believe playing and writing music well comes from understanding your own definition of good music. It must be real and true to the self in order for others to dig it. A few of the bands that CaptJ has been a member include: Yasgurs Farm, Fallen Angel, Eye of the Storm, Rembrandt, Freeway, D'antz, AM-FM, Road Trip, After the Fox
Sanjay Subramanian
Sanjay is our new Bass player and we need to get him to fill in this text :)
Doc Lane co-Founder and current member of the Papa Hoodoo Medicine Show. Dan has shared the stage with many names you might recognize and some you may not. The Whalers, The Outlaws, Marshall Tucker Band, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Whittington (Bluesbrakers) Honey Boy Edwards, Louisiana Red, Larry Coryell, Murali Coryell, Cornell Dupree, Chuck Rainey, Rick Derringer, Terry Reid, Rick Danko, Jorma Kaukonen, John Hammond and now sitting in with Michael Powers and Frequency to name a few. However nothing pleases him more then playing with the Papa Hoodoo crew, Sanjay Subramanian, Wes Jensen, Jay Roosa and co-founder Bob Sushko.
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