"Tijerina creates some of the densest and trance-inducing blues since Vaughan put down his guitar
for the last time."--Kevin Hopper, Albuquerque Journal
“[Tijerina's] guitar playing has as much power and expression as any guitarist I’ve heard in a short one minute solo...his music is distinctive...It’s just a matter of time before he gets a major label release.”Putnay Thomas--Blues On Stage
"This guy is something else! I mean let me tell you!...[Tijerina is] able to blend [his] voice and guitar.
The phrasing on both of them is incredible." -- Jackie Gisclar, host of Jabeaux's Blues Session--KAFM Radio
About the band / biography
For the last twelve years, Todd Tijerina (Tee-her-ee-na) has steadily made a living playing his rhythmically potent brand of cutting-edge, hard driving blues-rock in Chicago and the Southwest as guitarist/singer for The Todd Tijerina Band. In addition to front man duties, his three year stint in Chicago ('97 - '00) offered opportunities to work as guitarist for such artists as internationally revered bluesman, Byther Smith, the legendary Harmonica Hinds, and BB's daughter, Shirley King. It was during this time in the Windy City that Todd and his band won Chicagoland's Rory's Blues Talent Competition 1999. The victory funded recording expenses for the group's 2000 release, the lowdown.
Shortly thereafter The Todd Tijerina Band began receiving airplay on Chicago's WRDP, WCRX, "Hambone's Blues Hour" and "Chicago Blues X-plosion" 94.3 FM, WILL 95.1 FM, and on Rich Gordon's Blues Hour on WXRX FM. Since relocating to Albuquerque in December of 2000, the album as well as the band’s second release, Welcome Home (February, 2004) have enjoyed strong airplay throughout the southwest and on radio stations as far away as Australia and Europe. And with its new release, Now (March, 2006), the group's third album, The Todd Tijerina Band sets out optimistically as it expands its reach in 2006.
The cutting-edge blues act has played some of the most prestigious blues venues in the southwest and Chicago. Such southwest venues include: Silver City Blues Festival (Silver City, NM), Blues & Brews Festival (SLC, UT), Madrid Blues Festival (Madrid, NM), Albuquerque Blues Festival (Albq., NM), Trinidadio Blues Festival (Trinidad, CO), River Fest (Farmington, NM), Sherbino Theater (Ridgway, CO), Mesa Theater (Grand Junction, CO), Mission Theatre (Grants, NM), Rally in the Rockies (Ignacio, CO), Fire & Ice Bike Rally (Grants, NM), The Dead Goat (Salt Lake City), Tugboat (Steamboat Springs, CO), Charly's (Flagstaff, AZ), The Foundry (Boulder, CO), Brendan's Pub (Denver), The Birdcage (Prescott, AZ), Railroad Blues (Alpine, TX), Scoot 'n Blues (Durango, CO), The Foundry (Boulder, CO) and many others. Chicago notables include: House of Blues hotel,Chord On Blues, Slice of Chicago, Rosa's, Beale Str Blues Café, Harlem Ave Lounge.
Like most career musicians Tijerina's passion started early. “A friend lent me a bass guitar when I was nine years old and I began teaching myself some simple lines,” he recalls. “Shortly thereafter, a teenaged neighbor who knew I wanted to play guitar told me he just happened to have one for sale, a K-Mart electric going for five bucks. Within minutes I was back on his doorstep with a handful of coins and two singles. Man, I was so excited! My first real guitar!” Todd quickly began teaching himself songs from his favorite albums and studying Mel Bay guitar books.
Although Todd grew up in the blues capital of the world, it wasn’t until moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico in his late teens that he was exposed to the art form. “Some friends of mine and my older sister had turned me on to Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Their styles were new and really grabbed me, like nothing I had heard before." Through the music of Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Todd was led to other blues greats like B.B., Albert, and Freddie King, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker and others who would become major influences for him in his playing, singing and song writing. He immersed himself in the guitar, practicing every minute he could. And he began studying contemporaries such as Smokin’ Joe Kubek, Duke Robillard, Tab Benoit, Robben Ford, Luther Alison and others.
The Todd Tijerina Band has shared the stage with such well-known artists as Sonny Landreth, Head East, Canned Heat, Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers, Anders Osbourne, The Joanna Connor Band, Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gand, Michael Hill's Blues Mob, The Campbell Brothers, Richard Johnston and Ronnie Baker Brooks, among others. The band's passionate displays of electric intensity are punctuated by soft-as-a-pin-drop confessions. From swingin' to funky, from rockin' to rhumba, the band's sound is always unique and inspirational -- an undeniable summons for the body to move and groove. With Todd Tijerina on guitar and vocals, Troy Lawhon on bass, and Matt Tessler on drums, the band creates a pulse that is sure to entice and captivate any music fan.
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