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(Due to personal and business reasons, I must keep my identity under wraps)
PROFESSIONAL BIO:
International touring blues guitarist, performer, songwriter and recording artist -
Born near Chicago and mentored by Grammy winner Luther Allison -
Relocated to Austin, Texas in the mid seventies.
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As a 3 year old, bluesman Lightning Red would sit directly in front of the saxophone sections of Count Basie, Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and all the other Big Bands playing the military base circuit that included Fort Leonard Wood.
Just before entering high school, he became a bandleader. After befriending Luther Allison and soaking up the sounds of Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Mike Bloomfield, B.B. King, Johnny Winter and other greats, Red began touring the Midwest and Canada.
In 1976 Austin became his home and touring base. While performing at the Armadillo World Headquarters during the latter 1970s, Omar and the Howlers, W.C.Clark and "little" Charlie Sexton (Arc Angels, Bob Dylan) were brought onstage and debuted. In addition to meeting Willie Nelson, Delbert McClinton, Marsha Ball, and a host of great Texas artists, Red soaked up the music of The Fabulous T-Birds (Jimmie Vaughan, Kim Wilson) at Antone's and met a struggling "Little" Stevie Ray Vaughan.
In 2010 Lightning Red played to a crowd of nearly 10,000 at the Rapperswil Blues'n'Jazz Festival in Switzerland and appeared at concerts and festivals throughout central Europe, while the previous year he wowed folks at the Bayfront Blues Festival, the Eureka Springs Blues Weekend in Arkansas, the Santiago Shakedown 7 and a number of festivals in the United States.
He has toured Australia, Scandinavia and Great Britain repeatedly, with two consecutive appearances at The Great British R&B Festival, did radio appearances in Spain, and was interviewed on national Radio New Zealand after being featured at the Whangarei Jazz and Blues Festival.
Having begun his European adventures touring Denmark, his latest release the groovemaster has gotten rave reviews and airplay in North & South America, Scandinavia, Belux, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, the UK, New Zealand and Australia.
Red is a published writer on topics of music, and wishes to share a somewhat unique view on world affairs culled from many years of interaction with people from all over the globe.