Tom Principato
$12 advance / $14 door — Buy Tickets
Friday, February 17 / 8:30pm
Call 540.213.8777 for dinner reservations in the Music Hall.
Tom has been setting the telecaster on fire all across the globe with some of the finest performers for over 25 years. Tom has performed on dozens of blues recordings and is still making ground breaking american music enjoyed by fans across the world. The Tom Principato band enjoys the passionate virtuosity of Steve Wolf & Jay Turner on bass, Joe Wells & Pete Ragusa on drums and Josh Howell on Congas & percussion.
Review of Raising the Roof!:
Don't be surprised if "Raising The Roof!" also raises the number of Wammie Awards that guitarist Tom Principato has collected over the years-more than 20 at last count.
Recorded in College Park, Md. save for one track, Principato's new album is a rocking, grooving session featuring Hammond B-3 organist Tommy Lepson. It opens with three tunes written or (co-written) by Principato: "Lock and Key," a serving of Gumbo funk peppered with chunky, extended chord guitar riffs and Chris Watling's resonating baritone sax: "Too Damn Funky," a slithery instrumental that lives up to it's billing as soon as Lepson applies some elbow grease; and "In The Middle Of The Night," a haunting Reggae ballad that features Principato and co-composer Lepson sharing soulful vocals.
Eventually a few cover tunes that further reflect Principato's varied tastes come into focus; J.J. Cale's "Lies," Jimmy Smith's "8 Counts For Rita" and the Louis Jordan hit "Fish Fry." Each is given a fresh spin, though the twangy tribute to Smith is particularly colorful and engaging, an expansive showcase not only for Telecaster master Principato but for Lepson, bassist John Perry and drummer Joe Wells.
Capping the album is a live recording of Principato's loose and lighthearted "They Called For 'Stormy Monday' (But 'Mustang Sally' Is Just As Bad!), complete with lots of T-Bone Walker evoking fretwork. Mike Joyce The Washington Post Feb. 22, 2008
It's difficult to understand why this blues-rocking Telecaster master isn't a major contemporary blues/roots star. Principato is sure talented enough and he's been leaving mouths agape with his classy yet searing guitar pyrotechnics over the United States and Europe for the better part of four decades. A solid new album, appropriately titled "Raising The Roof!", might help spread the word, but he's most at home when peeling the paint from Blind Willie's walls with his slashing solos.
— Hal Horowitz-Atlanta Creative Loafing
