{image1}Blues bands in Milwaukee tend to be of a certain vintage. But, lately, there have been a few younger musicians focusing on the music, bands like the late, lamented Blue Rubies and Miss Shanna Jackson Blues Band, fronted by, you guessed it, singer Shanna Jackson.
The band has one disc out, "Live and Kickin'," and plays an impressive calendar of gigs around the state and in the upper half of Illinois, where it recently won top prize at the Woodstock Square Off Music Competition. At those gigs, they mix a couple dozen original tunes with covers of blues and r&b songs like "Respect," "Mustang Sally," "Got My Mojo Working" and "The Thrill Is Gone."
We caught up with Jackson to get the full story on the Miss Shanna Jackson Blues Band.
OMC: How did the band get together?
SJ: My saxophone/keyboard player Aaron Walker put the band together. He got my name and number from a guy who keeps a Rolodex of people looking to put a band together. I can't remember the guy's name but I remember getting his number from an ad I read in the Shepherd that said he was looking to put together a band. By the time I called him he had already got what he needed, and so he asked me if he could keep my name and number to give to others who might be looking to put a band together; I said yes and months later I got a call from Aaron. That was about a year and a half ago. As far as the other band members, Aaron placed an ad on the Milwaukee Rocks Web site and first my guitar player Emre Alp responded and we set him up for a try out and liked him. Then Mike Grassman, my drummer, responded and tried out. Mike knew my bass player Matt Miller and that's how he tried out. Everybody blended together so well, but don't get me wrong, me and Aaron tried out a lot of people before we got that perfect blend.
{image2}OMC: Is it unusual to find a young blues band these days that mixes original material in with the covers? Are crowds receptive to the original material?
SJ: I think that maybe it is a little unusual in a way because people are always coming up to us saying things like you guys are so different but you sound good, or its so nice to see a good blues band I hardly ever see blues bands anymore, and you guys are so young. People are always telling us that they like the way we mix our original material with covers, we get a lot of compliments on our original stuff.
OMC: Do you have trouble -- like Blondie did -- with people not realizing that Miss Shanna Jackson is band and not just one person?
SJ: No, not at all because when people see our flyers it says Miss Shanna Jackson Blues Band.
OMC: Is the band working on a new disc? What can you tell us about that?
SJ: Yes, we are soon to be working on a new CD with only original material on it; it should be completed within a couple months.
OMC: What has been the high point of being in the band so far?
SJ: Well, I like to play in front of a huge crowd because people respond to you so well and that gives me a rush, but I remember playing on a beach in Racine a couple times last summer, it was hosted by a harmonica player by the name of Melvin Barker, it was like this big band jam off type thing but we were the opening act, and the crowd was huge, and in the crowd was Rob Waters the keyboard player that played for Norah Jones and during a break we got a chance to talk with him and he agreed to play a few songs with us, and WOW it was just great, what a rush.
OMC: When are your next gigs in Milwaukee?
SJ: We're mostly on the road in the near future, but we will be at the The Bosch in Hales Corners on March 31, Donges Bay Club House on April 23 and the Milwaukee Ale House on April 28.
Miss Shanna Jackson Blue Band's Web site is missshannajackson.com.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
