Boyd & Wood
BOYD AND WOOD is a new duo from TALLAHASSEE. You may have seen them doing their acoustic show around the area at HOOTER'S BIKE NIGHT, POCKETS,PARADISE, THE SALTY DAWG, FLOYD'S, PO BOYS, FAMOUS DA or even at SPINNAKERS in PC all summer long!

Billy Rigsby - Lead vocals/guitar. The founder of The Billy Rigsby Band, Billy has lived in the Big Bend area of Florida since the late '90's. Having been playing the guitar since early childhood and beginning to sing as a young boy in his hometown Texas church, Billy is quite a seasoned and professional player, yet still very much down to earth and eclectic in the same breath.

His idols growing up, ranging from Marvin Gaye and Al Greene, to Michael Jackson and Robert Cray, gives Billy  a sound of true soul and a performance full of energy like no one else around. Opening for some of the greatest in the past years such as James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire, Charles Atkins & Bobby Rush, and starting such bands as Oreo Blue (NW Arkansas) and Fat Loretta experience is anything  but lacking. Billy Rigsby is the glue that not only built, but holds the Billy Rigsby Band  together. With originals such as Is He & Law of the Jungle, you have simply got to hear him to believe what you have been missing

J.B.'s ZydecoZoo
Florida's Hottest Zydeco Band!
 
An Interview with John Babich (J.B.) by Jan DeCosmo

Why Zydeco?
Though not a native to Louisiana, I am a student and big fan of Louisiana's roots music. As a piano player, the city of New Orleans captured my musical inspirations with artists like Professor Longhair, James Booker and Dr. John. In the mid-1980's I made my first pilgrimage to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and witnessed thousands dancing to Zydeco bands. As a result, I acquired an accordion and started playing Zydeco shows in Tallahassee. My love is ultra groovin' music that gives music lovers no chance but to dance.
 
What is your background and history in music?
My formal musical training was as a percussionist. I attended Florida State University's School of Music in 1973 but also used this time to teach myself piano. In 1980, I said goodbye to the real world and became a touring musician, playing with several bands across the US. In 1988, I hooked up with slide guitarist Bill Wharton and recorded five albums with him in the next 11 years. We recorded with Virgin Records, Ichibahn Records and Kingsnake Records. Tours led us across the US and Canada. We played many Zydeco festivals, even though we weren't a true Zydeco band, and shared the bill many times with Buckwheat Zydeco, Terrence Simien, C.J. Chenier, and Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas. A number two hit in France found us making several tours to the continent and playing some of Europe's largest music festivals.
 
I was so busy with this project, I could not continue my Zydeco, even though I was playing and recording with my accordion. The whole time, people back home were always asking, "When are you going to do the Zydeco thing again?" After I left that project, I came home and saw that Zydeco was growing in popularity in my area and there was no band to fill this void. This, plus my love for the music, is my inspiration for the ZydecoZoo.
 
I have also run the biggest Blues/Zydeco/Americana website on the Internet for the past six years. http://blues.about.com
 
Who are the J.B.'s ZydecoZoo band members?  And what is your repertoire?
With me in this groove are two of North Florida's most experienced and respected musicians. Missippy James on guitar and Jiggs Walker on bass. A recent Tallahassee transplant from Lafayette, Louisiana, Martin Guilbeau joins us on drums and Keith McCraw is our rubboard man. Our music is high energy, rockin’, rhythmic Zydeco in the vein of Beau Jocque, Clifton Chenier, C.J. Chenier, Rockin' Dopsie and Stanley Dural, Jr. (AKA Buckwheat Zydeco). Also, my debut CD release "J.B.'s ZydecoZoo", contains 10 smokin' original Zydeco tunes.
 
When did J.B.'s ZydecoZoo debut in Tallahassee?
December 6, 2002 at the American Legion Hall. Since then we have gone on to play festivals throughout the Southeast such as the prestigious Three Rivers Music Festival in Columbia, SC, the massive Deerfield Beach Crawfish Festival in Deerfield Beach, FL, Mudbug Maddness out in Shreveport, LA, the wild Mardi Gras Maddness in West Palm Beach, the historic Crawfishman's Crawfish Festival in Jacksonville, and the down-home Freedom Blues Festival in our hometown of Tallahassee.

Tobacco Rd Band - Tobaccordband.com

After months of playing gigs as a duo, Tobacco Rd decided they wanted to expand to a full band. Eric had played with Joe Markham for a short while in a band called High Speed Rodeo and sought him out to play drums. They practiced for a while as a trio while looking for a bass player. After a few options didn't pan out, Lex decided to look up his old bassist from The Redwood Band and SRO, Aaron Halford. Aaron came out to one practice and they knew that Tobacco Rd had officially gone from the Tobacco Rd Duo to the Tobacco Rd Band. They played their first show as a band two weeks after that first practice together at the 17th Annual Crawfish Festival at PoBoy's in Downtown Tallahassee.

After years of knowing each other and their abilities, it was finally the right time for all of these musicians to combine their talents and collaborate. Their years of combined music experience and friendship is the cement that will hold this new outlaw country band together to begin building the blocks of a whole new scene that Tallahassee has never seen before. "Stiff Drink", their first single, is currently blasting through the airwaves of local country radio station 103.1, The Wolf. They are taking this town by the horns, and then they will do the same to your town after that. Saddle up ya'll…it's gonna be a wild ride!

King Cotton