Roger "Hurricane" Wilson
Bluestorm Records
P O Box 1212
Kennesaw, GA 30156
Tel: 678-296-9850
E-mail: roger@hurricanewilson.com Web Site: www.hurricanewilson.com
Roger Hurricane Wilson Biography There’s a certain hesitancy that any individual takes on when booking new entertainment. There are pages full of bands and acts who can strum a few chords, play the intro to “Freebird,” and treat you like a steppingstone they are using until they “hit it big.” There’s no more fearful time in a pub owner or recreation director’s life than when they are watching that night’s opening act set up, wondering if this will be the night the house empties when the band starts to falter. Enter Roger “Hurricane” Wilson from Kennesaw, Georgia. With a solid resume, a polished skill set, and the manners and demeanor of a southern gentleman, Roger Wilson is simply what’s right with the musicc business these days.Since the age of 9, the “Hurricane” has been perfecting the art of the blues, Americana, roots, country, and classic rock into a polished package that once heard makes the person who booked him breathe a huge sigh of Recently, Roger made a swing through the Northeast, playing at two resorts that see mainly an inner-city crowd from New York. Normally, music like Roger’s would have tough inner city teenagers running for the nearest exit. After the opening song, the crowd started to grow. After one set, toes were tapping and heads were nodding along to the beat. Children were dancing. Teenagers, normally off doing what teenagers do, sat together, talking, watching, and listening. Roger was able to expose them to a history and a music that they may have never been aware of previously. Despite what some would see as a huge and gaping cultural divide, Roger prevailed. “No one has to like you,” Roger stated. While he’s right about that, it certainly doesn’t hurt when people applaud when you’re finished playing. Despite success with his eight albums and his years playing on the road, Roger takes the time to give a little girl some one on one conversation, and when she asks for his autograph, he seems as tickled to give her his signature as she is to get it. Roger sits at breakfast, chatting away with everyone at the table, volunteering to sit around the campfire with another aspiring guitarist later that evening- as long as he doesn’t mind listening to the Braves game in the background. Almost in spite of the time he spends with anyone he comes in contact with, Wilson has been able to produce eight solid albums. To hear him and meet him makes the fan wonder which he’s better at; relating to people or relating to his music. For any blues fan, “Live From The Eye Of The Storm,” released in 1996, has the raging, wailing heart of the blues beating in it. Quite simply, the tone Wilson is able to achieve in this album is the sound that makes teenagers across the world pick up a guitar in the first place. “The influences for Eye Of The Storm were from playing live, and we were just trying to capture some of that in one place.” Wilson stated. Duane Allman, Les Paul, and BB King were large influences Wilson’s sound and tone. Reading down the resume a bit more, he jammed with Albert Collins and Stevie Ray Vaughn in 1980. In 2003, Roger became friends with the legendary Les Paul at one of his weekly New York City shows. He jammed with Les another 7 times or so, and they remained friends until Les passed away in August of 2009 at age 94. “After one show when he was 92, Les came back into the dressing room, collapsed on the couch and said, ‘Man I’m Tired!’” Wilson stated. “I said, ‘Les! Are you OK? He said, ‘Oh yea, I’m fine. I’ve just been putting in these 14 hour days’. I replied, ‘14 hour days! What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m still trying to get that sound right!’ I was amazed! This is why he would jump out of bed every morning….to keep chasing sound.” Roger has been able to capture many sounds over the years, and well. Over the course of his eight albums, Roger has presented a varied group of music to his fans. Each album tells a story, some in folk, some in country, and some in the blues. “As any musician will tell you, each recording represents you at the time it was done,” Wilson stated. “The road and working regularly will make you mature whether you want to or not. The stuff I am recording live now, once I sort out the keepers, will be exactly what I would send to somebody to represent exactly what I do. While Roger is on the road for about 9 months a year, he has never forgotten his adopted home town, Kennesaw. Each year, he flies home to perform at Kennesaw’s Big Shanty Festival in the spring and it’s Pigs and Peaches in the summer. Starting this year, he has also been a featured performer at the Taste of Marietta always held on the last Sunday in April. Roger flies homes to attend these local events , even if it takes a “red eye” from California as it did this summer for the Pigs and Peaches Festival.
Roger & Les Paul in New York City – 2007What’s so noticeable about Wilson is that he not only knows how to play the blues, but he also knows why they need to be played. Roger can convey that reason onto every member of the audience, and it’s the reason he is as genuine and authentic as musicians come these days. Wilson records on his own label, Bluestorm Records, and can be found on the web at www.hurricanewilson.comBlues In The SchoolsRoger has been performing and teaching guitar since 1973. His course approach specializes blues guitar workshops and the Blues In The Schools program. The success in teaching through the years is placing the emphasis on enjoyment while teaching students about the origins of blues music, the only true original American music art form. The mission statement is one of striving to preserve this music art form by way of presenting simple, yet informative stories through words and music during certain specified sessions. During a one-hour lecture and performance, students are taught about blues music originating in the Mississippi Delta, but also how different sounds and musical influences developed, geographically to the present, having to do with the U.S. migration northward from the south. This presentation covers the origins of blues music from its early beginnings, e.g. field hollers, work songs, etc. to its current popularity. Through song, lecture and discussion, students learn the history of the Blues while hearing instrumental examples sung and played on guitar. Basic definitions of Blues music such as, “What is the Blues?” are reinforced throughout this session. This course is geared toward everyone, regardless of age as individuals being exposed to blues for the first time, as well as furthering interest through prearranged sessions at schools, colleges, libraries, community centers, or music festivals. This is the most effective and recommended workshop for the uninitiated, and is designed to reach a mass audience. The session may also include a separate solo acoustic guitar/ vocal performance, or an electric set featuring guitar, bass, & drums.