The Pappy Johns Band is a Canadian

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

band whose core members have been performing together for over 30 years. Don Powless (bass), Murray Porter (vocals/keyboards) and Oren Doxtator (drums), met in 1978, and played together in the ''Bar Road Band''. Faron Johns later joined the group, and in 2003 the group added the services of

singer–songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk-acoustic tradition, although this role has transmuted th ...

and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

, Josh Miller, for their album tour''Full Circle''. Joseph Michael Mahfoud recorded the studio tracks for the Full Circle CD. Joseph started the tour, but could not finish due to family obligations. The Pappy Johns Band is known to Canadian

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

audience for being the house band on

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN, stylized aptn) is a Canadian specialty channel. Established in 1992 and maintained by governmental funding to broadcast in Canada's northern territories, APTN acquired a national broadcast lice ...

s’ variety program ''Buffalo Tracks''.

Awards

The Pappy Johns Band won the award for Best Group/Duo at the 2002 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. Band members won three additional awards: for Best Male Artist (Faron Johns); Best Song & Songwriter for Blame It On Monday (Faron Johns); and Best Producer/Engineer (Alec Fraser & Band). In November 2004 the band won Best Blues Album at the 2004 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards for Full Circle, and they were 2005

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

nominees for Aboriginal Recording of the Year for ''Full Circle''. In November 2009 The Pappy Johns Band won again for Best Blues Album @ The Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards for "Havin' A Good Time Now"

Current line-up

Don Powless -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, is a Mohawk originally from the Six Nations Reserve, but currently resides in

Fort Erie, Ontario Fort Erie is a town on the Niagara River in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. It is directly across the river from Buffalo, New York, and is the site of Old Fort Erie which played a prominent role in the War of 1812. Fort Erie is one of N ...

. In addition to The Pappy Johns Band, Powless has played in blues bands that include ''Bar Road Band'', ''The Roadhouse Band'', and Painted Pony. Oren Doxtator –

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s, is originally from the Oneida Settlement (near London, Ontario), but he grew up in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. Currently a resident of Fort Erie, Ontario, Powless and his

brother-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred ...

Oren have formed a solid rhythm section for over 30 years. John Lee - Piano/vocals, is originally from St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, but currently resides in Kitchener Ontario, has toured and written songs with Matt Minglewood, Mel Brown & The Homewreckers and Beverly Mahood. Josh Arden Miller: guitar/vocals, is also a Mohawk from Six Nations. Miller plays guitar and vocals. He toured across Canada with Murray Porter while still a

teenager Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

. In addition to be a member of The Pappy Johns Band, he also fronted his own bands, ''The Soul Kings'' and ''Three Wheel Drive''.

Discography

*''1492, Who Found Who'', First Nations Music, Murray Porter (solo), 1995 *''Blame It On Monday'' Independent, 2002 *''Skin Tight Blues'' A First Peoples Blues Compilation Sweet Grass Records/EMI Music Canada, July, 2002, tracks ''Blame It On Monday'' by Pappy Johns Band and ''Colours'' by Murray Porter *''Full Circle'', Independent, November 2003 *''Blues sur Seine compilation'', France, July 2005, includes the song ''Make Your Mind Up'' by Murray Porter *''Toronto Blues Society 20th Anniversary compilation 2005 TBS'', May 2005, includes the song ''Meat on the Bone'' by Murray Porter

References

External links

CanadianBlues.caCDBaby.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pappy Johns Band, The Canadian blues musical groups First Nations musical groups