Anson Funderburgh (born James Anson Funderburgh; November 14, 1954) is an American blues

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978. Their style incorporates both

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

and

Texas blues Texas blues is blues music from Texas. As a regional style, its original form was characterized by jazz and swing influences. Later examples are often closer to blues rock and Southern rock. History Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900s ...

Career

Funderburgh was born in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

, United States. Anson was with The Bee's Knees in 1976 and recorded "Cold Hearted Woman". In 1977 the Rockets began with Anson, Mark Hickman on Fender bass, David Watson on drums and vocalist Darrell Nulisch. In 1981, Funderburgh released the Rockets' debut album ''Talk to You By Hand'' from

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

based Black Top Records. The band consisted of Anson, with Darrell Nulisch on vocals and harmonica. The album included a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Earl King Earl Silas Johnson IV (February 7, 1934 – April 17, 2003),
known as Earl King, was an American singer, guit ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

, "

Come On Come On may refer to: Music * Come On (EP), ''Come On'' (EP), by Elf Power, 1999 * Come On (Billy Lawrence song), "Come On" (Billy Lawrence song), 1997 * Come On (Christine Anu song), "Come On" (Christine Anu song), 1995 * Come On (Chuck Berry son ...

". ''Talk to You By Hand'' was also the first ever release by the

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. Before the debut album's release in 1981, Funderburgh participated that same year with

The Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American blues band formed in 1974. Career After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records and later signed with Epic Recor ...

in recording of their ''Butt-Rockin album. Funderburgh and the Rockets appeared at the 1984

San Francisco Blues Festival The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was the one of the longest running blues festival in the United States. History Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the ...

. When Nulisch left the band in 1985, Funderburgh invited the blues harmonica player Sam Myers from

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...

to fill in the spot. He stayed with the band until his death on July 17, 2006, appearing on eight albums with them. The first Rockets'

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

featuring Myers was ''My Love Is Here To Stay'' which came out in 1986. Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets appeared in the 1994 film ''China Moon,'' starring Ed Harris and Madeleine Stowe. They are shown playing "Tell Me What I Want To Hear" from the self-titled release. As well as the studio recordings, in 1990 the band played the

Long Beach Blues Festival The Long Beach Blues Festival, in Long Beach, California, United States, was established in full in 1980, and was one of the largest blues festivals and was the second oldest on the West Coast (first being the San Francisco Blues Festival). It ...

. The same year, they appeared on show number 109 of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

television program 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 advertising, ...

, '' Sunday Night''. In 1989 and 1990 the band's bassist was Mike Judge, future animator and creator of '' Beavis and Butt-head'' and ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

''. Their song "Can We Get Together" was also featured in the film, '' 21 Grams'' in 2003. In 2007, Funderburgh played on and produced John Németh's album, ''Magic Touch''. Németh had briefly replaced Myers in Funderburgh's backing band. In 2011, ''The Mill Block Blues'' album was released. The CD was unique in that a portion of the sales of the album was donated to help fellow musicians in need via the HART Fund. The HART Fund (Handy Artist Relief Trust) is a service provided by the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...

which provides for acute, chronic and preventive medical and dental care as well as funeral expenses for blues musicians. In October 2012, was the first U.S. and European tour of Golden State / Lone Star Revue, an All Star package that included Funderburgh, Little Charlie Baty on guitar, former Rockets drummer Wes Starr, bassist Richard W. Grigsby and leader, harmonicist and singer

Mark Hummel Mark Hummel (born December 15, 1955) is an American blues harmonica player, vocalist, songwriter, and long-time bandleader of the Blues Survivors. Since 1991, Hummel has produced the Blues Harmonica Blowout tour, of which he is also a featured p ...

. The quintet was featured on Hummel's 2014 release on

Electro-Fi Records Electro-Fi Records is a Canadian award-winning independent record label founded in 1996, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which specializes in the release of blues records. History Electro-Fi Records was founded in 1996 by Andrew Galloway, with a ...

, ''The Hustle Is Really On'', nominated for a Blues Music Award for 'Best Traditional Blues Album' in 2015. In 2013, Funderburgh produced and featured on The Andy T Band's ''Drink Drank Drunk'', released on Delta Groove. In 2014, he was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Best Instrumentalist – Guitar' category. More recently, Funderburgh co-produced

Dany Franchi Dany Franchi (born 3 February 1990 in Genoa, Italy) is an Italian electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Franchi has recorded three albums to date, with the first two crediting his backing band. His third studio album, ''Problem Child'' ...

's album, ''Problem Child'' (2018). He also produced Breezy Rodio's 2022 album, ''Underground Blues''.

Discography

*1981: ''Talk to You By Hand'' ( Black Top) *1985: ''She Knocks Me Out!'' (Black Top) *1986: ''My Love Is Here To Stay'' (Black Top) *1987: ''Sins'' (Black Top) *1990: ''Rack 'Em Up'' (Black Top) *1991: ''Tell Me What I Want to Hear'' (Black Top) *1991: ''Thru the Years: A Retrospective'' (Black Top) *1995: ''Live At the Grand Emporium'' (Black Top) *1997: ''That's What They Want'' (Black Top) *1999: ''Change In My Pocket'' (Bullseye Blues) *2003: ''Which Way Is Texas?'' (Bullseye Blues) *2011: ''Mill Block Blues'' (Ruff Kutt) *2013: ''Deal With It'' (EllerSoul Records) *2013: ''Drink Drank Drunk'' (Produced, featured) ( Delta Groove Productions) *2014: ''The Hustle Is Really On'' (Mark Hummel) Golden State/Lone Star Revue (

) *2016: ''Golden State/Lone Star Blues Revue'' Golden State/Lone Star Revue (Electro Fi-produced, featured)

References

External links

Anson Funderburgh's web site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Funderburgh, Anson 1954 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists People from Plano, Texas Texas blues musicians Chicago blues musicians Black Top Records artists Contemporary blues musicians Guitarists from Illinois Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians

Career

Discography

See also

References

External links