The Lamont Cranston Band is an American blues

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

, based in

Hamel, Minnesota Hamel is an unincorporated community in Medina, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. Hamel has its owfire station and post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting lett ...

. It was founded in 1969 by brothers Pat and Larry Hayes and continues today with Pat as the band's frontman. The band is named after the alter ego of the

pulp hero Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

History

"Excuse Moi, Mon Cheri," written by Larry Hayes, was recorded by the

Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respecti ...

and released as the B-side of their single " Soul Man". In 1981, the band broke into the '' Billboard''

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tab ...

with their biggest

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

"Upper Mississippi Shakedown", The song appears often on Classic Rock and Album Oriented Rock radio stations worldwide. The band has played with some notable musicians, such as

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...

Albert King Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...

, Stevie Ray Vaughan,

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaugh ...

, the

Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...

, the Yardbirds,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, Yes and the

. In 1981, they opened for the Rolling Stones on a leg of their North American tour. Pat Hayes played guest harmonica on a track on Percy Strother's second album, ''The Highway Is My Home'' (1995). It was a reworking of

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning hi ...

's tune, "One Of These Mornings."

Band members

Current lineup

*Pat Hayes, vocals, guitar, harmonica *Bruce McCabe, piano *Jim Greenwell, saxophone *Brad Pelkey, bass *Jeff Rogers, drums *Rod Smith, guitar *Tim Wick, organ

Previous members

*Dick Perna, tenor saxophone *Dave Olausen, guitar *Danny Webb, drums *Joe Sherohman, bass *Jim Novak, drums *Ted Larson, guitar *Ted Sherarts (Teddy Morgan), guitar *Larry Hayes, guitar *Bob Bingham, guitar *Charles Fletcher, bass *Andy Bailey, piano, Hammond B3 organ *Dale Petersen, piano, Hammond B3 organ *Jon Preizler, piano, Hammond B3 organ *Aaron Virnig, drums *Brian Risling, saxophone *Billy Shiell, trumpet, flute *Bill Black, bass *Michael Carvale, bass *Charlie Bingham, guitar *Mick Masoff, bass *Rick O'Dell, saxophone *Tommy Burnevik, saxophone *Pete Masters, trombone *Larry McCabe, trombone *Rico Anderson, drums *Mike DuBois, drums *Jesse Petrowski, bass *John Baker Saunders, bass *Paul Scher, saxophone *Danny Rowles, piano, organ *Greg Shuck, drums *Jason Kotecki, drums *Jeff Rogers, drums *Brad Pelkey, bass *Jason Medeiros, guitar *Rob Arthur, keyboard, guitar *Joe Chandler, Saxophone, guitar

Discography

Albums

*''The Lamont Cranston Band'' (1976) *''Specials Lit'' (1977) *''El-Cee Notes'' (1978) *''Up from the Alley'' (1980) *''Shakedown'' (1981) *''Bar Wars'' (1981) *''Last Call'' (1984) *''A Measure of Time'' (1986) *''Tiger in Your Tank'' (1988) *''The Lamont Cranston Blues Band featuring Pat Hayes'' (1991) *''Upper Mississippi Shakedown: The Best of the Lamont Cranston Band'' (1993) *''Rock Awhile: The Early Years 1975–1978'' (1994) *''Roll with Me'' (1997) *''Tiger in Your Tank'' (1999) *''Lamont Live!!'' (2001) *''In the 80's'' (2009) *''Live at the People's Fair 1987'' (2010) *''Lamont Cranston Band with Bruce McCabe'' (2012)

Singles

*"Aint Nobody Here but Us Chickens"/"Something You Got", Shadow Records (1976) *"Takin' a Chance" / "E Jam", Waterhouse Records 15002 (1979)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamont Cranston Band, The Musical groups from Minnesota Musical groups established in 1969