“Slide Monsters!” The Highway 99 Blues club celebrates blues slide guitar, bringing together three Pacific NW monsters of the slide guitar style: Brian Lee, Mark Riley, and Rod Cook, with the Orbiters! These Northwest greats each have a unique and distinctive slide guitar voice, and together they’re a perfect compliment. They are also all superb singers, and songwriters.
Mark Riley has been honored with fourteen
Best of the Blues Awards from the
Washington Blues Society , including Best Slide Guitar in 2011. He played for 7+ years with Lil’ Bill & the Blue Notes. Following the Blue Notes, he has been front man for his Mark Riley Trio, as well as the recent Snake Oil project with Rod Cook. Most recently, Mark has joined
Blues Redemption.
Mark has opened for slide great
Sonny Landreth, as well as
BB King,
Taj Mahal. Mark and his band also backed 2011 British Blues Awards Male Artist of The Year
Ian Siegal. As owner and builder of RnB guitars, he’s also built guitars for both Sonny Landreth and Ian Seigal.
Rod Cook is known for his stylistic versatility and soulful, melodic playing. As part of his versatile repertoire, he is an amazing slide man. From the early 1980's to the early '90's he played with The Royals, a mainstay in the Seattle blues and rock scene. He then teamed up with singer/songwriter/bassist Laura Love, recording seven albums, two of which were released on Mercury Records, and touring the United States, Canada and Europe. In 1993 he also teamed up with former Steve Miller Band guitarist James "Curley" Cooke and formed the acoustic guitar duo "Double Cookin'." In 1996 he launched his own band, Rod Cook and Toast, a band performing original and cover material based in blues, rock, country, Americana, surf and American roots music, releasing two albums. Since 2004, he has performed with Vicci Martinez recording three albums. Rod can be seen performing periodically with Northwest icon Little Bill Englehart, and Snake Oil with Mark Riley.
Rod has backed Taj Mahal, and opened for
Todd Rundgren, Sonny Landreth, and
Charlie Musslewhite. He has been nominated numerous times for the Washington Blues Society's "Best Of The Blues" Awards, winning three times.
Brian Lee leads
Brian Lee & the Orbiters, and the Brian Lee Trio. They've opened for
Little Charlie & the Nightcats and
Tommy Castro. Brian and the Orbiters have been honored with seven "Best of the Blues" nominations by the Washington Blues Society, including nomination for "Best Slide Guitar" in 2011. Backing the Slide Monsters for the night are the stellar, soulful, Orbiters, featuring Hank Yanda, Russ Kammerer, and Steve Yonck.
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