The Soulcat - El Gatto
Although born in Maine, (the same state that has brought us serious guitar slinger Nick Curren now with The Fabulous Thunderbirds, the legendary Lenny Breau (Chet Atkins self proclaimed favorite guitarist), country "hot rod" Johnny Hiland, all the way to pop rocks' Howie Day, it seems that Jimmys' soul got "raised up" in Louisiana and Texas. Jimmy began playing guitar at the tender age of 7 on an old Sears Silvertone his dad bought for him.
By his mid-teens, he was saturated in music from roots rock to bluegrass, soul, gospel, country, folk and blues. Approaching his twenties, the blues stuck like glue.
Forming several rock bands in the late 70’s and early 80s’ and while honing his guitar skills on The Allman Brothers, Cream, Hendrix etc. Jimmys’ yearning for the blues took him deeper into Freddie King, Albert King, B.B., T-Bone Walker, Guitar Slim, Magic Sam and those recordings became his University of the Blues. With the birth of Jimmy and the Soulcats in the mid 80s’ he received his P.H.D. and was finally able to perform the music he truly loves. And perform he did, relentlessly, just about everywhere you can imagine!!!!!
Maine to Memphis, Lubbock, TX to Canada.
In 1993 when the status quo for New England blues bands was to release an album of traditional blues covers, The Soulcats released Things Have Gotta Change, an album of entirely original blues songs penned by Jimmy. Things Have Gotta Change was distributed internationally and won Jimmy critical acclaim not only as a guitarist but also as a songwriter. The cut "You're not the one" from "Things Have Gotta Change" became a minor "shag" hit on WWBZ Myrtle Beach N.C.This recording received extensive airplay in Europe, often on top 10 blues charts as well as here in the states on AOR and college radio.
Things Have Gotta Change also opened the doors to some of the most prestigious music venues in the country( House of Blues, Harpers Ferry, The Boston Blues Festival) and appearances with heavies like, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, The Robert Cray Band, Zora Young, Asleep at the Wheel (grammy award winning Texas swing kings), Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters, The Eddie Burkes Band, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, Anson Funderburg and the Rockets, and a holy host of others.
Jimmy and the Soulcats performed throughout New England on into the south, southwest and into Canada releasing the followup CD, Powerful Love (blu Rocket) in 1998, once again to critical acclaim.
In 1999 scheduling and personal matters caught up to Jimmy and it was time for a break. A 3 year hiatus followed.
Since then Soulcats appearances have been few and very selective, but in 2004 they re-entered the studio to begin work on an upcoming, highly anticipated release. This recording promised the to be the best yet, exploring some of Jimmys’ other influences yet remaining true to the blues.
Stay tuned…….the best IS yet to come!!!!