Contagious Blues Band injects Southern Rock into the mix

Sep 19, 2008

The Contagious Blues Band represented the Triangle Blues Society earlier this year at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. While in Memphis for the IBC, the band was one of four bands invited to participate in the Blues Kings of Beale Street competition at the New Daisy Theater. Contagious Blues Band won the competition, hauling home prizes and, best of all, money.

Howell founded the band in 1999. "I've been through several bass players and several guitarists," he chuckled in a phone interview, "but we narrowed it down two years ago to the personnel we have now.

"I feel like we've got a good band now. And it's not just a good band; these guys I play with are great guys, too. Everybody has a good head on his shoulders; we're serious about what we're doing when we show up at a gig."

The band released its first CD last February. The album, titled "Ride," was released on Howell's indie label, Howlrecords, and was a 2008 International Blues Foundation nominee for Best Self-Produced CD.

Howell said that the band has been busy since "Ride" was released. They've opened for national acts in the past, and will do so again in October when they perform with Blues Traveler and Collective Soul.

Howell took a seat behind a drum kit when he was 6 years old, and he evidently liked the view.

"I was playing professionally at age 13," he said. "I always played in weekend bands when I was growing up. When I was older I landed a good job in the printing industry and eventually started my own printing company."

But Howell could not escape the call of music. "When I turned 38 I decided I needed to chase my dreams," he said. "I sold the printing company and invested in the band. Since then everything has been looking up, especially in the last two years."

He is a long-standing fan of Southern rock. When he put together the band in 1999, its sound was wandering somewhere between rock and blues.

"When I decided to do my own thing, I didn't want to be doing all these cover songs that everyone does. ...," he explained. "We picked up on Albert King and Muddy Waters -- those old school guys -- and rocked it up some. We basically evolved into a blues-rock band. ...We stuck with the blues sound after that, although we've still got that Southern rock feel."

Although Howell sold his printing company in '99, he essentially traded one business for another. He does the booking, promotion, and management for the band, and he started Howlrecords as well.

He has no current plans to change his do-it-yourself style. "I'm always telling the guys that we don't really need to pay a manager or a booking agent," he said. "There are so many people trying to get their hands in the pot, but we don't have to do that. If we do the footwork ourselves, it pays off. We get festival gigs, for instance, just by getting on the phone and hounding people.

"We've had people approach us," he continued, "wanting to manage the band, and I've even given them the opportunity. I've given them a list of clubs and said, 'Show us what you can do for us.' But so far they haven't been able to do anything we couldn't do ourselves. So until a major label or a major booking agency steps up, we can do this ourselves."

Gates open tonight at 5 p.m. today for the Bull Durham Blues Festival. Get in at 5, snag a good spot, and the Contagious Blues Band will light the fuse on your Friday night.

Philip Van Vleck charts our world's music from his office in Cary. Reach him at vanvleck@nc.rr.com.

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BULL DURHAM BLUES FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Today

Contagious Blues Band, 6 p.m. Rosie Ledet, 7 p.m. Clarence Carter, 8:15 p.m. Marcia Ball, 9:30 p.m. Gates open 5 p.m. at Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Saturday

Big Road Blues Band, 6 p.m. Bernard Allison, 7 p.m. Denise LaSalle, 8:15 p.m. Taj Mahal. 9:30 p.m.

Gates open at 5 p.m. at Durham Bulls Athletic Park Tickets: www.hayti.org, www.bulldurhamblues.org, (919) 683-1709