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Bio
In today’s ever expanding market of musicians and musical acts, finding true roots music built on heritage and yet staying original becomes harder and harder to find. Herein lies the foundation for one of the most explosive blues acts coming out of the Southeast today, The Shane Pruitt Band.? Lead man Shane Pruitt hails from Spartanburg, SC, where the musical roots of the blues and southern rock have been living and breathing for years on end. Birthing such musical talents and styles like those of Toy Caldwell and The Marshall Tucker Band, David Ball, Champ Hood, Walter Hyatt, and many others, Spartanburg has named Shane Pruitt its “Instrumentalist of the Year” for eight years and running.
After working through the Winter of 2009-2010 on their long-awaited second studio effort, State of Grace, which features a number of new original tunes that display the virtuosity and growth of this ever-evolving blues and gospel trio, the band continues to ride its debut excitement. Featuring an array of instrumentation and amazing tones and sounds from the entire collection of ’68 Fender Amps (www.stuckclutchamps.com), State of Grace includes guest appearances by Roosevelt Collier on the pedal Steel, Molly Rose Reid and Eleanor Underhill on vocals, and a local horn-section derived of members of the Spartanburg and Greenville Philharmonics.
Living and breathing the blues and gospel, The Shane Pruitt Band embodies a regional tradition while bringing its original tone and flare to every performance. ?Finding itself ever-searching in musical traditions between Delta Blues, Gospel, and Southern Rock, The Shane Pruitt Band embraces in the Jam Band traditions of improvisation and an ever-evolving musical experience. Picking up momentum with every performance, Shane Pruitt and his trio are driving towards uncharted waters while wowing critics everywhere they play.
Moving along after their album release with road-powered steam, the band has made friends and colleagues across the board with their soulful sound. Having shared the stage with such greats as Johnny Winter, Junior Brown, Chuck Raney, Victor Wooten, Galactic, Gary Hoey, Hot Tuna, Robert Randolph, Papa Mali, The Neville Brothers, Mose Allison, The Lee Boys, Roosevelt Collier, Oteil Burbridge, Kofi Burbridge, Damon Fowler, Yonrico Scott, Devon Allman, Sol Driven Train and many, many more, Shane Pruitt is a name to be known amongst the insiders of the southern music scene.
The members share their own place in music history as well. Hammond B3 player and vocalist Lil’ Jimmy Peterman isafounding member of the Steve Miller Band (1967-1969), having also been a founding member of the Steve Miller Blues Band (featuring Steve Miller and Bozz Scaggs’ original colaboration). Shane’s prior colaboration, Flat Front Tire, was also a fixture in small club touring throughout the late 90′s and early milleneum. Over the years Shane has also become a favorite session guitarist amongst many circles, and has been seen performing with The Marshall Tucker Band, Jeff Sipe, Ike Stubblefield, Yonrico Scott, Col. Bruce Hampton, Duane Trucks and many more. Drummer Bill Fletcher has seen many years at the backline, playing and touring with Robin Rogers before joining his first collaboration with Peterman and blues singer Wanda Johnson, known as Cocktail Frank.
The band is proud to boast their place in the Top 10 Regional Albums of the Year 2008 for WNCW 88.7 FM. Their debut album, The Shane Pruitt Band, took the #7 spot on the list, beating out a phenomenal list of competitors from throughout the region. The band’s 2010 Release, State of Grace was named the #2 Regional Release and #3 Blues Release of 2010 in 88.7 WNCW’s 2010 Top Albums of 2010. The album was also featured as Elwood Blues’ Blues Breaker on the 2/20/11 airing of The House of Blues Radio Hour with a debut spin of the original track “Thought You Were My Friend”.