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The band is made up of 6 players of diverse backgrounds: Don
“Zero” Hedman, keyboards, trumpet, vocals; Tim Howard, harmonica
and vocals; Bob “ The Professor” Stickel, lead guitar; Dave
Knize, drums and vocals; Tom Pillsy, bass and vocals; Bill
“Smokin Bill” Zink, lead guitar and vocals. Cracker Blues has become one of the
area’s premier blues bands. The desire of all of the members of
this band has been to preserve and promote the style of the
blues from both the classic and the modern artists. We strive to
bring the audience not only a selection of blues classics but to
do it in a way that is new and exciting. It has been said many
times that we are having as much fun as the audience while
performing the music of the greatest blues artists of all times.
That observation is an understatement.
Cracker Blues has been performing regularly for the last eight
years in the Fort Myers area and played all major festivals
including the Edison Fest, River and Blues Fest, Taste Of The
Town, SW Florida Music Fest, Italian Fest, Gulf Coast Town
Center Weekend Concert Series, Gumbo Fest and opened for major
acts including Charlie Daniels, Eddie Money, Foreigner, Lee
Brice and many others. We got together as lovers of the
blues and started playing the blues in a few clubs. We sat one
night and wondered what we would call ourselves. We were all
Florida folks, hence “crackers” and we love the blues. The
name hit and stayed ”CRACKER BLUES”. We put a mix of the classic, slow,
“feelin” blues in with the “Chicago Blues” and "Texas Blues"
that was re- made famous by the Blues Brothers, BB KING, Buddy
Guy, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Luther Allison, Stevie Ray
Vaughan, The Allman Brothers, The Blues Brothers, Howlin' Wolf,
Elmore James, Muddy Waters and so many, many more!
Our uniqueness centers around our philosophy and logo: The basis of who we are is in our dedication
to the classic style of the blues.
We work hard to be one of the best blues bands in SW Florida so
that we CAN play not only the big festivals each year but also
smaller private functions and the occasional gratis performance.
We are committed to preserving the love of the blues and the
musical heritage that it represents and to keep it alive .
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