Tony Spinner - Crosstown Sessions - 1996

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Tony Spinner - Crosstown Sessions - 1996

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Biography: Tony Spinner (b. 9 June 1963, Missouri, USA), is a great blues/hard rock singer and guitarist who has been touring with Toto since 1999, having been selected by David Paich as a backup guitarist and backing vocalist. When Tony is not touring with Toto, he plays in The Tony Spinner Band. He has toured as guitarist and background vocalist with the great Pat Travers Band. He has also released several albums of his own on the Blues Bureau International Label. Other work includes a brilliant cover of "Up From the Skies" on the 2003 "Voodoo Crossing" Jimi Hendrix tribute CD, and he has recorded for tribute albums to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King. "Crosstown Sessions" is a great no frills hard rockin' blues/hard rock album. Listen to his "Saturn Blues" album, and Toto's great "Live in Amsterdam" album.

"Don't try to impress with fancy guitar licks, but always play from the heart!" - Tony Spinner, musician, guitarist and vocalist is not only a blues player through and through who lives and breaths blues music, he is also blessed with an incredible voice as well as an amazing guitar technique. That's what makes him such an exciting performer to see live! Let's dig into the career of this unbelievable talented guitarist to find out what Tony is all about! Tony was born in Cape Girardeau, MO on June 9, 1963. His family wasn't musical as far as playing instruments, but they listened to music a lot especially Marty Robbins, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and a wide variety of others. Tony always got excited when a tv show would have a musical guest. He loved to watch shows like Sonny and Cher, Dean Martin and Glen Campbell. Tony always liked music as far back as he can remember: "I started off liking '50's rock-n-roll celebrities such as Little Richard and Chuck Berry who I still like today and I also remember liking songs that told stories like "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Groce and "Uneasy Rider" by the Charlie Daniels Band." At the age of 8 he took guitar and piano lessons for a short time but he really wanted to play the saxophone, because it always was the lead solo instrument in most of the '50's music that he listened to at the time. At age 14 Tony really got serious with guitar after watching the movie "Woodstock" and seeing Alvin Lee with 10 Years After and Jimi Hendrix. Tony tried out for a jazz band but it only lasted a day and a half on guitar: "On the second day of rehearsal the band leader figured out that I couldn't read music and sent me on my way. He said I couldn't play in the jazz band without learning to read music. I still can't read and I still don't play jazz!" During his highschool period Tony and his buddies always had a band. They changed the name of the band almost every week, because they couldn't agree on a name! They played hard rock like Van Halen, Ted Nugent and Queen. The musician that influenced him most was Chuck Berry: "His music still gets me excited when I listen to it. He really wrote some great lyrics. Jimi Hendrix was very influential because he was so expressive with his music. Stevie Ray Vaughan got me out of hard rock and back into the blues and boogie that was my first love and of course Rory Gallagher was a big influence, because he taught me to play from the heart and not to think too much with your head. Don't worry about trying to impress people with fancy guitar licks…but play from your heart!"

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Tony Spinner - Crosstown Sessions - 1996

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Review:
"Crosstown Sessions" is a barn-burning dose of blues/rock which reflects Tony's many influences such as Rory Gallagher, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan and which provides Tony Spinner a claim to the blues guitar crown.

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Tony Spinner - Crosstown Sessions - 1996

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