Sonny Moorman

"I came to play" says Sonny Moorman. "I was raised in the bars my folks owned in and around Hamilton, OH and got to hear world class artists Lonnie Mack, Cal Collins, Dumpy Rice, Troy Seals, Wayne Perry, and a score of others up close and personal and learned one thing – all the hype in the world doesn't mean a thing unless you can back it up!" Those are words Sonny has lived by through the decades of roadhouses, bars, and juke joints from coast to coast. He backed it up gig after gig, night after night, and year after year until his own "hype" got too big to go unnoticed any longer. After a decade of playing rock bars in Michigan with a variety of bands and a five year "visit" to LA during which he graduated from Musician's Institute and played with "Z Deluxe" (Warren Zevon's former tour band), Moorman returned to Ohio – and to the Blues. When Cincinnati Blues icon Big Ed Thompson suffered his debilitating stroke, Sonny was brought in to handle the guitar and vocal chores in Big Ed's band – the Cincinnati Blues All-Stars. The CBA's ETH Records release – Live at Burbank's chronicled the band during this period, and Living Blues Magazine was effusive in it's praise for Moorman's playing and singing. Not satisfied with the stylistic limitations of the All-Stars, Sonny moved on – to the Blues/Rock power trio format that is his vehicle to date. In 1994, Moorman and his band played the Memphis Cross-Cultural Music Exposition and got a recording deal with Sun Studio's 706 Records imprint. "Gary Hardy (then Sun Studio manager) came up to me before I walked off of the stage at Blues City and offered us a deal", says Sonny. Two 706 Records releases followed – L*I*V*E and Telegraph Road. At that point Moorman started what became a four-year tour with Easyriders Magazine playing their events and became a client of manager William Perkins (Allman Bros., SRV, Tinsley Ellis). Sonny recorded his next releases on Perkins' Atlas Records label, including the 2009 Just Plain Folks, Best Blues Album / Best Blues Song nominee – Crossroads Motel, Live as Hell, and and Sonny's current release, More Live as Hell – Up to My Neck in the Blues. In addition to the critical acclaim from these releases, Sonny is the 2007 International Blues Challenge Solo/Duo 2nd place, 2008 Solo/Duo "Blues Artist on the Rise" – Blues Festival Guide Magazine, and he and his band were finalists in the 2010 International Blues Challenge. Noted music Journalist Randy McNutt may have said it best, "He can flat-out play—and sing… Sounds have been passed from blues giant Freddy King to Lonnie Mack to Sonny Moorman." "Although listeners can hear the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Rory Gallagher, Lonnie Mack, and Peter Green in his music, any comparison does him no justice. Basically, Sonny sounds like Sonny, with a fat, creamy, and wonderful power blues resonance." Brian D. Holland, Blues Revue Magazine "In the best tradition of power trios, Moorman delivers the crunch and the wow!" -- Jim Hynes, Elmore Magazine To learn more about Sonny Moorman visit his website: www.sonnymoorman.com Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SonnyMoormanGroup ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/SonnyMoormanGroup Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.