Tipitina's Presents
Honey Island Swamp Band

The Honey Island Swamp Band are a thrilling, eclectic band that defies genre conventions, renders song structures elastic, and wholeheartedly stresses that the song reigns supreme.

Since they formed in 2005 in San Francisco after their displacement from New Orleans via Katrina – and subsequently relocated back home – the band has evolved to embody contemporary roots music.

The fivesome – bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Wilkinson, guitarist and vocalist Lee Yankee, bassist Sam Price, keyboardist Chris Spies, and drummer and vocalist Garland Paul – is about to release their most satisfying, consolidative album to date: Custom Deluxe, out June 23 on Color Red Music.

Songs like the kinetic “High River Rag,” authoritative “Wildfire” and blues-rocking “Sugar For Sugar” display these musical omnivores at a new zenith.

“We’re definitely melody-driven, vocal-driven, lyric-driven,” Wilkinson explains of the Honey Island Swamp Band’s modus operandi at this juncture, with Custom Deluxe. “We like something that’s new, yet sounds like it could have been a hit that you didn’t know about.”

“Their all encompassing sound of blues, roots, country, and soul has been described as “Bayou Americana.” – No Depression

Honey Island Swamp Band is:

Aaron Wilkinson – vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica
Lee Yankie – guitar, vocals
Chris Spies – keyboards
Sam Price – bass, vocals
Garland Paul – drums, vocals

The Honey Island Swamp Band catalog also includes five award winning albums – Honey Island Swamp Band (2007), Wishing Well (2009), Good to You (2012), Cane Sugar (2014) and Demolition Day (2016) – each of which was named Roots Rock Album of the Year by New Orleans’ prestigious Offbeat Magazine.

“Somewhere, there exists a dark, smoky bar with a jukebox that spins George Jones, Gram Parsons, Delbert McClinton, and Little Feat. And if that fantasy honky‐tonk lights your Marlboro, you need to know about Honey Island Swamp Band.” – Broward‐Palm Beach New Times

ERIC JOHANSON BIO & PRESS QUOTES 

Eric Johanson is a multiple Top 10 Billboard-charting guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose repertoire includes progressive Americana, blues-based roots rock, New Orleans funk, and more. His four most recent solo releases – Live at DBA: New Orleans Bootleg, Covered Tracks: Vol. 1, Covered Tracks: Vol. 2, and Below Sea Level – all reached top-ten positions on the Billboard blues charts. As a collaborator, his most notable recent work is as a guitarist on Big Chief Monk Boudreaux’s Grammy-nominated 2021 album, Bloodstains & Teardrops. 

As a touring performer, Johanson’s solo festival appearances include the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Las Vegas Big Blues Bender, and Voice of the Wetlands. He and his band have appeared in more than 100 cities across the United States, including Albuquerque, Baltimore, Boston, Bozeman, Charlotte, Denver, Houston, Madison, Memphis, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Tampa. Johanson has performed with Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, the Neville Brothers, Terrance Simien, JJ Grey, Eric Lindell, and others on international stages and festivals including the Chicago Blues Festival, Edmonton Blues Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Byron Bay Bluesfest (Australia), Airbag Festival (Belgium), and more. 

A self-taught child prodigy, Johanson grew up in Alexandria, Louisiana, where he was gifted his first guitar at age five. By his pre-teen years, his love of the blues performed by his family members and played in his childhood home merged with his love for hard rock records by Metallica, Megadeth, and White Zombie. Throughout his teenage years, he performed frequently with older blues musicians, generating for himself considerable acclaim as a budding regional star. What would prove to become a lifelong exploration of his varied musical interests began in earnest after moving to New Orleans, where he embraced progressive rock and beat-making while simultaneously developing his blues voice. After graduating from the University of New Orleans, Johanson spent several years in New Zealand before being called back to his adopted hometown and the improvisational, extemporaneous nature of roots music in New Orleans. 

Johanson has since established himself as an in-demand guitarist and guest performer for some of the most prolific names in New Orleans’ diverse roots music scene, including the Grammy-winning stars Cyril Neville, Anderse Osborne, and Neville Brothers. In 2017, blues  rock icon Tab Benoit took notice and signed Johanson to his Whiskey Bayou Records label. That same year, Johanson released his Benoit-produced debut solo album, Burn It Down, which led to two years of national touring with Benoit. 

2019 saw the Nola Blue Records release of a duet album with singer-songwriter Tiffany Pollack, Blues In My Blood, as well as Johanson’s appearance at an all-star jam concert with the North Mississippi Allstars’s Luther Dickinson during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 2020, Johanson signed with Nola Blue Records and released Below Sea Level, which was recorded at Zebra Ranch and includes contributions from Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) on drums, Terrence Grayson (Victor Wainwright) on bass, and Ray Jacildo (JD McPherson) on B3 organ. The album features 12 original songs penned by Johanson, and was mixed by Dan Auerbach’s head engineer at Easy Eye Sound in Nashville, M. Allen Parker. 

Johanson’s fan base grew extensively during the pandemic and ensuing shutdown of live music, due to his successful acoustic livestreams, during which he mixed original songs with covers of artists representing a variety of genres. Popular demand led to the release of Covered Tracks, volumes one and two, in the spring of 2021. In early 2022, Johanson released Live at DBA: New Orleans Bootleg, his first live album and a double-disc raw and unfiltered snapshot of his live band in action.