JOHN EARL

John was born in Lubbock, Tx. & brought up on the Rock-N-Roll of Buddy Holly, Western Swing of Bob Wills, Ft. Worth's 'Honkey Tonk' and the Soul & Texas R&B of Big 'D's deep Elm District. As one 'In Music Magazine' journalist put it ..... ''John Earl could sing the Yellow Pages and make you believe every word!
After a tour of duty with the US Navy, he toured across the USA from 1965 till 1974 playing the KOMA Radio Circuit out of Oklahoma City opening for such acts as 'Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels' and 'Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs'! After almost 10 years on the highway coast to coast he and his band of old school mates 'Beaumont & Gould' moved to Holland where he played rock & blues clubs in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Zurich and all points in between.

John also worked with the USO as an agent/musician playing and booking other acts for the US, British and NATO military bases in Western Europe and the United Kingdom. In 1976 John founded Amsterdam's first 'Live Music Hostel' 'The Last Waterhole', which was located in the Red-Light District near Amsterdam's Central Station.
The Motto, "Live Music, a Bar & a Cheap Hotel within crawling distance!" 24/7 !!!

John and the renamed P.O.T. (Pride of Texas) band played as the house band and were soon joined by great bands from all around the U.K., Europe and the USA!
Opening night was April 1st 1976 with special guests 'Asleep at The Wheel'...what a party!!!John said "My favorite band and our alternate resident/house band was 'Old Tennis Shoes', a KICK-ASS, Original Blues/Rock quartet from England. They completed the equation and the place was a great success"! Although John sold it in 1984, it is still going strong today and is now located on the Leidseplein by the World Famous music venues the 'Milky Way' & the 'Paradiso'!
John Earl came to Las Vegas with his English wife, Shirley and their new baby Elizabeth in 1986 after living and performing in Europe for 11 years and a subsequent year of fishing in East Texas! "I had to get back into the American lifestyle, Drinkin' Beer & Fishin'!"

After working construction for 2 years he put together the 'Black Sheep Blues Band' which became the Boogieman Band and 2 years later he and Shirley converted a defunct sports lounge into the infamous World renowned 'Sand Dollar Blues Lounge'. 'The Boogieman Band' resided here as the house band from 1990 until September of '99. "It was a failing sports bar when Shirley took over management and the blues scene was young in town," John says. "We put the band in and built it to the point where there was live blues 7 nights a week with local acts as 'Ruffnecks', 'Al Ek's Shuffle-aires', 'The Last Band', 'Eddie Joe's Smokin' Crawdads, 'Clamtones' 'Junior Brantley and Friends', 'Charlie Tuna' and many others. The Sand Dollar was the first venue in Las Vegas to feature touring National and International Blues Artists including 'Charlie Musslewhite', 'Marcia Ball', 'Tinsley Ellis', 'Kenny Neal', 'Rod Piazza', 'Bugs Henderson', the 'Nighthawks', 'Michael Burks','Lucky Peterson','Little Charlie & The Nightcats, 'Jimmy Witherspoon', 'Mem Shannon' and many others!
"In this business eventually everything loses it's attraction for you. After almost a decade we felt we could go no further, so we gave notice and moved on." said John.

John Earl was also the co-producer, host and founder of Las Vegas' first commercial Blues Radio show! It was called "Crusin' for a Bluesin" on 96.3 KKLZ, which ran from 1991-98.
John and Shirley also founded, co-produced and hosted the 'Lee Canyon Blues Festivals' & 'Music on the Mountain' for over a dozen concerts. The Sand Dollar Blues Lounge will soon celebrate it's 20th Anniversary and 3rd owner as a Blues Bar! Festivities are planned for April 17th, 2010! There will a dozen bands performing throughout the day and night and John and the Boogieman Band will host in their NEW configuration, 'Brantley, Tofield & Earl ~The Boogieman Band'! The band continues to play Casinos, Blues Venues, Bike Runs, Concerts and Festivals all over the West from Montana to Arizona and Colorado to California, as well as recording and the group is set to release its tenth CD soon.

Click for John Earl's Press Bio