About Us

The Bobby Parris Band

The Band

Steve Wheeler : Bass
Steve has a long performing career that includes performing with bluesman Long John Hunter and opening gigs for artists such as Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Blue Oyster Cult, Dread Zeppelin, and Eddie Money . He is the product of a musical family based out of Detroit Michigan. As a young man he took his cue from his grandfather who had been a composer and band leader with the Detroit Conservatory of Music. After getting his start studying and performing with the Phoenix College Jazz Band for 5 yrs Steve began playing with a top 40 band called “The Heat”. After that Steve spent 5 yrs playing blues with a band called “Hot-Ice” and recorded 2 CD’s. For the last 9 years Steve has played with Patte’ Williams a local Phoenix Jazz/ R&B vocalist .

Tom Labieniec: Guitar

Me in a nutshell: Berklee Boston, massive record collection, sports, old horror films

Musical Influences: Roy Buchannan, Hendrix, Clapton, B.B., Freddie, and Albert King

Favorites: Giants, Bridget Bardot, Emma Peele, Raquel Welch

Played with: (nearly) every blues player in Phoenix

Rob James has been playing drums and percussion for over 25 years and is a seasoned veteran of live performance. Rob spent his high school and college years studying and performing with many marching and symphonic ensembles including Arizona State University’s Symphony Orchestra and Sun Devil Marching Band. In his first year of tryouts, Rob achieved top positions in both usually reserved for upper-classmen.

After leaving school, Rob concentrated on honing his drum set skills, mostly in rock and progressive music. In addition to exciting, fluid drum work, Rob has become a strong and skilled vocalist. Always adding strong harmonies, he will also regularly sing lead.

Rob has spent many years with original acts such as Tunesmith, blues-rockers Poppy and the Usual Suspects and hard-rock cover band Mr. Hyde. Rob currently plays regularly with Rush tribute act Anthem, Eagles tribute act Take It To The Limit, Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute act Second Helping, cover/original band Rizon, jazz/blues/soul act Patte Williams and Company and does many corporate and festival shows with Stomp-style stage show Street Jam. He is also a local favorite to fill in for Phoenix cover bands such as J.D. Madrid, The Heat and Nightshift.

Bobby Parris was born in Phoenix, AZ at a time when the R&B scene was exploding locally and nationally. As a child bobby was mentored by a blind man named L.B. Brown, who had been the keyboard player for Muddy Waters. L.B. Brown taught Bobby how to play and sing from his heart and to always make it “groove”. At the age of 16 Bobby toured with an R&B band called “Haze Express” and got the chance to share the stage with groups like the Coasters, Archie Bell and the Drells, Lakeside Express and many others. Upon his return to Phoenix Bobby discovered a flourishing R&B scene in Phoenix and assembled a group with 3 former members of “Dyke and the Blazers” who at the time had a top 10 hit on the national R&B scene with “Funky Broadway” a song written about an infamous stretch of road in Phoenix right next to Bobby’s childhood home. The song was covered by both Wilson Pickett, and Sam & Dave. After several years with his new band Bobby turned to the Gospel scene and started a group called Gospel II which stayed together and played churches and the gospel scene for over 10 years. Gospel II opened for some of the biggest names in gospel including, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Willie Neal, and the Lumsey Sisters.

After playing with local jazz legend Patte’ Williams Bobby joined forces with legendary bluesman “Long John Hunter” and toured the world sharing the stage with names like War, Wolfman Washington and many more. After coming off the road bobby relocated to Nashville and worked with singer Essra Mohawk. The pairing culminated with an appearance at the annual Summer of Love show in San Francisco. Now with the 2008 release of “the bucket of blues” Bobby feels he has come full circle as a person and a performer and is ready to hit the stage as the star. Bobby has gathered what in his opinion are “the greatest musicians in the world for my sound” and the bucket of blues definitely reflects that. Bobby and the band have already begun work on the next CD tentatively titled “The Times”, according to Bobby “it’s gonna be HOT!

(All Lyrics by Alice Parris on BUCKET of BLUES)