Jamie McLean Band with special guests John Popper (of Blues Traveler), Taylor Hicks and more!

Jamie McLean Band celebrates the release of their new album "Sunday Morning" at Brooklyn Bowl with very special guests John Popper of Blues Traveler and American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. "Sunday Morning" is the second in a series of 4 albums that the band will release this year. It features the core band along with John Popper of Blues Traveler on harmonica and Nigel Hall of Warren Haynes Band/Soulive on keys. Since leaving New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Jamie McLean has been tearing up the festival and club circuit with his original blues, rock, roots and soul. Jamie McLean Band has recently toured with Gregg Allman, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Drive By Truckers, Gov't Mule, Soulive, Jackie Greene, Blues Traveler, North Mississippi Allstars and many more. The band was featured at Bonnaroo Music Festival 2011 playing 4 sets over the course of the festival weekend and McLean headed the "New Orleans All-Stars" featuring Jamie McLean, Ivan Neville, Terrence Higgins and Kirk Joseph.

John Popper doesn’t know what came over him that one night last winter, although he has a pretty good idea.

“Something in me kicked in and I just floored it,” says the singer/harp slinger, referring to a brief, Beethoven-scored joy ride, that was the trip from his home to the recording studio in Santa Fe. “It was absolutely exhilarating. I felt free, because I was going to do something I loved, and just for me.”

That something was a month-long recording session in the mountains of New Mexico. The self-titled debut (due out March 1, 2011, through 429 Records) of John Popper and The Duskray Troubadours to be specific, a side project that’s more like a part-time band, a scrappy, roots-rock extension of Popper’s work in Blues Traveler.

Now before you get the wrong idea, John Popper and The Duskray Troubadours is more than a Popper-led solo project or a back-to-basics whiff of nostalgia. It’s the sum of six rock-solid players—rounded out by bassist Steve Lindsay, drummer Mark Clark, guitarists Kevin Trainor and Aaron Beavers, and guitarist/producer Jono Manson—coming together to channel the loose, limit-less spirit of simpler days.

“What I love about this album is that I’m playing differently,” says Popper, “and not because I tried to, either. The music led me there, which is the best way to do it, really. On this album, melody is what drove everything.”

“It’s a full spectrum of songs,” adds Manson, “but it all fits together. That’s because the main personalities on this record are the tunes. They’re the kind that could stand up with a whole band or one person singing them.”

Indeed they are. In fact, it’s hard to single any songs out when they’ve all got something special to offer. We’re gonna try, though, starting with the boot-scuffing cow-punk chords of “Leave It Up To Fate,” the bottle-passing back porch grooves of “Champipple,” the heart-tugging, honey-dipped blues hooks of “Bereft,” and the Memphis soul melodies of “Hurt So Much” and “Something Sweet.”

Listen to that last one closely, and you’ll find a lyrical nod to Second Avenue, a New York City strip that was the breeding ground for Blues Traveler and the Troubadours’ extended family in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. Back then, Popper would often open for Manson’s band (The Worms) at Nightingales—an absolute epicenter of live music, and pint-sinking crowds who stuck around from 10 ’til 4.

“No matter how much you want to go back to a certain time, you can’t,” admits Manson. “I mean, we have more than 20 years of experience behind us now. So there wasn’t a conscious effort to revisit a certain place musically, so much as a zone that was familiar to all of us.”

“There’s a certain confidence that comes from age and wisdom that you can’t fake,” adds Popper. “I appreciate the opportunity to even make this record. And I’m glad Jono and I decided to do this so far in the game. In the end, I needed it; I needed to feel this liberated.”

On May 24, 2006, Taylor Hicks, Alabama’s favorite son, made television history when audiences made that evening’s American Idol finale one of the most watched television programs of the decade. It was an emotionally uplifting night when 36.4 million viewers tuned in and 63 million votes were cast to name Hicks the Season 5 winner of American Idol. It was Hicks’ stage that evening and the applause has continued since, with his loyal following of fans cementing Hicks as one of America’s favorite artists.

Since winning American Idol, Hicks debut album went RIAA certified platinum; he has performed with the likes of Willie Nelson, Snoop Dog, Gladys Knight, Earth Wind and Fire and The Allman Brothers; appeared in concerts worldwide and penned a brisk-selling Random House autobiography, “Heart Full of Soul.”

2009 was a turning point in Hicks’ career, when through his own record company, Modern Whomp Records, his first independent album, “The Distance,” was released. “The Distance” includes the popular roadhouse single "Seven Mile Breakdown” and the soulful “What's Right Is Right.” In addition to the album, the company released the DVD, Whomp at the Warfield, which offers fans exhilarating live performances by Hicks and his band at the historic Warfield Theater in San Francisco. With “The Distance,” produced by Simon Climie, the most credible of musicians, like Abe Laboriel, Jr. and Doyle Bramhall II, approached Hicks’ about collaborating on the album and Hicks’ realized then this musical validation was a sign on the road to artistic independence.

With numerous Broadway offers at his heels, Hicks embarked upon New York City the same year in the hit musical, Grease. When his fans around urged him to visit their hometowns with the show, he eagerly agreed to the national tour, which just completed its run. For eighteen months, cities across America and Canada saw Hicks as Teen Angel, singing “Beauty School Dropout,” and as an extra bonus, enjoyed him singing a song at each finale. The loyal audiences who cheered for him on Idol were once again close at hand applauding him at venues all across the country.

Hicks, who hails from Birmingham, Alabama was destined for the musical stage from an early childhood. Focusing on music full-time, Taylor then became a fixture around the southeast, playing concerts and club dates with visiting stars like, James Brown, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Robert Randolph, Keb’ Mo’ and Widespread Panic among others and released two independent albums “In Your Time” and “Under The Radar.” These albums were compiled and released by Vanguard Records as “Early Works.”

His personal twist of fate came when he was in New Orleans, the night before Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005. With his flight canceled, he was given a free airplane voucher. Taylor quickly used the ticket to travel to Las Vegas, where coincidentally American Idol auditions were being held. The rest they say is history.

Chosen as an Idol contestant, from the start, Taylor’s material set him apart, with a unique take on southern soul, R & B, country and blues. Less than three weeks after Hicks’ Idol win, his debut single, “Do I Make You Proud,” entered at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, Pop 100 and Single Sales charts, with first-week sales over 190,000 units. Coinciding with the single release, a cover story named Hicks as People Magazine’s “Hottest Bachelor of the Year.”

His self-titled album, Taylor Hicks (Arista), was released on December 12, 2006, and debuted #2 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 298,000 copies and was quickly certified RIAA platinum.

Taylor Hicks is busy in rehearsals, fielding new TV and Film opportunities, and Taylor is excited to bring his raucous and moving live shows back to intimate venues where his fans will experience the true force of each performance.