Chris O'Leary Band

The Chris O'Leary Band

www.thechrisolearyband.net

Every so often you’re lucky enough to see a band and realize that everything is just right. The right personalities, the right arrangements, the right instruments, the right attitude… everything just comes together perfectly. “Tight” doesn’t describe it. Bands that rehearse and work hard and can stop and start on a dime are tight. Bands that know each other like the back of their hands are something special. - Review by Eric Gleason.

“Levon Helm’s singing har­mon­ica man leads his crew through a sopho­more set [on Wait­ing for the Phone to Ring] that is any­thing but sopho­moric. With a jun­gle blues vibe and pow­ered by non-stop energy, this crew has got the blues right in the pocket deliv­er­ing a fun, high octane set that makes the only color in blues blue. If you aren’t inter­ested in hear­ing about pick­ing cot­ton and fight­ing boll wee­vils, this is the stuff for you. Hot stuff.“
– Chris Spec­tor, edi­tor and pub­lisher, Mid­west Record

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“Front man Chris O’Leary car­ries the group .….with a huge shout and force of nature har­mon­ica sound… he gen­er­ates author­ity.“
– Griel Mar­cus

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“O’Leary, for­merly with Levon Helm’s Barn­burn­ers, is a more than capa­ble singer and Chicago-style har­mon­ica styl­ist; the proof comes in the shuf­fles and jump num­bers he han­dles with suave assur­ance on his debut record­ing. It’s really the slow tempo of Blues is a Woman that draws out his best singing, rem­i­nis­cent of Jimmy With­er­spoon. His Hud­son Valley-based cohorts stir up the all-original mate­r­ial with­out fal­ter­ing. Young gui­tarist Chris Vitarello mer­its notice for his tech­ni­cal pow­ers and imag­i­na­tion, his reach extend­ing to rock­a­billy and swing­ing jazz.“
– Frank-John Hadley, Down­beat Magazine