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Stealin the Covers

Stealin the Covers came about because we wanted to make a record for our fans. Alfred Legarde called them the "happy few" who love rock n' roll with horns. It's probably an acquired taste, like tabasco on scrambled eggs... not for everybody. But they have been asking us for this CD of our cover tunes for years.

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Chris Daniels and Bmaster - We'll Meet Again!

Check out this latest release from Chris Daniels. It is a live recording from a show he did with BMaster at Q-bus in Leiden Holland. It is a party all wrapped up in a CD just waiting for you to open it up and start dancing around! In true Chris Daniels tradition there is an amazing blend of Blues, Funk, Rock and even a bit of Creole Jazz! Raise your hands to the horn section and give it a twist in your jeans to old favorites like, “You Put the Hurt on Me” and “I Like Your Shoes’! You will also find that heartbreak story in “American Tragedy”. Chris Daniels is an amazing storyteller through his music and conversations with the audien

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10

TEN: So it's an after hours party CD. Thenth Record and ten songs - but Chris Daniels & the Kings have always been a jam band with horns.
It started when Chris and the guys invented the "After Hours Jam" at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival for Fred, and they ran it for 10 years (yup, another reason for the title of "10"). Friends like Bella Fleck, Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien, John Cowan, Lyle Lovett, Vince Gil, David Bromberg, Peter Rowan, Jonell Mosser and hundreds of others sat in at the Sheridan Opera House, people hanging out of the balcony, on sessions that lasted until 3 or 4 am. Chris and the Kings established a tradition that has been carried on by String Cheese, Leftover Salmon, and a host of others. Legendary jams, Sam Bush with his Friebird, Bella with his brand new electric banjo, Victor Wooten and Edger Myer playing together with Bro for a three bass solo on Tower of Power's "Don't Change Horses", left an indelible mark on the King's style.: improve and experimentation. To this day CD&K are the only full-fledged horn-band to close the Friday night main stage at a bluegrass festival with an 18 minute version of James Brow's "Living in America" which included banjo, mandolin, dobro, fiddle, lap steel, and washboard.

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The SparK

As a kid I loved playing acoustic guitar harmony parts to records by Taj Mahal, Mississippi, John Hurt, John Sebastian, and others.
That "spark" led to the day when I left home for my first professional gig at 17. I started out as an acoustic guitar player and this album, a choice of words not a memory lapse, is a return to those sounds.

A lot of the stories on this record have a western backdrop because it's where I've lived most of my life. But the west I know is not always a picture postcard mountain scene. The stories are personal and come from the cities, towns, bars, friends, musicians, love, loss and what seems to be a particular outlook on life that is part of the American West

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Choice Cuts

This CD is dedicated to all of the happy few: the players, radio DJs, fans, graphic artists, road crew, agents & managers (the good ones), critiques (good and bad), friends, and fans on both sides of the ocean. Some players are no longer with the band and some of our best friends have passed along the way, Fred Shelman, Alfred Lagared, Larry Wilkins, and Neon Park. You are missed. Thanks to one and all.This CD is dedicated to all of the happy few: the players, radio DJs, fans, graphic artists, road crew, agents & managers (the good ones), critiques (good and bad), friends, and fans on both sides of the ocean. Some players are no longer with the band and some of our best friends have passed along the way, Fred Shelman, Alfred Lagared, Larry Wilkins, and Neon Park. You are missed. Thanks to one and all.

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Louie Louie

Louie Louie was conceived in Holland in 1991, but it took almost six years before the Kings tried a full night of Louie Louie live on stage at Denver's Swallow Hill Festival in 1997. According to Chris, the concept came to him after playing at the Queen's Birthday festival in Holland. At a wild party in a second floor apartment in The Hague, kind of like a 1940's rent party, Daniels asked Big Al, the king of Dutch radio, about an idea Chris had for an acoustic Kings record. Chris wanted to use the music of Louie Jordan, Louie Prima, and Louie Armstrong to celebrate the complexity and fun the Kings were famous for.

As Daniels tells it, "Al looked at me and said... 'It'll be fuckin great but nobody will buy it. Who want to hear swing?" Five years passed, but the endorsement of the legendary Dutch DJ stayed with Daniels. Suddenly, in the latter part of the 1990's, swing is hip again and the time seems right for Louie Louie.

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Live Wired

Recorded in 7 places: The Little Bear in Evergreen, Colorado; Herman;s Hideaway in Denver, Colorado; The Parkpop Festival in Den Haag, Netherlands; KBCO's "Studio C" in Boulder, Colorado; Big Al's "Countdown Cafe" radio show in the Veronica Network from Hilversum, Holland; and the Spaziomusica in Pavia, Italy.
In our travels we have developed two continents of really crazy supporters who will drive half-way across hell and back to catch one of our shows. Folks like Ghurt in Belgium and Michael in Germany and Charlie in Minnesota who get in their van and cars and drive 1000's of kilometers just to see a show. Thanks to you all and a thousand others I did not have room to mention.

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Is My Love Enough

Bill Payne wrote the title cut. Neon’s "Marlin Duck," was on the cover, one of his last. Produced by Chris Daniels with help from Bill, who played keyboards, Sonny Landreth on slide guitar, Pinki on drums, Colin "Bones" Jones on guitar, Dean on keys, Bro on bass, Fly, Forrest, and Carlos on horns.
Amsterdam came out of these sessions. I wrote it after an all night drive with Big Al’s son across Holland. Kip Kipper did the horn arrangements and Gary Sosias is on percussion. It was never released until now. Sonny wrote Congo Square. He and I lived in the same town in Colorado for a few years. Many artists have recorded it including The Neville Brothers but Sonny said this was a favorite. I met Dave Steen at a blues festival in Nebraska. I learned about him from friends in Nashville. We recorded a bunch of his tunes over the years but Three Straight Days of Rain captures both the weather in Holland and the Kings in full tilt blues mode. Recorded at Colorado Sound by Jim Tuttle and Kevin Clock.

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In Your Face

Produced by Larry Wilkins it featured songs by Chris, John Cowen and Russell Smith.
The Kings started out as Russellís back up band. This song seemed to touch the hearts of both Vietnam vets and the Dutch. Michael Schuller and Larry on guitars, Dean on keys, Pinki on drums and Fly, Forrest and Carlos on horns. Recorded at Fanfare by Mark Derryberry and mixed by Kevin Clock and Jim Tuttle at Colorado Sound. Neonís "Bert & Deb Duck was on the cover in the US and Europe.

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That's What I Like About The South

That's What I Like About The South, 1989 The famed "Kooper sessions." Chris met Al Kooper through David Bromberg at the Bottom Line in New York.
The record was named for Neon Parkís painting on the cover. I Like Your Shoes featured Larry Wilkins and his wife Kathy on back up vocals, Neil Stubenhouse on bass, Larry Thompson on drums, and Al Kooper plus Benmont Trench, from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, on keyboards. For song the horns were Fly, Forrest, and Jim, with Randy on guitar. It felt like Tom wrote Depot Street for the Kings, but he first recorded it with "Mud Crutch." Al Kooper brought the Kings the song and arranged the horns with Fly. It was the first song off "That's What I Like About The South" to make the A-3 charts thanks to KBCO. Steve "Pinki" Soell on drums, Dean LeDoux on keys, Kevin "Bro" Lege on bass and Carlos Chavez joined the band for this record. Recorded at Colorado Sound with Kevin Clock and in LA at Alís studio, the Slammer.

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When You're Cool

When You’re Cool was the Kings first "hit" thanks to some wild Minnesotans and a station called Cities 97.
Eventually it broke the top ten on stations around the USA. The Kings were the first Colorado act to put out a Compact Disc. Randy on guitar, Joey DeLauro on drums, Milt Muth on bass, Tom on keys, Fly, Forrest, and Jim Waddell are the section. This is the original version with David Bromberg on slide guitar. David met the Kings thanks to Fred Shelman at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The Kings played Telluride 10 years in a row and the "After Hours Jams" introduced the Kings to the world. David says he wrote Testify for the band. David on lead vocals, plus Sylvia Penny, Hope Horman, Vanessa Waller, and Sheila Thomas on back up. Gloria is the story High Fidelity long before the movie. The Kings video, shot in New York City, ran on Much Music and VH-1, winning awards at the New York TV and Film festival. Sam Bush is on mandolin and the background vocals are the Nylons, recorded in Toronto. They sing the intro to Roadhouse, about a "juke joint" near Chris’ grandparent's house in South Carolina: a wild place where, as a kid, he would sneak out to listen to incredible black musicians. Recorded by Kevin Clock, Colorado Sound.

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Has Anyone Seen My Keys

Has Anybody Seen My Keys, 1985 Produced by Bob Brunham at FTM studios.
Phillip "Fly" McClard on tenor/baritone and horn arrangements, Forrest Means on trumpet, Tom Capek, Steve Conn and Larry Baird on keys, Randy Barker on guitar, Joey Delauro and Andy Peak on drums, Bryan Grassmeyer on bass, Robert Zuckerman, Barry Voth and Steve Owen on alto sax, and The Nylons on back up vocals. The sax solo is Bob Rebholz. This song was first "I Need Your Love," later "Hot Summer Nights," on the Kooper sessions.