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Tom Rigney, Blues on the Coast Series

Tom Rigney, the fiery, electrifying violinist/composer, joins forces with some of the finest musicians on the San Francisco roots music scene to form Tom Rigney and Flambeau, a band that will tear the roof off of any place that has one and raise the spirits of everyone around. Rigney, after fifteen years at the helm of The Sundogs, has stepped out into the spotlight with a vengeance. Flambeau showcases his passionate, virtuoso fiddling, his commanding stage presence, his range, depth, and originality as a composer, and of course, those notorious red boots. His bandmates are veterans of the great bands of Charles Brown, Queen Ida, Roy Rogers, Clifton Chenier, and others, and together they generate enough heat and energy to ignite a dance floor or lift an audience to its feet.
Flambeau specializes in fiery Cajun and zydeco two-steps, low-down blues, funky New Orleans grooves, and heartbreakingly beautiful ballads and waltzes. Most of the repertoire is composed by Rigney, but they also mix in a few classics from the Cajun/zydeco/New Orleans songbook. And if, along the way, you pick up a trace of Rigneys Irish roots or a little Swing and roots Rock and Roll, it just makes the musical gumbo that much tastier. In the past few years Rigneys skills as a composer have broadened and deepened, and he is today writing some of the most evocative and uplifting music you will hear anywhere. And Rigneys charismatic stage presence and high-energy delivery draw the audience into his performances and make them feel that they are an integral part of the music and the show.

Voted Best Cajun/Zydeco Band of 2004 by the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame, Tom Rigney and Flambeau are making some serious noise on the American Roots Music scene. Flambeau has been tearing things up at festivals, dances, and concerts all over the continent--from the Ft. Lauderdale Cajun Crawfish Festival to the Edmonton Blues Festival to the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee to the Alaska State Fair. Their debut CD, Red Boots and Rice, was released on the Parhelion label in early 2000, following up Rigneys critically acclaimed 1998 solo album, Chasing the Devil. In June of 2002, Tom released Metamorphosis, a brilliant and eclectic collection of new instrumental pieces. The next Flambeau CD, Happy to be Here (2003) has sent happy listeners into serious dance frenzy. In 2004, Tom released A Blue Thing, a great new disc of blues violin that has received buckets of airplay and rave reviews.