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Fact Sheet
Fact Sheet
Palm Wine Boys
| Hometown: | Oakland, CA |
| Musical Style: | A fusion of American folk and West African palm wine music |
| Latest CD: | Up & Down (wp0041) |
| Band Members: |
Tom Chandler: guitar and vocals
Richard Linley: guitar and vocals Eliyahu Sills: bass, flute and vocals Q.B. Williams: percussion and vocals |
| Web Page: | www.palmwineboys.com |
| Record Label: | Wildplum Recordings, Oakland, CA; www.wildpum.com/palmwineboys |
| Booking: | Lisa Walters, EU Booking Agency, (925) 280 9133 |
| Points of Note: |
Currently touring in support of new CD.
New CD reminds many of early highlife or acoustic calypso. The Palm Wine Boys fuse the lyrical sensibilities of folk and blues with the guitar lines and rhythms of palm wine music to create new, innovative world roots music. There is a wide range of diverse of musical interests among the foursome. Chandler graduated from Berklee School of music. Linley learned the palm wine style from S.E. Rogie, the golden voice of Sierra Leone. Sills attended the New School of Jazz in NYC and teaches in San Francisco. Williams is choral director of a youth chorus in Oakland. Chandler has played heavy metal rock and medieval music. For Linley, writing songs has kept him out of trouble, but not always. Sills has played in jazz, hip hop, and world beat bands. Williams composes music for film, TV and the stage. |
| Additional Data: |
First CD ,
Palm Wine Boys
, released 2002
Palm wine music is a West African style of guitar music, mainly from the countries of Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria. It is a forerunner of highlife, soukous and calypso. Unlike so much of Africa's heavily rhythmic music, the palm wine tradition is laid-back music to accompany sessions of palm wine drinking. Palm wine is made by tapping a palm tree and fermenting the sap. It is 2% alcohol and produces a mellow, nature high in those who imbibe. |