WENDY DeWITT

   LADYS & GENTLEMEN QUEEN OF BOOGIE WOOGIE , WENDY DeWITT 

    

                    
           

San Francisco International Boogie Woogie Festival 2013 featuring Wendy DeWitt

         

Wendy DeWitt & Friends 'Introduction & Let Goodtimes Roll' Bobby G's _April 15, 2014 with Bobby G., Wendy DeWitt, Patty Hammond, Richard Mayes, Kirk Harwood

Wendy DeWitt performs a mix of boogie and blues that Robben Ford describes as “straight from the heart”.  Hers is the story of a girl who grew up over a store in Glen Ellen, California to become a driving piano player and singer, in the tradition of Chicago Blues and Texas Boogie Woogie.  Brought to the blues at the age of 10, her influences range from Otis Spann, Memphis Slim, and Professor Longhair to Johnnie Johnson and Albert Ammons. Hank Ballard, with whom Wendy toured, called her his “favorite piano player”.

Wendy has appeared with Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush, and opened solo for Jimmy Thackery.  She’s a veteran performer at festivals throughout the U.S, U.S.V.I., and Europe including a performance at the Boston Symphony Hall with Hank Ballard. For 10 years Wendy worked with noted Delmark artist Steve Freund.

Kirk Harwood, a veteran of  Norton Buffalo, also worked with Huey Lewis, and Roy Rogers. With training in jazz, Kirk’s style creates the perfect musical conversation for the duo’s big sound. Since joining Wendy three years ago the pair have represented The Golden Gate Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis and regularly tour the West Coast.

Recordings include :

Industrial Strength

Fortunately, I just got turned on to Industrial Strength, the latest release from Wendy DeWitt and Kirk Harwood (and a few of their friends), which is full of Texas/Chicago boogie-woogie at its best. – Max Bartholomew

You're Not There

“ ..DeWitt is a sweet-voiced chanteuse with a strong reliance on jazz phrasing and inflection.  Her piano style is based on those of Otis Spann, Albert Ammons and other blues masters, and she tears it up on the closer, “Chupacabra Boggie Woogie”…” Blues Revue, Bob Cianci