Tuesday, July 21, 2015

The Lexington Lab Band

We interrupt your pedal board series for a musical post .... back to the pedal boards later. I've been wanting to do a review of these guys for a while and I've been piecing it together for a while now. Its time ...

Every now and then you run across a cover band that's just got that little something special about them. The Lexington Lab Band is definitely one of those bands. I'm really into a good cover band too, who's not?. Sure, there's a cover bands on every street corner club in every city of America. A lot of them are pretty good too. Some are really good. And some of them shine like a diamond at everything they touch and the Lexington Lab Band is one of those bands. Part of it, quite possibly is that they are playing the sound track to my life. They cover all my favorite old songs and do them as good as the original bands that wrote them in the first place. I'd have to say they are my favorite Youtube cover band of all time, hands down. Every single person that participates in their videos are world class musicians and singers. The following videos are best viewed in HD on the youtube page and a good set of headphones are almost a must to get the full benefits.

One of the singers they have featured is no stranger to American Idol fans. Lauren Mink is not only a beautiful voice but very easy on the eyes too. She's been a contestant on American Idol twice now and went a pretty good way into the contest before being eliminated. Personally I'd almost hate to see her win that show and be tied to a crappy contract for a year or two. She's better than that, and deserves a lot better. What little attention I used to pay to that show I noticed that the best never won anyway. That's just my opinion, but its an opinion based on over 40 years of musical experience. Lauren Mink is above that American Idol level of stardom. I can't believe some big record producer hasn't signed her to a good contract by now.

The Lab Band is full of these world class musicians too. Its not just Lauren Mink. They have guest artists perform on all their video productions. And its not just the artists and musicians that are top notch. The videography and editing department has mad skills abound. The equipment they use is all top notch too. I don't know a lot about who's behind the scenes to this great act, but the Lab Band has obviously been picking from the cream of the crop. I have discovered a lot of great artists by keeping up with the LLB. Many of them have a pretty good thing of their own going on.


JD Simo is one such artist I have discovered since discovering the Lab Band. The band did a tribute to Johnny Cash a while back, one that Mr, Cash himself would no doubt give his stamp of approval on. JD Simo really burned it up on those songs and I had to know more about him. Turns out JD played a stint in The Don Kelly Band. The Don Kelly Band is a legendary band based out of the Nashville Tennessee downtown bar circuit. If you're ever in Nashville and want to see a great act, The Don Kelly band is one you sure want to put at the top of your list. They perform regularly at Roberts Western World on Broadway in Nashville Tennessee.  For a sample of JD's playing with the Don Kelly Band click here.



I came to know of The Lexington Lab Band through the Youtube community. Basically what I would more specifically call "the guitar community" on Youtube. There are a lot of good guitar teachers out there on youtube but some of them have a little easier time than others getting across to the larger watching/learning community. Dale Adams is one of those teachers I have been watching for several years. As a more intermediate player his videos basically cut the crap and get down to the bones. I can usually watch one of Dales videos and have the song nailed down pretty good after just one time through. Most all of his instructional videos are of songs I grew up on and in some cases already knew how to play. This guy knows what he's doing and he's good at teaching it. Not everyone who plays can teach. It takes something I'm afraid I don't have. But thankfully there are people like Dale out there who have the gift of teaching. And he teaches kids with learning disabilities for a day job. I actually wondered what he did for a living before the Lexington Lab Band website was established and read the bios.


The Regular's in the Lexington Lab Band are:
Dales Adams ~ Guitars
Derrick Breaux ~ Bass, Vocals, Guitars, Keys
Mike Vandermark ~ Vocals, Guitars, Keys, Bass, Drums
Rob Pottorf ~ Keys, Vocals, Guitars
Ryan McQuerry ~ Drums
Neil Gregory ~ Video Director

You can read their complete bios on the Lexington Lab Band website.

You can also watch all their videos there on site as well as Dales “tonedr” Youtube Channel.

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