Brad Guin - Advanced Band Leader

Brad Guin is a phenomenal saxophone player his lyrical and stylistic tenor sax playing has led Brad to some of the most acclaimed gigs a young horn player could hope for. He specializes in the Muscle Shoals and Memphis sound and has worked with some of the most influential artist of our time such as Eddie Floyd, Bobby Blue Bland, Little Milton, Clarence Carter, Johnny Taylor, B.B. King, Jimmy Hall, Percy Sledge, Gregg Allman, Bonnie Bramlet, The Temptations, Martha and The Vandellas, Four Tops, and The O'Jays. Brad Guin has been working with The Alabama Blues Project Advanced since Spring 2010 and we are proud to have him aboard.

SharBaby - Guitar & Band Leader

SharBaby discovered the blues at the tender age of 6 and started taking guitar lessons at the age of 11. She was inspired by Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf’s legendary guitarist. She has performed in many blues festivals such as the Pensacola Blues Festival and Willie King’s Freedom Creek festival, and in 2006, she competed at the Blues Challenge for North Michigan in a Solo/Duo competition. She has shared the stage with blues legends, Willie King and Sam Lay, and shared the bill with greats such as Honey Boy Edwards, Kenny Neal, Sweet Claudette, Otiel Burris, and Kent Burnside. She has a recently released album on Instant Karma Entertainment that features all original songs.

B.J. Reed - Vocals & Band Leader

B. J. Reed joined the ABP as a vocal instructor for the 2007 Spring After-School blues camp. A native of Vienna, Alabama, as a child she discovered that singing songs by vocalists she admired, like Aretha Franklin, was a great tool for entertaining her 10 siblings. She won the West Alabama Female Vocalist of the Year award in 1990, 1993, and 1998. In 1991 she was offered her first professional contract after having being seen at a competition at the prestigious Apollo Theater in Harlem. Critics have described her as a “dynamic vocal genius extraordinaire whose moving vocal performances embrace strong spiritual, social and philosophical values” and compared her to Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole, Lena Horne and Bette Midler! Loving to work with children and knowing first hand how music helped build self-confidence, she developed her own music education program that she presented in underserved Alabama schools. As with all our instructors, she is a regular performer at regional clubs and festivals.

Jesse Suttle - Percussion & Band Leader

Jesse Diego Walker Suttle is the Project’s lead drum instructor. Music has always been a part of his life and in addition to drums he plays piano, guitar, bass and trombone. Jesse brings a wealth of experience having played in numerous bands and worked with some of the great names in blues music. His bands include Owsley, Topper Price and the Upsetters, Roosevelt Franklin, Teenage Daddy, South Southern Delta, the Crème Brûlées, Shane Idols, and Lolas. He is currently playing drums for SharBaby’s Blues Party. Jesse has also worked with Jerry “Boogie” McCain, Sam Lay, Shariff Simmons, Lil' Jimmy Reed, and Willie King. In addition to playing with Shar Baby, he is currently working with former Leon Russell guitarist Jason Speegle. When Jesse isn’t practicing, composing or producing music, he is raising his kids, Kathryn, Rachel and Ian with his wife Rebecca Brewer.

Blues vocalist, guitar player and songwriter Debbie Bond has played in her own blues band since 1981. She has shared her band with many blues greats, including Carroline Shines' father, the late, great Johnny Shines, Jerry “Boogie” McCain and James Peterson, and has opened for such artists as Dr. John, Charlie Musselwhite, Roy Buchanan, R. L. Burnside, Big Jack Johnson, Kenny Neal and more. In 1995 she toured Europe with Little Whitt and Big Bo and she continues to be a popular performer on the club and festival circuit around the South East. Debbie toured as second guitar player for Willie King's band the Liberators beginning in 2003 until his death in 2009.

Debbie released a solo CD titled What Goes Around Comes Around. She is featured on the Vent Records CD, Alabama Blues Showcase: A Compilation of Alabama Blues Artists and on a German release by Taxim Records called Blues from the Heart of Dixie which showcases contemporary Alabama blues musicians. Bond is a 2001 recipient of an Alabama State Council on the Arts Master Apprenticeship Grant to study guitar with Eddie Kirkland. A long time “blues activist,” she is the founding director of the Alabama Blues Project, an award-winning blues education organization. Debbie has been working with the Alabama State Council on the Arts and other arts organizations to develop a blues curriculum. She has a B. A. in Sociology and an M. A. in American Studies focusing on the blues.

Frank Jordan - Lead Bass Guitar Instructor

Frank Jordan is a skilled base player from Birmingham, Alabama. He has played with various great blues musicians including Willie King, Eddie Kirkland, Topper Price, Carroline Shines, B.J. Reed, B.J. Miller, and many more. 2010 was Franks first year as an instructor at the Alabama Blues Project’s Summertime Blues Camp. He taught base guitar for the ABP’s first official base program. Although it was his first year as an instructor, Frank is no stranger to the Alabama Blues project. He has participated in several of the ABP’s school residencies programs. Currently, Frank performs with the band Roosevelt Franklyn throughout Alabama.

Ben Joseph - Intermediate Band Leader

Ben Joseph is a native of Alabama who grew up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Joseph has been writing and playing music his entire life. He graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in Music Production & Entrepreneurship. Aside from playing clubs and private parties, Joseph is  also an assistant sound engineer and has worked with several artists and bands over the years. Ben started out as an intern at the Alabama Blues Project in the summer of 2009 and is the current Intermediate band instructor.

Chris Clark

Chris Clark is a visionary artist from Birmingham. A deeply spiritual, gentle man Chris fills his creations with colorful, uplifting biblical images and life memories. Painted quilts, “spirit sticks,” chairs and other objects serve as his canvas. The inspiration for his “spirit sticks” came during a Sunday church service when he had a vision of a stick surrounded by fabric, paint and buttons swirling around and then attaching themselves to the stick in beautiful patterns. In 1991 his grandmother taught him to quilt and before long his painted quilts were being shown in folk art galleries in Montgomery and Birmingham. His work is featured in national galleries and museum permanent collections including the Mennello American Folk Art Museum, Orlando, Florida. He is also listed in various publications such as “Revelations: Alabama’s Visionary Folk Artists” and “Spirits of the Cloth.” Chris has recently been honored by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. with an exhibition from January 30th to June 12, 2005.

Miz Thang

Miz Thang is a self-taught folk artist from Hawkinsville, Georgia. All of her blues art is original. Her wooden pieces are usually cut out of cabinet grade birch and then sanded. She paints with acrylic paint and sometimes she coats her pieces with shellac. She doesn't use brushes, but prefers to paint exclusively with her fingers. When her fingers are in the paint she feels connected to her art and feels she is passing along some of her special brand of mojo. Some of her creations have been on display at shows, museums and galleries throughout the USA and abroad. Her art is on display at the Smith Calloway Banks Southern Folk Art collection and Research Center at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA. Her blues art has been on display at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, Georgia since 2004. In addition to being an accomplished folk artist, Miz Thang is a certified music educator.

Carroline Shines

One of Alabama’s best kept secrets is the talented blues diva Carroline Shines. Carroline is carrying on the blues tradition she learned from her father, the late, great, world renowned Johnny Shines. As a legendary guitar player, singer and song writer, Johnny Shines lived the blues, performing and writing songs his entire life, even traveling with Robert Johnson in his youth. He was always a great educator and supporter of the blues, and passed on his passion to his daughter, Carroline Shines. Carroline grew up in this rich musical environment with her father as her mentor. She dedicated her early years to raising her own family and singing in the church and local bands while putting her own career on the back burner. In 2004 Carroline began working with the Alabama Blues Project after-school program, teaching young singers and helping to educate the next generation about the blues. Those who have long been aware of Carroline’s extraordinary talent are so excited that she is launching her performing career.

Dr. Burt

Dr. G.B. Burt was born in Birmingham, Ala. on January 30, 1937. During WWII, his family moved to the west coast where his father went to work in the shipyards. In 1947, his family moved back to Alabama and then on to Florida often migrating to wherever his dad could find work. He comes from a musical family. His mother played the piano and sang gospel music. His father and two uncles, Arthur and Herbert Burt, were all blues guitarists. G.B. took up the guitar and started playing the blues when he was in his teens and has kept it up ever since. When he was 14, he began to box. In 1954, he fought in the Golden Gloves tournament and later he trained with Alvin Blues Lewis who went on to fight Muhammad Ali. When he was 30, he married and settled down and found work with Ford Motors in Michigan. After nearly 10 years he went out on his own, bought a wrecker truck and became an independent mechanic, a job he continues to this day.