Full steam ahead

Full steam aheadGuiTar Woody & The BoilerS WiTh Melanie Perl Tar Woody & The BoilerS iTh Melanie Perl

by Jeri Chadwell-Singley

Guitar Woody & The Boilers & The Boilers

with vocalist Melanie Perl july 15

the Wingfield Park amphitheater

opening act: Rigorous Proof

The members of Guitar Woody & the Boilers are a tight knit group. Guitarist Woody Soules, bassist Bob McNamara, saxophonist Jon Anderson, and keyboard player Leroy Palinsky have been playing together since the band’s inception in 1991. Back then, they delivered their mix of blues, R&B, soul and jazz under the name Guitar Woody & the Fly By Night Band.

“We used to call ourselves the longest name on the marquee in Northern Nevada,” said McNamara. “Yeah, Guitar Woody & the Fly by Night Band featuring Michele Lundeen the Queen of Steam. Put that on your marquee.”

Blues vocalist Michele Lundeen was the band’s frontwoman for many years. She got her nickname—The Queen of Steam—from then KTHX radio personality Bruce Van Dyke, who writes RN&R’s Notes from the neon Babylon column.

The band took the stage at Rollin’ on the River for the first time in 1999, just a year after the release of their first album—Live Steam. When Lundeen moved to San Diego a few years later, the Fly By Night Band became the Boilers, and Soules took over as the lead vocalist. Lundeen’s departure was a blow for the band, but they worked hard to stick together—through good times and bad. Their solidarity became more important than ever in 2011, when Soules was diagnosed with throat cancer.

“I had radiation, and my larynx is toast, as far as singing,” Soules said. “I lost my ability to sing. I can sing quietly in the shower, but I can’t belt it out like I used to on stage.”

It was a particularly tough time, but—even without a vocalist—the band never considered calling it quits.

“I never thought that the band was broke up,” said Anderson. “It never occurred to me. As long as [Woody] was alive, I thought the band was still going.” “What really gets me, gets into my heart, is the band stuck with me allowed me to find an alternate,” Soules said. “And, of course, immediately I thought of Melanie. And it’s been that way ever since.”

Soules and his bandmates had known Melanie Perl, then Melanie Hammond, since she was just a girl. Perl had been singing in her father’s band, the Rick Hammond Blues Band, for several years before Soules was diagnosed with cancer. While he was still healing from treatment, he would occasionally go to see her perform.

“He always had this one song that he wanted to hear me sing—just one song, and it was ‘Tell Mama’ by Etta James,” Perl recalled.

After a performance in November 2012, Soules approached Perl about taking over as the vocalist for Guitar Woody & the Boilers. She jumped at the chance and brought drummer Brock O. Lee with her when she left her father’s band. For Lee, who’d been playing in different Northern Nevada bands for several decades, the opportunity to join Guitar Woody & the Boilers was a longtime dream.

“For what it’s worth, for years, I always thought that these guys were the best band in town, and always just thought, ‘Man, I would love to be in that band,’” Lee said. “I just want to say that I’m so proud to be in this band, and I’m not bullshitting. For years, I just always thought, ‘If I could be in a band with these guys and learn to play like these guys.’” 2016 will mark Perl and Lee’s second time taking the Wingfield Park stage with Guitar Woody & The Boilers and the eighth time the band has played Rollin’ on the River. But this year is special for them. It’s their first time headlining the event, and the bandmates agree that it’s a welcome opportunity to celebrate both their friendship and Soules’ good health.

“I think I have a bit more youthful life,” Soules said. “I still like to play my guitar—turn it up sometimes, and let it go.” Ω