Sleepy LaBeef - 80th Birthday Party
6-19-2015
"They call him the human jukebox. But Sleepy Labeef is more than just a guy whose buttons you push to reproduce somebody else's sounds. When Sleepy wraps his tonsils around a tune, he owns it, blasting out at you with a window-rattling baritone that sounds like its been drug through Texas behind a team of hosses. LaBeef still retains the fire and power that transforms anything he touches into Sleepy property." - No Depression Magazine
Arkansas-born and Texas-bred musical road warrior Sleepy LaBeef has been playing gigs across America and overseas for more than 55 years. And at 76 he is a master of the genre, at the top of his form. Standing 6'7" with a rumbling basso-profundo voice and driving electric guitar style, he is known to many of his fans as "The Human Jukebox" because of his huge repertoire of songs.
"Sleepy LaBeef rides Again," is a new DVD Documentary that centes on a live concert recorded in Nashville in early 2012 and a recording session at RCA Studio B the following morning. In front of an enthusiastic crowd Sleepy and band take the audience on an epic journey demonstrating that there is no artist alive who has a better grasp of American roots music. He was a witness at the birth of rock and roll, and his music crosses all borders from rockabilly to gospel, country, blues and more. Director Seth Pomeroy weaves four short documentary segments into the live concert, providing essential insight into a unique artist who is into his seventh decade of making music. Studio footage, interviews and archival segments explore the fascinating world of Sleepy LaBeef - the greatest Americana music artist you almost never heard of.
For half a century, Sleepy LaBeef has lived his life on stages, in honky-tonks and on the road. He has released records in six different decades and has had chart success as far back as the sixties and as recently as the year 2000. LaBeef has shared bills with practically every great in music history: Elvis Presley, George Jones, Roy Orbison, Wanda Jackson, Carl Perkins, has numbered in his band over five hundred people (including the likes of Doug Kershaw, Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell, D.J. Fontana, and Grady Martin), and has been an admitted influence to such a variety of people as Brian Setzer, Bruce Springsteen and the Beatles.
And today, at 80, Sleepy still performs two hundred shows a year and plays with such energy that people a third of his age are annihilated when they attempt to keep up with him. His live sets are truly indescribable. In this day of studio effects and ever-changing technology, many record buyers wonder why a live show even matters. Sleepy LaBeef is the answer.
"Mr. LaBeef is a living, breathing guitar-picking history of American music."
- The New York Times
He possesses one of the most distinctive and compelling baritone voices ever to be heard in rock. Sleepy does not imitate tradition. Sleepy is that tradition."
- Detroit Metro Times
"There are few who have ever forgotten the experience of seeing him perform." - Nashville Tennessean
"They call him the human jukebox. But Sleepy Labeef is more than just a guy whose buttons you push to reproduce somebody else's sounds. When Sleepy wraps his tonsils around a tune, he owns it, blasting out at you with a window-rattling baritone that sounds like its been drug through Texas behind a team of hosses. LaBeef still retains the fire and power that transforms anything he touches into Sleepy property." - No Depression Magazine
Arkansas-born and Texas-bred musical road warrior Sleepy LaBeef has been playing gigs across America and overseas for more than 55 years. And at 76 he is a master of the genre, at the top of his form. Standing 6'7" with a rumbling basso-profundo voice and driving electric guitar style, he is known to many of his fans as "The Human Jukebox" because of his huge repertoire of songs.
"Sleepy LaBeef rides Again," is a new DVD Documentary that centes on a live concert recorded in Nashville in early 2012 and a recording session at RCA Studio B the following morning. In front of an enthusiastic crowd Sleepy and band take the audience on an epic journey demonstrating that there is no artist alive who has a better grasp of American roots music. He was a witness at the birth of rock and roll, and his music crosses all borders from rockabilly to gospel, country, blues and more. Director Seth Pomeroy weaves four short documentary segments into the live concert, providing essential insight into a unique artist who is into his seventh decade of making music. Studio footage, interviews and archival segments explore the fascinating world of Sleepy LaBeef - the greatest Americana music artist you almost never heard of.
For half a century, Sleepy LaBeef has lived his life on stages, in honky-tonks and on the road. He has released records in six different decades and has had chart success as far back as the sixties and as recently as the year 2000. LaBeef has shared bills with practically every great in music history: Elvis Presley, George Jones, Roy Orbison, Wanda Jackson, Carl Perkins, has numbered in his band over five hundred people (including the likes of Doug Kershaw, Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell, D.J. Fontana, and Grady Martin), and has been an admitted influence to such a variety of people as Brian Setzer, Bruce Springsteen and the Beatles.
And today, at 80, Sleepy still performs two hundred shows a year and plays with such energy that people a third of his age are annihilated when they attempt to keep up with him. His live sets are truly indescribable. In this day of studio effects and ever-changing technology, many record buyers wonder why a live show even matters. Sleepy LaBeef is the answer.
"Mr. LaBeef is a living, breathing guitar-picking history of American music."
- The New York Times
He possesses one of the most distinctive and compelling baritone voices ever to be heard in rock. Sleepy does not imitate tradition. Sleepy is that tradition."
- Detroit Metro Times
"There are few who have ever forgotten the experience of seeing him perform." - Nashville Tennessean