Skipper's Smokehouse Talent Agency
Talent Roster
Genre Selected: ROCK
Freight Train Annie
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Born Anne Caroline Spanger, the woman who would be Freight Train Annie moved with her family to the small town setting of Zephyrhills in 1971. Very early it was clear to all that music was to be her main mode of expression. Though a small town had limited opportunities, Annie availed herself of each and every one. In 1995, Annie began teaching dance to the children and adults at Blackwood Studios Inc. an established performing arts studio in Dade City. In that same year Annie was asked to join a local band, The Fire Ants, where she became part of a dynamic 3-part harmony trio, with songs that include: foot-stompin' country-rock covers and soul-twang originals. Since then Annie has been heavily influenced by the musicianship and talent of local Bay Area players, along with established heavyweights such as Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, Allman Bros., The Beatles and, yes, Barry Manilow. She's passionate, exciting and comes from a place that's part blues and classic rock with a little bit of torch song thrown in. She's a dynamic singer that takes you inside every song she sings.
Halcyon
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With a stage show that is warm and engaging, and unquestionably professional, singer/songwriters Debbie Hunseder and Stephanie Callahan are virtually peerless when it comes to writing and performing melodic music that is pop-oriented and thoroughly intimate. They generate the best harmonies this side of heaven, with just the right amount of bite to balance the inherent sweetness. Ultimately, Halcyon's songs are consistently in line with the quality of national acts.
Middle Rhythm Session
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Playing roots fusion, Middle Rhythm Session works on a daily basis to create, record, and perform intuitive music, firm in their belief that the transition between practice and performance, learning and playing, repertoire and improvisation, has less to do with repetition as it does with concentration. One of the most remarkable things that sets Middle Rhythm Session apart from other bands in this style is their songwriting as it's rare that you hear a group that doesn't let their instrumental gifts distract them from writing something that you can hum back after one listen.
Quivering Rhythm Hounds
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A four-piece band that personifies that old saying "still crazy after all these years," this group has been together since the winter of 1981 when Patrick "Mojo" Harpe and Scott "Pinetop" Peterson decided to leave their own respective combo to form what ultimately became The Quivering Rhythm Hounds. The Hounds specialize in easily identifiable rockin' blues and classic rock hits that are a sure bet to fill the dance floor.
Ronny Elliott & the Nationals
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Born in 1947, Ronny Elliott has the audacity to suggest that rock 'n' roll was too. His latest record, MAGNETO, continues the long road that he has traveled over the past five decades, telling more tall tales of heroes, legends and losers. It's either the funniest or the saddest record he's made depending upon the listener and the time of day. FRESH AIR referred to the last record, Poisonville, as "the kind of a record that defines an entire career." MOJO wrote of the one before, My Nerves Are Bad Tonight, "Ronny Elliott has been around the block and he sounds it...delightfully so." Maybe the road does go on forever. Over the last several years of working when and where he can, Elliott has shared bills with Wilco, Joe Ely, Kasey Chambers, NRBQ and others. He has played shows solo or with his beloved Nationals in Burlington, Nashville, Tampa, New York and Europe and performed at South By Southwest and the Folk Alliance Conference.
Raiford Starke
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Born in Virginia as Colin Kenny, the man who would become Raiford Starke came up in the roots crazy DC scene of the late 70's, watching hot guitarists like Jimmy Thackery, Evan Johns and Danny Gatton, paying his dues touring with gothabilly pioneers Lawrence Beall & The Sultans. Raiford Starke has emerged as one of South Florida's most entertaining musical artists. Combining blues, country, folk and good old rock and roll into one stunning repertoire, his hot picking and emotional singing have earned him praise from critics and fans alike, while his awesome solo acoustic performances show a different side of this versatile entertainer. After kicking around east Texas working oil rigs in the ‘80s, Kenny spent a few years playing guitar with Big Dick & The Extenders, a band from the Keys known the world over for its profane act and house-rocking attitude. Digging deeper into the local music scene, he began working with artists like Iko Iko, Melenhead, Magda Hiller and Shack Daddys, eventually meeting and becoming musical director for Native American singer/songwriter and Seminole Tribal Chairman Chief Jim Billie. It was among this cast of characters that Raiford Starke the roots guitar hero/populist raconteur was born. With the Seminoles' flamboyant chief leading the way, Starke performed everywhere from above the Arctic Circle with an Inuit Elvis impersonator to joining Phish onstage during their historic New Years Eve 2000 concert in Big Cypress, Florida. He's played countless festivals and opened for national artists such as Willie Nelson, John Anderson and Leon Russell.
The Thrusters
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Bringing surf music to a new, yet ultra retro peak by blending the soul of The Ventures, Agent Orange, Nancy Sinatra, Adam West and the Ramones with B-rated movies and a dash of tiki culture, The Thrusters blast out with reverb-drenched old school surf rock, twisted with a punk attitude.
Urbane Cowboys
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Established in September of 1999, this Tampa-based Americana/roots rock/alt.country quartet plays ass kickin', beer drinkin', boot stompin' rock n' roll. Some songs rock with roadhouse abandon, some would slide nicely into contemporary pop-country airplay, and still others ply into that surf-a-billy backbeat. By refusing to narrowly define what they do, the Cowboys have created a fun, eclectic, and widely appealing style. Sonic points-of-reference would include The Old 97's, Cigar Store Indians, Whiskeytown, Johnny Cash, Social Distortion, and Hank Williams, Sr. The Urbane Cowboys Cowboys have gigged quite consistently around the Tampa Bay area. They have played with Skinny McGee & his Mayhem Makers, The Camaros, Jet Set Six, The Deep Sixes, The Red Elvises, Billy Bacon & the Forbidden Pigs, Cigar Store Indians, and in a major cross-genre coup for the Cowboys, Reel Big Fish.
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