Johnny Mastro & Mama's Boys - Captain Trappiste Picks Vol 1 (2009)

The band was founded by Johnny Mastro in 1994. The band had their first appearances in various blues clubs in Los Angeles. Since 1996, she has been the house band at Babe's & Ricky's, one of the oldest and best-known blues clubs in the Los Angeles area. The owner, “Mama” Laura Mae Gross, gave the band the name Mama’s Boys.

Johnny Mastro & Mamas Boys play rough Chicago blues. The sound of this band is unique, no other existing band sounds like the Mamas Boys. Rough, dirty, tough to the core and delivered authentically, without clichés and without compromises. Johnny says of his music: “sledge hammer blues”. Johnny Mastro can be found on stage on his knees, blowing the entire contents of his lungs into the harmonica. Smokehouse Brown attracts e.g. T. plays the strangest tones from his guitar, straining the six strings to their fullest. Jimmy and Mike provide the necessary solid foundation with a thunderous rhythm.

Between 2001 and 2010 the band released a total of five albums and one EP. From 2004 onwards, they also took tours to Europe, where they stopped in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany.

In 2006 and 2007 they played at two of the major European festivals, the 2006 Moulin Blues Festival in Ospel, Netherlands and the 2007 Peer Blues Festival in Belgium. The first tour of Germany followed in May 2009. In 2010 they were guests again at the Moulin Blues Festival in Ospel, Netherlands. For the 25th anniversary, the organizer had her as one of the highlights. In 2011, Johnny Mastro recorded the song “JJ’s Man” as a tribute to road manager Jean-Jacques Dessenne, who died too early. The song appeared on the 2012 album “Luke’s Dream,” which was released by RipCat Records on June 16th. The 7th European tour took place in August/September 2012.