Ray "Catfish" Copeland Band

As a young boy living in Vallejo, California in the late 1950's, I discovered a couple of Chet Atkins' albums in the family record collection and thus my musical journey began. Then along came early Rock & Roll with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Elvis. The music scene blew up in the 60's when Doo Wop, Motown, British Invasion and the Psychedelic Sounds of San Francisco hit AM and FM radio. Anything good could get played on radio if enough people called into the station. Corporate rock had not evolved yet. You could hear the blues of Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo, B. B. King and Bobby Bland on KDIA coming out of Oakland. I also listened to the local Country and Western station and at night Wolfman Jack was coming in loud and clear from XERB in Northern Mexico.

In my late teens, the Fillmore Auditorium opened in San Francisco. I would make my weekly pilgrimage to see the new emerging bands like Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Santana Blues Band. Bill Graham the promoter of the Fillmore often put rock, folk, blues and jazz artists on the same bill. Seeing Jimi Hendrix, Albert King and John Mayall on the same bill in February of 1968 had a profound influence on my budding interest in blues. Thanks to Bill Graham's vision, we were introduced to the full spectrum of American music. It was a good time to be coming of age.-raycatfishcopeland.com