Smokin’ Joe Kubek Services & Fundraiser

Smokin' Joe Kubek

We’re all gobsmacked by the death of reverend blues-rock guitarist Smokin’ Joe Kubek [obit here]. The guitarist’s long-time musical partner Bnois King released a statement saying “He loved the blues. He was always very serious about the music and the presentation of the music. He had a modern style but he really studied those old cats. And, he would literally give you the shirt off his back. He was a great friend.”

There will be a visitation for fans wishing to pay their respects to Kubek, which will be held from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Sunday, October 18th, 2015 at Donnelly’s Colonial Funeral Home, 606 West Airport Freeway in Irving, Texas. The following service will be restricted to family and friends only. Thanks to The Blues Foundation’s HART Fund, Music Cares, and The Actors Fund For Everyone, the cost of Kubek’s funeral service and related expenses are being paid in full.

However, there’s another way that blues fans can pay respect to Smokin’ Joe for all the great music he gave us through the years. Nobody gets into blues music expecting to get rich, and even for the most popular of musicians, money can be tough. Kubek was stretched thin, financially, before his death. His wife Phyllis has been battling breast cancer, and Joe had been staying off the road – live shows providing most of his income – to take care of his wife. Now that Kubek is gone, his wife is left on her own without income and with mounting medical bills.

A call has gone out to the blues community to help with Phyllis Kubek’s living expenses. If you wish to make a donation to help out and honor Smokin’ Joe, you can do so one of three ways. You can donate to the Go Fund Me account that has been set up to raise a goal of $20k to help Phyllis with her medical and living expenses. You can send a donation directly via PayPal to the email address pkubek@tx.rr.com. Or you can send a check made out to Phyllis Kubek c/o Piedmont Talent Agency, P.O. Box 680006, Charlotte NC 28216. Blues fans have always shown that they have the biggest hearts, so dig deep and help out a friend in need! (Thanx to Debra Regur, Blind Pig Records, for the info)

Smokin' Joe Kubek photo by James Bland, courtesy Blind Pig Records

Blues-rock guitarist Smokin’ Joe Kubek, R.I.P.

Photo courtesy Alligator Records

We’re sad to have to report that Texas blues-rock guitarist Smokin’ Joe Kubek died from a heart attack on Sunday, October 11th, 2015 at the age of 58 years old. Kubek passed away shortly before he was to perform at the Pleasure Island Seafood & Blues Festival in North Carolina.

Born in Pennsylvania in November 1956, Kubek grew up near Dallas, Texas. Influenced by artists like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and, later, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, Kubek began playing professionally at the tender age of 14 years old, backing artists like the legendary Freddie King. Gigging in and around the Dallas area throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, Kubek worked with R&B singer Al “TNT” Braggs and became associated with artists like Albert King, B.B. King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, with whom he became close.

A chance meeting with fellow bluesman Bnois King at a Monday night jam session in 1989 would change both men’s fortunes. Kubek and King became close friends and they quickly developed a remarkable music chemistry by mixing their two individual styles – Kubek the raucous lead guitars and slide player, King a more nuanced rhythm guitarist. The Smokin’ Joe Kubek Band featuring Bnois King released its debut album, Stepping Out Texas Style, in 1991 and soon branched out beyond the Dallas area to perform clubs and festivals across the U.S. and internationally.

The pair released eight albums for the Bullseye Record label circa 1991-2000, signing with Blind Pig Records for 2003’s Roadhouse Research. Now billed as just ‘Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King,’ the duo’s popularity continued to grow, and they were regularly playing 150 dates a year in the United States, Canada, and Europe, which they toured twelve times. After releasing three acclaimed and successful albums for Blind Pig, Kubek and King signed with Alligator Records in 2008, releasing the Blues Music Award-nominated album Blood Brothers, following it up with another BMA-nominated disc, Have Blues Will Travel, in 2010.

About that album, the Reverend wrote in Blues Revue magazine, “after better than two decades playing together, the chemistry between blues guitarists Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King is undeniable. The two fretburners have developed a distinctive blues-rock sound that they seldom stray too far away from, and long-time fans will be relieved to know that Have Blues Will Travel follows this tried-and-true Kubek/King formula to a tee; that is, guitar-driven, houserockin' gutbucket blues delivered with Lone Star state panache.”

Kubek and King released a pair of albums for the Delta Groove label – 2012’s acoustic Close To The Bone, and 2013’s Road Dog’s Life – before landing back on Blind Pig for the release this year’s Fat Man’s Shine Parlor album. Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King had a wonderful musical synergy that translated well to album but positively burned down the stage in a live environment. Kubek’s talents and contributions to the blues will be missed…

(Thanx to Marc Lipkin of Alligator Records and Debra Regur of Blind Pig Records for the info) 

Related Content: Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King's Have Blues Will Travel CD review

Archive Review: Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King's Have Blues Will Travel (2010)

After better than two decades playing together, the chemistry between blues guitarists Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King is undeniable. The two fretburners have developed a distinctive blues-rock sound that they seldom stray too far away from, and long-time fans will be relieved to know that Have Blues Will Travel follows this tried-and-true Kubek/King formula to a tee; that is, guitar-driven, houserockin’ gutbucket blues delivered with Lone Star state panache.

Musically, the scorching title track “Have Blues Will Travel” masterfully blends ZZ Top-styled booger-rock with hints of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Southern soul, and runaway locomotive rhythm. Lyrically, the song is a bluesy tale of woe that involves wife-cheatin’, barfights, a hangin’ judge, and jail time, i.e. an average day in the life of the itinerant bluesman. The slumbering groove of “Out Of Body, Out Of Mind” burns no less brightly, King’s growling vocals rumbling above a blistering twin-guitar attack that snaps, crackles, and pops right out of your speakers.

If Have Blues Will Travel misses a note here or there, it’s with contemporary novelty songs like “RU4 Real,” which nonetheless has time-honored blues tradition on its side, or the tired “My Space Or Yours?,” a rollicking shuffle that incorporates tech lingo into a double-entendre attack on the listener’s intelligence. By contrast, the topicality of the working class blues of “Payday In America” will withstand the test of time, the blue collar tale of cuttin’ loose on the weekend bolstered by Kubek’s razor-sharp slide-guitar and King’s soulful, world-weary vocals.

Much of the rest of Have Blues Will Travel will certainly please the dedicated blues-rock fan, such six-string showcases as the menacing, mid-tempo “Shadows In The Dark” or the hard-rocking positive vibe and message of “One Step At A Time” offering plenty of energetic fretwork and explosive, intertwined guitars. Few instrumentalists can tag-team a song like Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King, the aforementioned chemistry between the two men lifting Have Blues Will Travel above the morass of Stevie Ray-cloned guitarists to achieve higher altitudes of ambition. (Alligator Records, released May 25, 2010)

Review originally published by Blues Revue magazine

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King's Have Blues Will Travel