The Hard Travelers - Biogs 
It has been said that "an irreconcilable rift of ideals" exists between the spirit of Punk Rock and the spirit of Blues Rock...with the formation of The Hard Travelers this statement may well prove to be redundant.
Dave Sharp (The Alarm) has joined forces with Henry McCullough (Joe Cocker, Paul McCartney), Zoot Money (The Big Roll Band), Gary Fletcher (The Blues Band) and Colin Allen (Stone the Crows; Bob Dylan; John Lee Hooker) to celebrate 40 years of the Spirit of Woody Guthrie.
Guitar players Dave Sharp and Henry McCullough met for the first time while sharing the bill at the 2007 Colne International Blues Festival. Although the career of one had made an impressive mark on the era of '60s - '70s Woodstock, and the other had emerged from a post-Punk Rock '80s British Music Scene they both were surprised to find that they in fact shared much in common...the two guitarists found that their careers had followed an uncannily similar path.
Both had experienced the break-up of their original bands before being "head-hunted" by iconic artists, Henry McCullough by Paul McCartney & Wings, Dave Sharp by Jake Burns & Stiff little Fingers. Both had been open to Celtic music influences in their early years. The two had discovered an instinctive respect for the music of folk legend Woody Guthrie and were both subsequently accepted into country music circles at the onset of their solo careers. McCullough and Sharp had also held a deep appreciation for the spiritual nature of the blues, whilst at the same time had maintained a cutting edge alternative 'maverick' approach to their music.
In 2007 the 40th Anniversary of Woody Guthrie's passing provided an ideal opportunity for McCullough & Sharp to join forces. Following their meeting at Colne, plans to form a new band began to take shape.
McCullough and Sharp were made aware that bass player / songwriter Gary Fletcher was looking for some action and promptly asked him to join up. The three, now calling themselves The Hard Travelers soon augmented the band with expert keys man and blues icon Zoot Money and master drummer Colin Allen.
McCullough, Sharp, Money, Fletcher and Allen played their debut show in Portsmouth January 2008 receiving excellent reviews and now, after recording together for the first time, The Hard Travelers are set to launch the band nationally with a studio EP and tour beginning in spring 2008 to celebrate 40 years of the Spirit of Woody Guthrie.
The forthcoming Hard Travelers tour could indeed raise the prospect of a bridge between the spirit of Woodstock and the spirit of Punk Rock.
Two tracks from The Hard Travelers' debut EP 'Extended Play' are being rush released: 'The Ghost of Preacher Casey' and 'Lonesome Road Blues'.
Visit http://www.hardtravelers.org for more information.
To many, Woody Guthrie epitomised the American dust-bowl troubadour, traveling across America in his quest to seek work, during a grim and crushing period for the working man - all the while writing the songs that some believe are as potent as Chuck Berry's observations of American life, though without Berry's romanticism.
Aside from the incalculable influence on Bob Dylan , since Guthrie's passing (of Huntingdon's Disease) an astonishing array of artists have acknowledged the formidable heritage and influence of his songs that, (as young folk musicians) such as Dylan and Pete Seeger had experienced in life . Those that have championed Guthrie's' cause include Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris and Billy Bragg.
Guthrie was also infamously portrayed by David Carradine ('Kill Bill') in the Hollywood movie, 'Bound For Glory'.For further information on Guthrie's life and works, go to - www.woodyguthrie.org
 1989 saw the US release coast-to-coast hit album, Change, and #1 AOR single, ‘Sold
Me Down the River’, from British rock band, The Alarm. Sadly, 1991 saw the surprise
departure of the band’s lead singer.
Dave Sharp, co-founder of The Alarm had that previous year enlisted the help of
legendary maverick record producer Bob Johnston (Dylan, Willie Nelson & Leonard
Cohen) to help cut his first solo record. It was a determined young man who walked
through the doors at The Hit Factory NYC in December 1990, and in under a week
Sharp’s album Hard Travlin’ had been recorded, mixed and delivered for release to IRS
Records.
A relentless two-year period of Stateside touring followed including appearances at
Farm Aid concerts and Earth Day celebrations before Sharp returned to New York City
in 1992 to perform for an audience of 25,000 gathered in Central Park to celebrate the
80th birthday of folk legend Woody Guthrie. It was a seminal event for Dave Sharp who
performed alongside Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie and Billy Bragg and shared the stage
with The Right Reverend Jessie Jackson.
In 1996 Sharp once again teamed up with producer Bob Johnston entering Credence
Clearwater Revival’s studio in San Francisco to record and release his second solo
album, Downtown America. Two underground hits followed, ‘The Ghost of Preacher
Casey’ and ‘Give Me Back My Job’, which both received healthy rotation across the
board at American radio and led to television appearances on country music’s Nashville
Network.
Sharp returned to the UK in 2002 to record his third solo album, The Power of Soul,
released on Manchester’s Townsend Records, successfully re-introducing him to British
audiences and earning him solo recognition across the UK with British music critics.
Dave Sharp’s solo albums have received positive critical recognition on both sides of the
Atlantic and over the past decade and a half Sharp has been fortunate to work alongside
many of the artists he has long respected. Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash have
appeared on his recordings. He has performed alongside Kris Kristofferson, Bill Munroe
and Porter Wagoner. Whether solo or with a band, guitar in hand, Dave Sharp delivers
the “Spirit of Rock & Roll.”
His music has been described as everything from folk and blues to rock, country and
punk; his performances as everything from legendary to lousy. However one word can
never be used to describe Dave Sharp: “Predictable.”
Dave Sharp has embraced mainstream popular culture whilst at the same time
remaining one step away from its grasp . . . he likes it that way!
‘It’s a Mighty Hard Road to be Travlin’ Down.’ Dave Sharp writes it, sings it and lives it.
 Gary Fletcher, born in the early ‘50s, is best known as “The” bass player with The Blues Band.
In 2007 his song-writing talent began receiving well-deserved recognition. On the basis of knowing no more than the bass riff to Willie Dixon’s ‘Spoonful’, Fletcher landed his first job as bass player with The Breath of Life. He quickly moved on and, together with local Streatham musicians, soon formed his next band, Garfield Row, a semi-acoustic, folk-rock outfit, playing regularly in a local pub owned by father of Jethro Tull bassist, Glen Cornick. The Row went their separate ways and Fletcher was soon to be found working regularly in a variety of bands whose styles ranged from Blues / Rock to Folk / Rock to Soul.
In the mid ‘70s Fletcher joined long-running blues / rock band, Sam Apple Pie, later known as The Vipers, leading to a meeting in late ’78 with Dave Kelly of The Wildcats, a new band put together by ex-Rory Gallagher drummer, Wilgar Campbell.
In late 1978, Gary’s association with The Wildcats led him to be suggested for the bass chair in a new band formed by Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness (ex of Manfred Mann) ex-John Mayall drummer, Hughie Flint, and Dave Kelly. The Blues Band was born. The success of The Blues Band was as instantaneous as it was inevitable. Seventeen albums and countless tours later, their unique and personal interpretation of the blues is now the stuff of legend. Fletcher had found a home.
Taking regular sabbaticals during his 25-year relationship with The Blue Band, Fletcher continued to write, record and perform his own material. His band, The Relatives, released the Feud of Love album in 1997 and in recent years he has begun to perform solo. His songs have been recorded by many international artists and are a regular feature in his shows with The Blues Band.
In 2007 Gary Fletcher, Southpaw-guitar-man and world-class bass player became known as a singer-songwriter in his own right.
The career of Henry McCullough cuts through just about every conceivable facet of rock music and touches upon some of its most glorious moments. When the blues boom hit Ireland, Henry become involved in the rougher side of music
through the outfit that were to become Eire Apparent, managed by Chas Chandler.
Following an untimely exit from the band, Henry nailed some of the finest mixes of traditional and rock through his work with the legendary Sweeney’s Men. It is widely thought that this line-up more or less invented the concept of “Folk-Rock.” An encounter with a young Sheffield singer led to Henry’s first ‘brush with the big time’ as part of Joe Cocker’s Grease Band. Tours and albums quickly followed, resulting in an appearance at Woodstock with Cocker featuring a now-legendary performance of ‘A Little Help from my Friends’.
Breaking with Cocker, The Grease Band continued to mine a powerful vein of gritty blues, earning them a live reputation that has rarely been equalled. Around this time Henry landed himself an audition for a gig with ex-Beatle Paul McCartney resulting in the formation of the first—and many say the best—incarnation of Wings which included
the line-up of Denny Seiwell, Denny Laine and Linda McCartney. During one Wings session at Abbey Road when Pink Floyd was recording in an adjacent studio, Henry made a spoken contribution to the classic ‘Dark Side of the Moon’.
Following a gut-level instinct for rock has always seen McCullough in well-respected company, playing guitar and gigging with Roy Harper, Marianne Faithfull, Ronnie Lane, Donovan, Frankie Miller, Eric Burdon, Viola Wills, Spooky Tooth . . . .
During a brief visit back home to Ireland in the early 80s, Henry began sitting in with the Fleadh Cowboys during their widely notable Sunday afternoon residence at The Lower Deck in Dublin. It soon became apparent that Henry’s contribution was an attraction in itself, leading him to form his own band for a lengthy Irish tour in l988.
In the 90s, McCullough went on to form a new band with Percy Robinson on pedal steel,Roe Butcher on bass and Liam Bradley on drums. More recently the band has featured James Delaney on keys, Chrissy Stewart (Frankie Miller Band) on bass, Chris Probst on guitar and Tony Phillips on drums.
Henry recently released ‘Failed Christian’, a harrowing self-penned song, since covered by Nick Lowe on his latest Demon album, Dig My Mood. Henry McCullough is justifiably one of rock’s most legendary figures.
 Zoot Money is quite simply the biggest character on the British rhythm and blues scene since the early 1960s.
Spotted by “British Blues Godfather,” Alexis Korner’s then manager, Zoot was invited to play with Korner’s seminal Blues Incorporated.
In the late 1960s, after scoring a hit with ‘Big Time Operator’, The Big Roll Band metamorphosed into the prototype psychedelic outfit, Dantalian’s Chariot, sharing the bill with the likes of Pink Floyd (Syd Barrett vintage), Soft Machine and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. A brief stint with Eric Burdon’s American-based New Animals followed before Zoot signed up in 1980 to Paul McCartney’s label, MPL, to record the Jim Diamond-produced Mr Money.
In addition to his live music and acting talents, Zoot is no mean songwriter. His song It Never Rains but It Pours was recorded by Jimmy Witherspoon. He has also written for such artists as Lulu, Maggie Bell and Long John Baldry.
Since the 1980s, Zoot has continued to appear regularly as a featured artist and accomplished Hammond player with groups such as The Spencer Davis Band,Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames, Mick Taylor, Alan Price’s Electric Blues
Band, Humble Pie, The Blues Band, The Foundations, Geno Washington’s Soul Train and The Animals.
In 2005 Zoot teamed up with Pete Goodall of Thunderclap Newman to record a CD of new songs by Goodall and Brown plus a re-working of the original single, ‘Something in the Air’. The band went on to tour the UK under the name GoodMoney.
2006 saw the birth of the British Blues Quintet, an all-star line-up featuring Zoot Money (keyboards and vocals), Colin Allen (drums), Colin Hodgkinson (bass), Miller Anderson (guitar) and Maggie Bell (vocals). This unique cocktail of premium vintage blues has proved positively eclectic, shows playing continuously to packed and enthusiastic houses.
Zoot, of course, is still delivering the goods with the Big Roll Band. Currently the lineup is Paul McCallum (bass), Steve Laffy (drums), Gary Foote (sax) and Ronnie Johnson (guitar).
 Colin Allen has played drums with Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Stone the Crows, Focus, Donovan & Bob Dylan.Colin began playing the drums aged 18 years with local jazz musicians. One of them would later become famous as the guitarist with The Police—Andy Summers.
Colin moved to London in 1964 as a founder member of the legendary Big Roll Band. He has also played with many US blues artists including John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson, Memphis Slim and soul singer Solomon Burke. Colin went on to tour with Georgie Fame before joining John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in 1968. The first thing he did with Mayall was to record the acclaimed Blues from Laurel Canyon album.
Colin then become a founder member of the very popular band Stone the Crows. He went on to play and record with the classically influenced Dutch band Focus. He then became a member of Donovan’s band, touring Europe and the US as opening act for Yes.
In the early 80s, whilst living in Los Angeles, he played on Rod Stewart’s gold and platinum album Foolish Behaviour. Then he became a member of the Bluesbreakers once more and toured the US, Australia and Europe.
In 1984 he toured Europe with Bob Dylan. Overall he’s played on 50 plus albums and co-written over 60 songs that have been recorded by a variety of artists including Paul McCartney’s Wings, Fleetwood Mac, Mick Taylor and the late Mick Ronson. Lately Colin has been appearing at various UK and European blues festivals as a member of the British All-Star Blues Band.
| 
The Safe Concerts Image Gallery
It has been said that "an irreconcilable rift of ideals" exists between the spirit of Punk Rock and the spirit of Blues Rock...with the formation of The Hard Travelers this statement may well prove to be redundant.