“Most harp players wish for chops such as his.” Nashville Music Guise
“Greenwell on harmonica is incredible.” Easy Reeding, Hohner, Inc. Publications
“When it’s time to step up, the good groovester does, letting his Marine Band harmonica go wild like a bunch of sailors on a three-day pass.” Offbeat Magazine
“Open secret: one of America’s top harmonica pros is also one of New Orleans’ top tenor sax players as well.” WWOZ, New Orleans
Bio
Smoky Greenwell has been a fixture on the New Orleans Blues scene for over 30 years, during which time he has released a dozen solo albums, received numerous awards, and played harmonica & saxophone with legends such as Eddie Bo, “Big Al” Carson, Coco Robicheaux, George Porter, Jr., Chubby Carrier, Warren Haynes, Michael McDonald, and countless others in the world of blues, jazz, Cajun, zydeco, funk, and country. In addition to fronting his own band, Greenwell is best known as the replacement for Lee Oskar in the seminal band WAR with Harold Brown, BB Dickerson, and Howard Scott.
Smoky’s latest release, South Louisiana Blues (released August 2016), has charted highly on the independent Roots Music Report in the Contemporary Blues Music as well as the Louisiana Releases charts and has received great reviews from New Orleans to the Netherlands. Smoky plays the harmonica, tenor saxophone, and serves as lead vocalist while being accompanied by talented musicians such as Jack Kolb, David Hyde, Doug Belote, Willie Pankar, Joe Krown, Johnny Neel, Pete Bradish, Lynn Drury, and Dana Abbott. Dan Willging of Offbeat Magazine writes: “It’s just a fun disc—period.”
Smoky performs at numerous festivals in New Orleans and beyond, including the upcoming Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, and he headlines two nights a week at Bamboula’s Club on Frenchman. The NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans and the New Orleans Zephyrs AAA baseball team call upon Smoky to play the national anthem before games every year. Smoky has also spent time as a YouTube star, as his video for the song “Merry Christmas to All” has over 200,000 views.
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