INFLUENCES

 (alphabetically) Louis Armstrong, Air, Aerosmith, Agents of Good Roots, Bach, The Band, Beck, Beethoven, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bon Jovi (the band), Jon Bon Jovi (the solo artist), Count Basie, Mr. Bojangles, Sam Bush, James Brown, John Cage, Chick Corea, John Coltrane, Ray Charles, The Cars, Miles Davis, Def Leppard, Claude DeBussy, BoB Dylan, Earth Wind & Fire, Duke Ellington, Dr. John, Faith No More, Flaming Lips, Ben Folds, Flatt & Scruggs, Trilok Gurtu, Marvin Gaye, Herbie Hancock, Micheal Jackson, Jazz Mandolin Project, Jamiroqoui, Little Richard, Led Zeppelin, Lenny Kravitz, Kongar OOl-Ondar, Jerry Lee Lewis, Living Colour, Motley Crue, The Monkees, Bob Marley, Medeski Martin & Wood, Willie Nelson, Nirvana, Harry Nillson, Prince, Phish, Pink Floyd, Elvis Presley, Louis Prima, Queensryche, Queen, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Sufjan Stevens, Talking Heads, Ween, Weezer, Whitesnake, The Who, Frank Zappa... As well as some of the amazing musicians I've had the blessing to perform/record/write with:  Charlie & Bruce Robison, Ryan Bingham, Jimmy Dean, Joe Morello, Shadd Scott, Joe Woullard, Shawn Nelson, Joe Faulhaber, PJ Herrington, Mooke, Sam Pulley, Nick Chambers, Adam Raven, The Portal, Graham Wilkinson & the Underground Township, Jessie England, Escalator, Schwill, Micah Berry, 40,000 Flies, Trey Pollard, Davy Tyson, Paul Tressel, Amanda Holt, Aaron Parker, Patrick Turner, and Shaun Dickerson.

I want to make special mention of some of the female performers who have influenced me...Erikah Badu, Bjork, The Cardigans, Ani DiFranco, Ella Fitzgerald, PJ Harvey, Emmylou Harris, Billie Holliday, Sarah Jarosz, Sarah MacLachlan, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstandt, Jill Scott, Nina Simone, Gillian Welch...

I've also been greatly influenced by all the sounds I have ever heard and all the experiences I have ever had.

I was hugely influenced by the music of my dad, James Landry (originally from New Orleans). He has played piano for over 50 years and still surprises me every time I hear him play.
I was also blessed to study drums for two years with Thomas Howard Curtis, a man who politely blows my mind away with the knowledge, wisdom, craftsmanship and artistry he displays on the modern Drum Set (it is impossible to use lowercase letters when he plays it)

If you ask me, some of the greatest American musicians of the last 50 years are Art Blakey, Johnny Cash, Jerry Garcia & Phil Lesh, Bela Fleck, Gregg & Duane Allman, Jack DeJohnette, George Gershwin, Charles Mingus, Bruce Springsteen, Igor Stravinsky (born a Russian but embodied the spirit of American classical music so well), Allen Toussaint, Tony Williams, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, and Regi, Rudi, Joseph, Roy (Future Man), and Victor LeMonte Wooten. These are all folks who I unfortunately did not discover until high school, college, or recently.

My guilty pleasures are Christina Aguilera and Huey Lewis & the News.


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