Meet the Band

Kid Royal is the lead guitarist and a vocalist for Backtrack Blues Band. He grew up in London, Ontario, and pursued his blues music in Canada for years, playing at many clubs and major music festivals, including the Montreal Jazz Festival, Mont Tremblant International Blues Festival, and Trois Rivieres en Blues. Mr. Royal joined the band when he and his family relocated to St Petersburg, Florida. He is an accomplished singer, guitarist, and songwriter who brings great energy and creativity to the band. His distinctive guitar playing is heavily influenced by the great Texas guitarists, T Bone Walker, Jimmie Vaughan, and Albert King. Kid actually spent time in Austin, Texas, as a young man and hung out at Antone's Nightclub where Stevie Ray Vaughan and The Fabulous Thunderbirds got their start. When it comes to blues guitar, he's the "real deal"!

Sonny Charles is the founder and lead singer of Backtrack Blues Band and named the group after a Little Walter instrumental "Backtrack." Sonny writes many of the band’s songs and has authored over 30 compositions on the band's five records. He is an accomplished harmonica player who has performed professionally for over 40 years and is heavily influenced by harp players like Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Kim Wilson. His gritty, amplified harp tone is reminiscent of the great Chicago blues harmonica heard with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and others. His devotion to blues music runs deep, as he founded the award winning Tampa Bay Blues Festival in 1995 in St Petersburg, Florida. The festival has grown into one of America's largest blues festivals. The festival won a prestigious KBA award (2011) from the International Blues Foundation for Best U.S. Blues Festival.

The band features an incredibly tight rhythm section which includes the Grammy award winning bass player Jeff "Stick" Davis. Stick won his Grammy award as a founder and bass player with The Amazing Rhythm Aces, and he toured throughout the world with the Aces and worked as the opening act for The Eagles, Jimmy Buffett Band, Fleetwood Mac, and others. Stick also toured throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Australia as the bass player for B.B. King, Al Green, John Mayall, Jesse Winchester, and Pure Prairie League. He also worked for many years as a top studio bassist in Memphis and Nashville, and has played on over 200 studio records.

The band's drummer, Joe Bencomo, is widely recognized as one of Florida's best blues and jazz percussionists. He has performed with many bands over four decades and is a gifted and solid drummer. While he can play complex jazz arrangements, his blues shuffles and solid backbeat anchor the grooves for the Backtrack Blues Band. Joe has performed as a studio drummer on many albums, including the last two Backtrack recordings.

Little Johnny Walter plays rhythm guitar for the band and has been with the group since its founding in 1980. Johnny has a clear and solid guitar style which contributes to the band's "tight" sound and has evolved from over 35 years of performing with Backtrack. He met Sonny at Chapel Hill, N.C., where they first formed a band while attending college at UNC; and they've remained great friends and musical collaborators ever since those early days.

The Backtrack Blues Band consists of five guys who are talented and creative musicians and who are fortunate to perform largely original blues material. And what makes it truly special is that they are all good friends who sincerely love the music they play. It just doesn't get any better than that!