On their sophomore effort Jackie Payne and Steve Edmonson demonstrate once again their mastery of the fine art of timeless Rhythm & Blues delivered with style and flair that recall the classic sounds of Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding and Bobby "Blue" Bland.

The line looked about a mile long, as fans anxiously waited to buy discs and get them signed by Jackie Payne and Steve Edmonson, after a blistering set at the Long Beach Blues Festival. One of them held out his disc, looked back at the line and asked: “How’s it feel to be an overnight sensation?” Payne and Edmonson looked at each other and laughed, and someone said: “It sure must have been a mighty long night.” Payne, who writes the lyrics on all of the band’s original songs, did what he always does when he hears something provocative. He pulled out his pencil and scribbled in the notebook he calls his “Hook Book.” Thus was born the leadoff song and the title of this disc, the culmination of a collective 60 years of playing music on stages around the globe, and jamming with the greatest names in the world of funky blues and soul. “I had been working on a song called ‘PhD of the Blues’,” says Payne. “And all of a sudden, it all came together.” The song, as you will hear, sounds like a resume for the school of the blues, with Payne listing friends and mentors including Lightnin’ Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, Pee Wee Crayton and Johnny Copeland, to name a few. “My school was a one-night stand, my teachers sure taught me right. They call me an overnight sensation but it’s sure been a mighty long night.”

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Edmonson and Payne have played together for more than a decade, but their roots go a long way back. You can hear shades of Al Green, Bobby Blue Bland, Tyrone Davis and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown in their sets that draw on influences from Chicago, south to the Delta and west to the land of Texas soul and West Coast swing, in styles that include heaps of blues, soul, R&B, funk, gospel and even some country-western. Edmonson got his musical education early in life. His father, Travis Edmonson, was a touring folk musician and his young son grew up in blues preschool, surrounded by the likes of Josh White, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. “I started out on the road,” says the musician who has played with Sir Mac Rice, Buddy Miles, Van Morrison, Luther Tucker, James Cotton and Maria Muldaur. “I’ve been playing all my life.” Payne’s musical life began when he heard girls screaming for him when he sang Tommy Sands’ “You Butterfly” at the age of 17 during an Atlanta talent show. “That was the end of the beginning, the beginning of the end,” he says. He got the bug and headed to Houston where he had a female cousin who sang backup in a Little Richard -style R&B revue. Before long he was immersed in the blues of Johnny Copeland, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulson, who jammed all night at an after hours club called the House of Gables. His blues report card includes a slot as the front man for Albert Collins, until, after a near fatal bus crash, he talked his way out of a job by convincing the bashful Collins to sing for himself. A phone call led him to LA where he sang with Slim and the Funky Four, and soon fronted his own band, at the Cover Girl Club. Another phone call led him to San Francisco, for a 15-year run singing in Johnny Otis’ band.

Payne and Edmonson met while both played with the Dynatones and eventually decided to form their own band, to steep themselves in the eclectic mix of music they both loved. It’s led to recognition, awards and reviews, such as Downbeat Magazine calling them “one of the best working bands today.” Besides guest artists including Gail Deadrick and Jeff Turmes, Jackie and Steve have been backed by some pros for years, who bring on the funk and have serious blues roots. Carl Green on tenor and alto sax writes the horn arrangements, and has been heard with B.B. King, Etta James, Clarence Carter, Jimmy McCracklin and Jimmy Witherspoon. Bill Singletary on bass has backed Gladys Knight, Snooky Pryor, Tommy Castro, Luther Tucker, James Cotton and Jimmy Rogers. Nick Otis on drums backed his father, Johnny Otis for a quarter of a century and has played with Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Little Milton, Big Joe Turner and Rufus and Carla Thomas. Payne says he’s having the best time of his life, and at 62, is a young blues man. The band has traveled around the world, playing originals and covers, including a three-month stint in Thailand, right after the big tsunami of 2004. Fronting their own band and being signed to Delta Groove records, has given them focus, says Payne. The fact that label owner Randy Chortkoff is a musician gives Payne great comfort. “He knows what artists go through and he has the means and insight to put out the best music. That goes a long way.”

This band goes against the major label grain, which requires a group to do the same thing over and over. “Sometimes people have problems because they can’t pigeonhole us,” says Edmonson. “Are we soul? R&B? Blues? We have a strong background in all of them. But the one thing we are adamant about is stylistic integrity. If a song is of a certain style, we don’t copy it, but make it sound like it is the only thing we’ve ever played.” This is the kind of music you could have heard back in the day, before albums were shaped by the homogenization of radio and market surveys. It’s no Swiss Army knife band, with lots of tools that do little, and it’s no wedding band, glossing over all kinds of styles. This is a band that takes you through the college of musical knowledge, getting you a PhD in every genre. And says Edmonson: “Because people don’t know what we are, it gives us the freedom to be what we want.” Great artists thrive in freedom, and as you’ll hear, that’s how great music is recorded.

- Written by Brad Kava

JPSE Band Thanks:
From the Band: We want to thank Randy Chortkoff from the bottom of our hearts for going above and beyond the call of duty in supporting and promoting us and in enabling us to record the best music we know how to make! We would like to thank David Z. (producer/engineer,) Josh Blanchard (asst. engineer,) and Frank Jones (studio owner,) for making the recording of this CD the great experience that it was. We would like to thank Judy Edmonson, “The Queen of Everything,” and our “Guardian Angel” for doing, well…everything…booking gigs, driving the bus, singing back-up, fixing amps and guitars, and much much more! We would like to dedicate the “She’s Lookin’Good/Never Found Me A Girl” Medley to Phyllis Otis, who heard us do it live and encouraged us to put it on this CD. We would also like to send our love to Phyllis’ husband, R&B legend, Johnny Otis, and to the entire Otis family, who are always in our hearts. Thanks to Deb Lubin and MaryAnn Haskell for all of their support and encouragement, and to Bill Wax, of XM Satellite Radio, and all of our DJ friends for giving us the airplay that gets our music out to the people. Thanks to Lisa Walters of The Walters Music Agency for putting us to work! From Jackie Payne: I want to thank my uncle, Neal Pattman, who started me singing the blues as a little boy! I would also like to thank Steve & Judy Edmonson for sharing the vision that enabled us to make this beautiful music together. From Steve Edmonson: I would like to thank John & Star Petersen, Michael Pascaris, Steve Gates, and Mike Ulrich for all of their support over the years. Special thanks to Sal Trentino for many years of making my amp sing, and to Larry Cragg for maintaining all of my guitars since I was in high school, in addition to making many of them. Last, but not least, we want to thank all of the Blues, Soul and Old School R&B fans worldwide who have ever felt our groove. This CD is dedicated to the memory of our friends and heroes, Tyrone Davis, Lou Rawls, Calvin Owens, Ike Turner, Francis Clay and to the greatest showman of all time, James Brown, may they rest in peace.