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Porterhouse Bob was born in 1947. He claims to originate from Picayune, Mississippi, settling as a teenager in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he made a living playing the squeeze box , drawing venom from swamp snakes, and wrestling alligators. "I remember enjoying playing the accordion so much," says Porterhouse, " that I had to be dragged off the stage at my first recital. Realizing that having a Studebaker parked in my lap wasn't a big hit with the young girls, I eventually moved on to the piano and organ. Girls like a man with a big organ. "At fifteen, I was playing piano with a local garage band," Porterhouse continues," when I was asked to join Dot Records recording artists Gene Grey and the Stingrays. They had a song on the national charts called Surf Bunny. We toured the supermarket and fairground circuit on the bill with The Safaris (Wipe Out), The Champs (Tequila), The Tornadoes, and other "surf" R&B artists popular at the time.
"I did a brief stint with the Coasters (Charlie Brown) and some recording at Frank Zappa’s studio in Cucamonga before joining up with Billy Roberts, writer of 'Hey Joe', in San Francisco. Billy was riding high on royalties from the Jimi Hendrix album. During this two-year period I moved from piano to B3 organ. We opened for Charlie Musselwhite, Elvin Bishop, Moby Grape, and other blues artists popular at the time. "In the early seventies I ended up in Houston, Texas, where I backed up a local blues legend named Tobius Wood Henderson (Atlantic Records), performing on the house Hammond B3 at the Cellar Club. We played from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. and lived in the club. Occasionally, artists like Canned Heat would come in from the Astrodome and I’d get to back them up on the B3. "I eventually migrated up to Canada, playing straight-ahead Chicago blues. In Toronto I played the El Mocambo and Grossman’s Tavern, a hangout for deal-makers from Detroit and bands like the Downchild Blues Band. In Vancouver I played both solo piano and with the Fastball Boogie Band. Gary Moore was the harp player and singer with Fastball. He was damn good on the harp and had a real soulful R&B voice. We did shows with cats like like Billy Branch, Paul Butterfield, James Cotton, Willie Dixon, and the Persuasions. "The years of late nights and back stage antics took its toll. After twelve years in Canada, I came back down to L.A. to skin a few snakes. I eventually returned to the keyboard, taking a position with the Janiva Magness Band. We played some great southern California venues like Croce’s, Fleetwood’s, the Mint, The Lighthouse and At My Place. "One thing that has stayed with me all these years is my profound love of keyboard music as played by artists like Piano Red, Professor Longhair, Ray Charles, James Booker, Dr. John, John Cleary and Buckwheat Zydeco (to name a few). It’s out of this love that I've been doing some serious wood-shedding with my own band, Down to the Bone, working up great tunes that reflect the blues roots of Atlanta and New Orleans." Porterhouse Bob and Down to the Bone is about taking an energetic and rowdy form of funk and New Orleans r&b and putting a smile on people's face as they hit the dance floor with both feet flying. The band teamed up with Big Mojo Records for the release of all three CDs, Who Called The Cops?, Shoutin' at the Grave, and Rockin' the Big House. Porterhouse and the band recently filmed with Gen Simmons on his A&E Family Jewels TV show.
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