Carl Sonny Leyland

Carl Sonny Leyland was born & raised on the South Coast of England, It was here that he developed an appreciation for Dixieland jazz, the rock & roll of the 1950s & the country music of Jimmie Rodgers & Hank Williams. At age 15 Leyland discovered boogie woogie when he heard a school friend working through a written arrangement of a tune called JD's Boogie Woogie (Marvin Wright). Captivated by the sound of the repeating 8 to bar left-hand pattern, Leyland was inspired. Within 3 months he would be performing in public & shortly after would become a member of a respected local group, "The Bob Pearce Blues Band. In 1988 Leyland had the opportunity to come to the USA. This initial visit to New Orleans inspired him to relocate to that city, where he would spend the next nine years. During that time, he was active on the club scene, quickly gaining a reputation for his authentic blues & early rock & roll styling. Also, he toured with the Dallas based band Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets, whose line up included blues great Sam Myers. In June 2003 the Carl Sonny Leyland Trio was formed with drummer Hal Smith & bassist Marty Eggers
Still active in the blues world, Carl Sonny Leyland appears on occasion with such notables as James Harman, Kim Wilson & Rod Piazza. This year, he is a featured artist on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise. While he possesses the necessary vocabulary to pay tribute to the greats of old, he refuses to be limiting himself to this & prefers to let each performance be an opportunity to say something new. His repertoire spans the Ragtime era to the 1950s & includes a number of self written material.