Blues Rock with Jazz and Country sprinkled in for flavoring

Todd Hines: Vocals, guitar, bass guitar Christopher Augustine: Drums, percussion

All songs written and arrange by Todd Hines Produced By: Todd Hines, Christopher Augustine and David Escobar Record by/Mixed by: David Escobar Cover Photo: Todd Hines Cover Art: Christopher Augustine

Singer

Blues Rock with Jazz and Country sprinkled in for flavoring

Todd Hines: Vocals, guitar, bass guitar Christopher Augustine: Drums, percussion

All songs written and arrange by Todd Hines Produced By: Todd Hines, Christopher Augustine and David Escobar Record by/Mixed by: David Escobar Cover Photo: Todd Hines Cover Art: Christopher Augustine

Singer songwriter, Todd Hines, has been honing his craft for some 40 years. Slugging it out in the club scene from the mid-west to the west coast playing rock, blues, jazz and reggae. Todd started on trombone at the young age of 10 before coming to his senses and buying a guitar at the age of 14. His first paying gig was playing bass guitar in a local rock band while in college. After college, Todd moved to Los Angeles where he landed a spot in a newly formed reggae/rock band that made it onto the airwaves. He then joined a band with an unknown style, which later turned out to be Grunge. From there, Todd started writing music with two other guitar players and over the next ten years this band morphed into a southern rock cover band zeroing in on The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He has shared the stage and recording studio with members of some of the top bends in the industry. Today, Todd’s focus is on writing and recording. His first full length solo album "Coffee With My Baby", a mixture of blues, jazz and rock, was released in 2016. Now, 2019, releasing his second album, Todd Hines and the Blue Smoothies. And also expanding his reach by performing at the Oh! Bugey music festival in Oyonnax, France in July, 2019.

A mixture of blues, rock and jazz

I was born with a desire to play guitar. According to my mom, on my 3rd or 4th birthday I got my first toy guitar. After some practice, I went around the neighborhood knocking on doors and offering to play a song for a quarter. So like all guitarists, I started my musical career in earnest by going on to play

A mixture of blues, rock and jazz

I was born with a desire to play guitar. According to my mom, on my 3rd or 4th birthday I got my first toy guitar. After some practice, I went around the neighborhood knocking on doors and offering to play a song for a quarter. So like all guitarists, I started my musical career in earnest by going on to play trombone. Although nowhere near as fun as guitar, my years of playing trombone did lead me to jazz and swing and gave me the ground work to eventually write and arrange the horn parts that you hear on track 5 - E's Song.

My interest in writing and recording music started when I first heard Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line" album. I was about 8 at the time, around 1971. I listened to that album over and over again, every night for years. In terms of my instrument of choice, my first introduction to amazing guitar work was Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years." From there I moved on to Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Billy Gibbons and Edward Van Halen. When Stevie Ray Vaughn came out I was mesmerized. Vaughn made me go back and listen to the music that inspired my heroes. As he stated in an interview, all guitarists should go back and listen to the greatest of the great blues players, so I did. The three King's - BB, Albert and Freddie, T-Bone Walker, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, and too many more to list here. This is where I found my style, my fingers, my feel for playing guitar.

Eventually landing in Los Angeles in 1986 I went right out and got into, what else, a reggae rock band! These were great times for me musically. This reggae band was packing houses in Los Angeles and eventually made it onto the airwaves. But more importantly, I continued to expand my musical horizons with the discovery of Bob Marley; his mixture of rock, blues and jazz, his sense of melody and his lyrical content amaze me to this day.

From there I played in what would later be known as a grunge band, then a southern rock tribute band and various blues projects… all the while writing my own music on the side.

Which brings me to my first full-length solo album. As with all artists, it brings together my music and my life. Enjoy!

Album Liner Notes

All songs written and arrange by Todd Hines (even the horns, except solos of course) Produced By: Todd Hines, Christopher Augustine and David Escobar Recorded by/Mixed by: David Escobar Cover Photo: Christopher Augustine

Todd Hines: Vocals, back ground vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards on “A Million Dollars” Christopher Augustine: Drums, percussion, high pitched back ground vocal on “Coffee With My Baby” David Escobar: Keyboards Chet West: Bass guitar on “With Her” Ethan Howard: Bass guitar on “Let’s Get Going” (he was 13 when he recorded this track!) Bill Wilson: Saxophone on “Let’s Get Going” Vibrant Horns: Horns on “E’s Song (That’s It)” - Adam Crosse - Trumpet - Ian Anderson - Saxophone - Tony Rinaldi - Trombone Muse: Janna Hines