Eric Gales &
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Comments from and photos of the Gales
Brothere - See next page!!!! Eric Gales and his brothers are all hot blues guitar slingers. I was lucky enough to catch his solo tour (with his brothers Eugene and Manuel supporting) and was impressed with their talent. (and their abiltiy to play those strats upside down!!) Eric Gales was just 15 when he signed his first record deal, leading to two albums, "The Eric Gales Band" and "Picture of A Thousand Faces." In 1991, at the age of 16 he won "Guitar World's" Reader's Poll as "Best New Talent." |
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| Eric Gales along with his brothers Eugene
and Manuel have released their most recent CD "Left
Hand Brand," their debut album on the House of Blues
Music Company's record label. All three play the guitar,
Fender Strats played left handed and upside down. Eugene Gales, co-wrote most of the album's songs, and feels that "Left Hand Brand" reflects at least three generations of his family's music. According to Eugene, his maternal grandfather Dempsey Garrett Sr. "had a Delta style like you never heard." Eugene also recalls feeling "that same blues vibe myself," when he sang every Sunday as a youngster in the Church of God of Christ. Eric was winning amateur blues contests as an 11-year-old musician. The brothers developed a routine. "It was a gimmick, really," Eric recalled. "I'd be playing the bass while Eugene was playing the guitar. Then we'd switch instruments, even though I wasn't much bigger than the guitar. I'd fire off some Hendrix riffs, and the audience just wouldn't be expecting that. We won 'em over time after time." Manuel Gales, also known as Little Jimmy King, would listen to his older brother Eugene jammin' some Albert King or Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton and learned to play with influences of his older brother. When Manny was 8 he got his first guitar, and he was off and running. He has two album's, 1991's "Little Jimmy King & The Memphis Soul Survivors" and 1993's "Something Inside Of Me., Eric, too, idolized his oldest brother. By the age of 4 he was already emulating Eugene. "I had a sense of rhythm at a very early age." He smiled, remembering "that first little groove when I picked up the guitar. All three of us were into the music very young, and I know it's because the Man Upstairs stretched a benevolent hand on our family." Eugene's recollection verifies the spirit of the story. "I started coaching Eric when he was 4 and by the time he was 12, man, he was teaching me!"
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