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Meet the Band

Carolyn Wonderland
A musical force equipped with the soulful vocals of Janis and the slinging guitar skills of Stevie Ray, Carolyn Wonderland reaches into...
Carolyn Wonderland
The depths of the Texas blues tradition with the wit of a poet. She hits the stage with an unmatched presence, a true legend in her time.
She’d grown up the child of a singer in a band and began playing her mother’s vintage Martin guitar when other girls were dressing dolls. She’d gone from being the teenage toast of her hometown Houston to sleeping in her van in Austin amid heaps of critical acclaim for excellent recordings.
Along with the guitar and the multitude of other instruments she learned to play – trumpet, accordion, piano, mandolin, lap steel – Wonderland’s ability to whistle remains most unusual. Whistling is a uniquely vocal art seldom invoked in modern music, yet it’s among the most spectacular talents the human voice possesses.
That vocal proficiency was well-established in the singer’s midteens, landing her gigs at Fitzgerald’s by age 15. She absorbed Houston influences like Little Screamin’ Kenny, Albert Collins, Lavelle White, Jerry Lightfoot, Joe “Guitar” Hughes, Little Joe Washington, “borrowed” a car to sneak out and jam ended up swapping songs with Townes Van Zandt at Houston’s Local’s on White Oak, got involved in the underground theater scene becoming the first “Photochick” in Jason Nodler’s “In the Under Thunderloo” and soaked up touring bands like the Paladins, Los Lobos, and the Mad Hatter of Texas music, Doug Sahm. Her music played in television series such as “Time of Your Life” and NBC’s “Homicide.” The Lone Star State was as credible a proving ground for blues in the 1980s and 90s as existed, especially in Austin with Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Angela Strehli, Omar & the Howlers, and Lou Ann Barton all in their prime. By the following decade, Austin’s blues luster thinned, but Houston, always a bastion of soul and R&B, boasted the Imperial Monkeys with the effervescent Carolyn Wonderland as ruler of the jungle.
In the early 1990s, Wonderland & the Imperial Monkeys were invited to the Guadalupe Street Antone’s in Austin. There, they were treated like royalty with the singer as the queen of hearts in the club’s post-Stevie Ray Vaughan stable, which included Toni Price, Johnny and Jay Moeller, Sue Foley, Mike and Corey Keller, and the Ugly Americans. It was a good bar for the Monkeys to hang, and Austin felt so comfortable that when the band called it quits a few years later, after a run-in with black ice and a semi that wound young Miss Wonderland in the hospital, she set her sights on Austin at the start of the millennium. Besides, Doug Sahm had told Carolyn while they were signing autographs together at the High Sierra Music Festival, she ought to move to Austin, as it was the land of free guitar lessons. She was there in months.
Living in Austin renewed Carolyn Wonderland’s focus on her multiple talents, underlining rich vocals with excellent guitar work, trumpet, and piano, as well as that remarkable ability to whistle on key. Despite spending two years homeless (or as she puts it, “van-full,”) Austin has been fertile ground for Carolyn. A series of each-better-than-the-next discs began with Alcohol & Salvation in 2001 (“songs about booze and God; records are a time capsule of what happened that year”) 2003’s “Bloodless Revolution,” The Bismeaux Releases: 2008’s “Miss Understood,” 2011’s “Peace Meal” (recorded at Bismeaux and Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock,) 2015’s “Live Texas Trio”; and here we are with 2017’s “Moon Goes Missing.”
Carolyn also got to stretch out with other bands and notably appears in Jerry Lightfoot’s Band of Wonder’s 2002 release, “Texistentialism” featuring Jerry Lightfoot, Vince Welnick (Grateful Dead, The Tubes, Todd Rundgren,) Carolyn, Barry “Frosty” Smith (Lee Michaels, Sly & the Family Stone, Rare Earth, Soulhat) and Larry Fulcher (Taj Mahal, Phantom Blues Band). She has released many songs for charity, 2016’s “Room at the Inn” (iTunes) benefits Doctors Without Borders, 2013’s “Money in the Game” (featuring Marcia Ball and Shelley King) benefits Planned Parenthood, “the Farmer Song” from “Miss Understood” benefits Farm AID, “Annie’s Scarlet Letter” from “Bloodless Revolution” benefits NORML, 1997 Justice Records released Carolyn’s version of Little Screamin’ Kenny’s holiday lament, “Blue Lights” (featuring Ian McLagan) benefitting MD Anderson Children’s Art Project.
Carolyn’s first appearance on vinyl? She’s with James Williamson (Stooges) on the April 2014 Record Store Day single, “Open Up & Bleed” AND on the full LP inspired by that fun session, “Re-Licked” featuring Raw Power Era songs with cool and risky guests.
Her circle of musician friends and admirers broadened to include not only Ray [Benson, who produced Miss Understood] but also the late Eddy Shaver, Shelley King, and yes, Bob Dylan, who likened her composition “Bloodless Revolution” to “a mystery movie theme.” She appeared on the same taping with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings when she made her debut on PBS’ “Austin City Limits” (Season 35.) and had the thrill of her life when Bonnie Raitt joined her onstage for “The Road to Austin” concert film featuring Stephen Bruton and all his friends, got to play with James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, and so many others at Antone’s, she and Erin Jaimes put together a benefit for Uncle John Turner and Johnny Winter insisted on bringing his band by to play, Carolyn’s wedding to A. Whitney Brown was officiated by Mike Nesmith (Monkees,) who serendipitously introduced them on set at VideoRanch in 2010. (there is a video of the two of them on stage together that day!) She began co-writing with locals Sarah Brown, Shelley King, Marcia Ball, Ruthie Foster, Cindy Cashdollar, and Guy Forsyth; sat in with Los Lobos, Levon Helm, Vintage Trouble, Robert Earl Keen, and Ray Wylie Hubbard; and toured relentlessly for the past two decades, sometimes with luminaries like Dave Alvin, Buddy Guy and Johnny Winter, so far spreading her music in US, Europe, South America and Japan. She also claims membership in the all-girl Sis Deville, the gospel-infused Imperial Crown Golden Harmonizers, the Texas Guitar Women, and the Woodstock Lonestars.
Carolyn recently joined John Mayall’s Band as his guitarist and is balancing life on the road with writing time at home and on the way. She’s been touring for over 25 years and ain’t done yet. Come and see it at a show! (seriously, she’s perpetually on tour.)

Giovanni Carnuccio III
Over the past three decades, Nooch has performed and recorded with such artists as Carolyn Wonderland...
Giovanni Carnuccio III
Award-winning and Grammy nominated Drummer, Producer, and multi-instrumentalist that has toured and recorded with many notable acts and artists including Carolyn Wonderland Jimmy Witherspoon, Ray Drew, Miss Blues, Night Flight, Byron Berline, Turnpike Troubadours, John Fullbright, Parker Millsap, Damn Quails, Whitey Morgan & The 78's, Cody Jinks, Kaitlin Butts, Jason Eady, Jamie Lin Wilson, Adam Hood, The Trishas, John Calvin Abney, Courtney Patton, The Southern Brothers, Bri Bagwell, Zach Aaron, Kierston White, Beth Lee, The Living Dead, Kerouac Jack, Camille Harp, and Mama Sweet.
He has also been the house drummer for many studios and festivals all over the United States and has been involved with music production for over three decades.

Naj Conklin
The Socrates of Sub.
The Bukowski of Bass.
The good sauce.
Greg Rzab
along with Jimi Hendrix records, at full volume! I’m pretty sure it drove my parents crazy.”
A couple of years later, he saw Muddy Waters perform, standing a few feet away from the man himself. This proved to be a powerful experience inspiring Greg to explore further the blues scene that was thriving in Chicago at that time. He spent many nights frequenting the blues clubs watching the musicians and sitting in whenever possible.
Around the age of 21, Greg was invited to play a show with Otis Rush. Otis liked what he heard that night, and he immediately asked the young bassist to join the band. This was, of course, an invaluable opportunity to apprentice with one of the true blues masters of all time.
Also, during this time, Greg found work with Hubert Sumlin, Otis Clay, Albert Collins, Koko Taylor, John Lee Hooker, and Junior Wells, amongst others. It was a fertile period in blues history to be sure, which provided Greg with a unique first-hand education.
One night, while performing with Junior Wells, Greg was spotted by Buddy Guy, who was searching for the right bass player for his new band. Greg got the job, so beginning a tenure that would last for 12 years, touring the world and recording on several of Buddy’s Grammy award-winning records, most notably the pivotal “Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues.”
After leaving Buddy Guy’s band, Greg received a call from John Mayall with an offer to become a member of “the exalted ranks of the Bluesbreakers,” and he excitedly accepted. Just as things were going well, a reluctant departure from the Mayall band was required by an unforeseen turn of events. A session with the Rolling Stones led Greg to be recommended for a project with Jimmy Page, which resulted in an unforgettable touring experience. Now back in the band with Mayall, Greg has more than made his mark on stage and in the studio with John. Some of the outstanding artists Rzab has recorded and performed with include Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Mark Knopfler, Joe Walsh, Carlos Santana, the Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule, The Black Crowes, and Stevie Ray Vaughan to name a few.
Recently, in Blue Matters Magazine, a leading European music publication, Greg was named #1 International Blues Bass Player, winning the readers poll voting over many other highly regarded bass players.