Bob has played with Kings.......

BB & Stephen

Bob Stannard was born and raised in Dorset, Vermont, USA to a family of plumbers. 

So why did he decide to become a Bluesman? 

"I don't think the decision was mine", says Bob.  "I believe the instrument chose me".

I started playing the harmonica in 1969 when I went away to college.  I was a drummer at the age of 11 and when I brought my drums to school, set them up in the dorm and banged away, I was told I would be kicked out of school if I did that one more time.  Figuring that I should save up those expulsions for something really good, I decided to take my drums home.  I never played them again.

I bought a C Marine Band harmonica and just started playing.  I've never had a lesson or any personal instruction.  I have, however, learned from the best players that ever lived by simply listening to their music and listening to what they're playing.  People  like (in no particular order of preference):  James Cotton, Big Walter Horton, Little Walter Jacobs, Kim Wilson, Charlie Musselwhite, Jr. Wells, Carey Bell, Norton Buffalo, Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson (both of them), Paul Butterfield, Jay Bird Coleman, Chuck Darling, John Mayall have all contributed in one way or another to my style of playing.

Without any formal instruction, I believe it took me much longer to figure out just what many of these great players were doing with a "Mississippi Saxophone".  I've learned to play through sheer determination and a longing for mastering this "tin sandwich".  After 34 years of playing I can compare my feelings on this instrument to my Martial Arts training; the more I learn - the less I know.  I am still lifetimes away from mastering this instrument.  If anything, it may have mastered me.  -  Bob Stannard

Over the past year the man who I have my arm around, Floyd Lieberman of Lieberman Management has become a real friend. 

A nicer guy you'll never meet!