The North Central Florida Blues Society is excited to bring award-winning Blues vocalist John Németh to Gainesville for his first-ever Heartwood Soundstage show on Sunday, November 16. He has received five Blues Music Awards for Soul Blues Male Artist, Soul Blues Album, Traditional Blues Album of the Year, Instrumentalist – Vocals and Instrumentalist – Harmonica.

John creates music that is personal as well as universal, and owes its origin to no one but John Németh. John’s songs are groove and melody-driven, laced with thoughtful lyrics and nuanced humor.

Originally from Boise, Idaho, and now making Memphis his home base, Németh’s striking tenor vocals are already legendary, with a pitch-perfect purity of range and power that has drawn comparisons to singers from O.V. Wright to James Brown. He keeps that power under a tight leash, letting it rip at just the right places, using his voice to deliver and serve the song.

Németh is also a very accomplished harmonica player who can boogie with the best of them, in various diatonic positions as well as on the mighty Chromatic harp, playing largely horn lines, trumpet-like staccato blasts that serve to create dramatic dynamic shifts, tension and release, all in service to the song, not the ego of the player. The few solos he delivers are concise, tasty and powerful.

"I remember telling friends up North in 1980 that they should go see Stevie Ray Vaughan, but they weren't impressed because he wasn't famous yet. It will give me great pleasure to say, "I told you so!" about John Németh. You'll see."

- Bob Margolin, former member of Muddy Waters’ band.

The Ramblin’ Mutts perform soulful, original, Blues and R&B. They will play selections from their stellar CD “Pity & Mercy” and also a few reinterpretations of traditional Blues classics that honor the legacy of this timeless music form.

As always fronting the band is Dan Stepp on lead vocals, keyboards and slide guitar. Playing lead guitar is the talented Paul Goble, and the rhythm section is made up of Richard Heipp on bass joined by the driving drum beats of Rich Patrick.

An earlier incarnation of the Ramblin’ Mutts, known as the R. Mutt Blues Band, were two-time winners of the North Central Florida Blues Society Regional Blues Challenge and represented North Central Florida at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN.