Darrell Raines Band

Guitarist steps out of the shadow and into the spotlight By Bill Meredith Special to The Palm Beach Post Friday, August 17, 2007 Miami-based guitarist and vocalist Darrell Raines had to step out of the long shadow of another Florida native to get his feet into the spotlight. Raines toured Europe and the United States with fellow singing guitarist Joey Gilmore for the better part of a decade beginning in 1996. In February 2006, he was a part of Gilmore's first-place group at the finals of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Last year was also when he decided to focus on his own self-titled act. The Darrell Raines Band was the runner-up in the South Florida Blues Society's regional IBC challenge in Boca Raton last November, in which the Dave Shelley Band went to the Memphis finals. Raines' trio includes drummer Dr. Bob Sellani and bassist George Caldwell, both of whom appear on the guitarist's forthcoming third CD, Moanin' Time in Arkansas (Bluezpik Records). On gigs north of Miami-Dade County, like Lake Worth spots South Shores Tavern and the Jetsetter Lounge, the bassist is often Ron Rummage. He's my old rhythm section partner in the Hellhounds, a group that ended in an explosion of innuendo and ego last December. None of which applies to Rummage, whose stellar playing couldn't elevate the Hellhounds past Shelley and Raines at that same IBC regional challenge in Boca Raton last year. "George and I are old college buddies," Raines says of Caldwell, with whom he also played in Gilmore's band. And while Raines says he was influenced by Gilmore's B.B. King-fueled style, the guitarist also mentions several rockers among those who helped shape his playing. "Jeff Beck, Joe Walsh, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Wes Montgomery and George Benson," he says. "For vocals, I'm a big Ray Charles fan." On the all-original Moanin' Time in Arkansas, Raines mixes the electric Chicago blues style of Guy with a literally closer-to-home acoustic Mississippi Delta sound. "It's kind of in-between," he says. "The title track is definitely more Delta blues, but it'll be a mix of electric and acoustic." On the Web: www.darrellraines.com - Palm Beach Post-Bill Meredith