The Smokin' Gorillas

Billy Youngblood, (aka "The Smokin' Gorilla"), is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, creator of The Smokin' Gorillas and founder of The Jungle Vine Ministries. The Smokin’ Gorillas is the Rock and Roll/ Rhythm and Blues band that Billy formed in 2007 along with the independent record label known as “Smokin’ Gorilla Records”. Billy Youngblood and The Smokin’ Gorillas tour the US regularly and have always appreciated good music and hardworking artists. This homegrown network has various artists developing within the Smokin' Gorilla Records label as an independent multi-faceted media distribution community; and together, they contribute a variety of content publishing with the interactive link to #SmokinGorillaRadio. Smokin' Gorilla Records has a strong North American presence distributing to physical retailors and many independent record stores and sustain access to over 250 digital retail sites around the world including YouTube, Amazon, eMusic, Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, iHeart Radio and many more.
Billy Youngblood is a natural born composer as well as a descendant from a Native American family of musicians and has been involved in the entertainment business throughout most of his life. Youngblood is from the Midwest and began playing in many different bands early in his career. Youngblood is passionate about songwriting and performing and has had the honor and privilege of collaborating with an all-star lineup of talent over the years. Youngblood is well known for being a "hired gun" for various professional tours and is credited as working with a wide range of names such as, Green Jelly (2013-present), INFANTRY#333 (2013-present), Tantric (2011-2012), Days of the New (2010), members of Brittney Fox & Bullet Boys (Modern Superstar 2010-2011).
Billy Youngblood began experimenting with a unique blend of creative musical layers and styles, crafting music based on what his fans say they most enjoy experiencing. The Smokin’ Gorillas broke onto the international music scene in 2013 with their first major Single titled “No Romeo” featuring a duet between Billy and the amazingly talented female singer, Hollie Shelton. The song’s popularity landed a placement with MTV networks and has increased the touring and exposure of the band. This resulted in a follow up album Live CD in 2014 titled “Live Jungle Beast”, which was released as a National Record Store Day limited edition exclusive and has sold out of print.
The 2017 single of “Too Much Pain to Cry” is the long awaited soft more record fans have been waiting for by Billy Youngblood and The Smokin' Gorillas and is a full charge of Rock N Roll / Rhythm & Blues Guitar shreading soulful music. A demo of the song was originally released in 2010 as a promotional single and a live version was released in 2014 during the “Live Jungle Beast” record campaign along with an accompanying live music video that was premiered via MTV’s “Artist To Watch” series and can be viewed at the MTV archives under Billy Youngblood’s artist profile. 
“Too Much Pain To Cry” was written about Youngblood’s experience touring with Travis Meeks of ‘Days of the New’ and a series of events that occurred during the tour; including a broken leg that Youngblood suffered at the beginning of the short run tour. Billy Youngblood completed each show performing on bass guitar as well as setting up load in and tearing down load out while crippled with the severely broken leg. The lyrics are credited as co-written with Travis “Rotary Rebel” Miller, who was the tour manager during the live tour run and shared a long enlightening phone conversation with Youngblood about the traumatic experience they had survived together during the early 2010 tour.
For more about this fine talented group follow Billy Youngblood and The Smokin’ Gorillas on any of the social networks online or search #SmokinGorillaRadio and enjoy an organic journey of musical adventure.