Bio
Paula Boggs Band blends jazz and Americana. Front woman guitarist/songwriter Paula Boggs, percussionist Tor Dietrichson and banjo player/guitarist Mark Chinen are founding members. Their sound is "Seattle-Brewed Soulgrass"and pre-Covid the band toured several years across America and Canada.
The band has released a steady stream of music over the past decade-plus. Debut album "A Buddha State of Mind" came in 2010 and "Carnival of Miracles," followed in 2015. Four years ago Paula Boggs Band released EP "Live at Empty Sea, Songs of Protest & Hope” and 3rd album Elixir, The Soulgrass Sessions.
After Elixir, the band added multi-instrumentalists Paul Moore and Darren Lucas, bassist Alex Dyring and drummer Jacob Evans. Moore, Dyring and Evans are music conservatory trained. Dyring and Evans are second generation professional musicians. “Mistletoe & Shiny Guitars,” the band’s first holiday song came in 2018. EP “Electrokitty Sessions” and single “America 2020,” produced by multi-Grammy nominated Tucker Martine followed in 2020.
Paula Boggs Band is sponsored by Deering Banjos, Breedlove Guitars and Radial Engineering. Their 4th studio album, also produced/engineered by Martine and featuring Dom Flemons, releases April 1, 2022.
"This Seattle combo dubs its sound “soulgrass,” since it combines bluegrass and Americana idioms. This track is a story song telling of Paula’s enslaved ancestor in Alabama and his journey through the postbellum Jim Crow South. Flemons, a veteran of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, shares lead vocals. " - MusicRow magazine
"The harrowing, chanted chorus [of Ponies] is immediately followed by verse after verse from Boggs, as she weaves soul, bluegrass, country, and even a little bit of jazz into a beautiful yarn about finding the romantic side of life in any given circumstance." - Billboard
"Rewriting the bluegrass story from a black perspective." - AmericanaUK
"["Ponies is a]n ambitious charmer that curates with Dylan "Desire" era multi-dimensional expressiveness along with storied lyrics worth continually revisiting." - Glide Magazine
"Boggs is like the Dylan, the Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Joan Baez of this era."
Phil King, AudioFuzz.com
“Paula Boggs Band sets themselves apart distinctly by Boggs’ stunning vocals…this Seattle band sounds the part of a bygone era and part refreshingly modern, an exciting contributor to the Pacific Northwest’s diverse music scene.” Glide Magazine
Paula Boggs:
vocals,guitar,ukulele
Mark Chinen:
guitar,banjo
Alex Dyring:
bass,vocals
Tor Dietrichson:
percussion,vocals
Paul Matthew Moore:
keys,accordion,vocals
Jacob Evans: drums
Darren Loucas:
mandolin, guitar, harmonica, fiddle, lap steel, vocals
"Paula Boggs Band joins with Dom Flemons to share “King Brewster,” a song from Janus written about Boggs’ enslaved-then-emancipated ancestor." - Americana Music Association
"The record [album Janus] includes deeply personal themes of ancestry, memory, and love. The storytelling on this record will pull you in, but it’s the musicianship that ultimately takes center stage, thanks to an elegant, groove-laden soundscape crafted by an all-star backing band." - No Depression
"Boggs captures a raw nostalgia ...that might catch you by surprise. She has created a gentle groove for your heartache." - Americana Highways
“This veteran Americana act boasts a range of influences from classic — James McMurtry and Bruce Springsteen — to more contemporary — the Drive-By Truckers. The group describes itself as “soulgrass.” An unfamiliar tag, sure, but not to be dismissed lightly in this age of microgenres.” Current San Antonio
"Mark Chinen played...banjo. I have not heard anyone play a banjo quite like that before...he made it sound like a big city brother to the banjo...when this talented man moves his finger down the strings of a banjo it is magic!” Juanita Smith - From the Cradle to the Stave, Mobile AL
“Boggs makes...urban, jazzy music...within the structures of...folk, bluegrass, and...blues...[s]he calls... “soulgrass,” and reminds me a little of Gil Scott-Heron, if only for the razor-intensity of her words...in a croony-rich street voice...evocative and easy to like.” Dave Good, San Diego Reader