Long
a commanding presence on the Minneapolis blues/R&B scene, the
Butanes began receiving numerous individual and group awards in the
late 80’s. The early 90’s found the band holding down
two house gigs that have since become a cherished part of local lore:
the 10 strong Butanes Soul Revue brought southern soul to the Cabooze
bar every Wednesday and the trio delivered Chicago blues to the 400
bar every Thursday. As the accolades piled up, local appearances became
less frequent. The band could often be found playing behind luminaries
around the world leading one New Orleans wag to dub them “the
best band you’ve never heard of.”
Earl
King hired the Butanes to back him at a dozen New Orleans Jazz &
Heritage Festival appearences as well as numerous Midwest festival
and Club dates. The band accompanied Earl on a seven country tour
of Europe and recorded with him at the BBC studios, performed at the
Vin Expo in Bordeaux, France and played on his final unreleased Black
Top tracks.
They
toured the Midwest, California, Alaska and the Virgin Islands with
Zydeco accordionist Al Rapone, backed numerous New Orleans legends
at the 1st Ernie K-Doe R&B Tribute at the Mother-In-Law Lounge
in New Orleans and were "saved" during rehearsal for the
St. Louis Blues & Heritage Festival by Motown/Stax/Raelettes vocalist
the Reverend Dr. Mabel John.
While
recording two highly regarded CDs together former Goldwax/Checker
vocalist Willie Walker and the Butanes traveled to Utrecht, the Netherlands
to perform at the final Blues Estafette. They spent 10 days playing
at the Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland and headlined the first
P-vine Blues Festival in Tokyo.
