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Artist
Billy Goodman
12+ albums
acoustic bluesbluesguitar bluesharmonica blues
about
Billy Goodman was born in 1954 in Yonkers, New York, into a large Irish Catholic family that had originally immigrated in the 1920s. He started playing guitar at the age of 10 and was performing by age 13. Forced by the ever-helpful nuns to sing in the school choir with his brother Frank, he still maintained a strong interest in girls, rock'n roll and getting into trouble. At age 18 he made his way to Manchester, England, playing folk clubs and learning reggae from the English and Jamaican locals until he finally got kicked out a year later when the immigration authorities discovered an error in his visa. On returning to America in 1973 he hooked up in Pennsylvania with his brother Frank who had been writing songs in Mexico. They already sang like only brothers can and used Frank's original songs and Billy's newfound prowess on the bottleneck guitar to form the Goodman Brothers. This duo went on for a year until they found guitar legend Steve Kimock (Zero, Phil Lesh and Friends) in a local bar, and with their sister Kelley and a few friends started the cult favorite Goodman Brothers Band in Bucks County, Pa. With the help of their family they formed a commune, gathered a large regional following and then headed out in 1975 to Marin County, California, to make a demo with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart producing. Due to lack of funds the demo project fell through, but the brothers, fueled by Steve Kimock's incredible guitar playing, stayed on in California. The band playe
