Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets

Anson Funderburgh (born James Anson Funderburgh, November 14, 1954, in Plano, Texas is an American blues guitar player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978. Their style incorporates both Chicago blues and Texas blues. 1981, Funderburgh released the Rockets' debut album Talk to You By Hand from New Orleans, Louisiana's based Black Top Records. The band consisted of Anson, with Darrell Nulisch on vocals and harmonica. The album included a cover version of Earl King's song, "Come On". Talk to You By Hand was also the first ever release by the record label. When Nulisch left the band in 1985, Funderburgh invited the blues harmonica player Sam Myers from Jackson, Mississippi to fill in the spot. The first Rockets' recording featuring Myers was My Love Is Here To Stay which came out in 1986. He stayed with the band until his death on July 17, 2006, appearing on eight albums with them. The Rockets have been repeatedly acclaimed as one of the best live blues bands in existence. Anson Funderburg and The Rockets collectively won nine W. C. Handy Awards, including three "Band of the Year" awards and the 2004 award for Best Traditional Album of the Year. In 2005, Sam Myers was nominated for Traditional Blues Album of the Year for his record, Coming From The Old School. In January 2000, Myers was inducted into the Farish Street Walk of Fame in Jackson, Mississippi, an honor he shares with Dorothy Moore and Sonny Boy Williamson II. In 2006, just months before Myers died, the Governor of Mississippi presented Myers with the prestigious Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts and was named state Blues Ambassador by the Mississippi Arts Commission.