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Songs and Samples
Closer to Love
Faith Healing
Sunlight
Chank-a-Chank
Butterfly
Peace is Love
Chano Pozo's Shoes
Time To Shine
Painkiller
West Jefferson
We Can Change The World
About The Big Happy
Nashville based jam-pop crew the Big Happy are husband/wife teams Jill and Billy Block, and Tom and Pru Clearwater Mason. More than just a band, the Big Happy focuses on feel-good music guaranteed to put a smile on your face and the beat in your feet.
Fans and industry critics alike are comparing these rockers with the legendary sounds of Fleetwood Mac and the edgy delivery of the White Stripes. With a stylistic range of rootsy influences spanning pop, rock, folk, and blues, the sound is as Americana as apple pie.
Members of the Big Happy have performed and recorded with Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Frank Black of the Pixies, Jim Lauderdale, Rodney Crowell, Buddy and Julie Miller, John Cowan, Al Green, Ellis Hooks, Last Train Home, Steve Cropper, Levon Helm and Billy Joe Shaver.
Though they draw from traditional American music forms, the Big Happy effortlessly blend acoustic and electric instruments and soaring vocal harmonies into a new brand of popular music. It’s a sound that’s immediately familiar and instantly likable, wildly original and decidedly fun.
Unafraid to explore uncharted musical terrain, the Big Happy has earned praise from critics and fans alike for their quasi-contrapuntal juxtaposition of styles. Formed in the Summer of 2003 they have been called, "Nashville’s Underground Supergroup," and were invited to perform on Summerfest 2005 in Milwaukee, the biggest music festival in America.
The Big Happy’s speedy ascent to the ranks of the music festival elite comes as no surprise. It all began when Jill Block (guitar / bass / mandolin / vocals) invited Tom Mason (guitar / dobro / accordion / trombone / vocals) and his wife Pru Clearwater (guitar / bass/ piano/ vocals) to accompany her and drummer husband, Billy Block on her "Tang The Hump" Tour. The shows went so well and they all enjoyed each others good company so much, a new band was born.
"When we got home after the tour I knew there was something very magical about this combination of players and personalities," say Billy Block, veteran session drummer for Frank Black of the Pixies, Lucinda Williams and songwriting legend, Billy Joe Shaver. "We couldn’t stop smiling at each other onstage and the amazing audience response at every show was all the validation we needed."
Interestingly, all four members are from different parts of the planet. Pru Clearwater hails from Sydney, Australia with several award nominated CD releases there as an artist in her own right. "I wanted the challenge of coming to America and making a difference with my music here," Pru relates.
Jill Block was raised in Northern California on the sounds of San Francisco’s Summer of Love. "Neil Young lived up the road from us and I’ve been a Grace Slick and Janis Joplin fan all my life," says Jill. Those influences are clearly heard when Jill takes the stage.
Tom Mason, equal parts chameleon, conjurer, and renaissance man hails from the land of Lake Wobegon. For the "Mad Scientist of Rock and Roll" life is a department store and Tom Mason is running up and down the aisles filling his pockets. A fiery guitarist, a sizzling slide player, and a passionate songwriter, Mason is above all a consummate entertainer.
Billy Block was raised on the varied styles learned growing up around the bayous of South Texas. Country, Cajun, Blues, Rock & Soul were deeply ingrained in his musical psyche and are all part of his rhythmic palette. "Learning to play music in Texas is a seven night-a-week affair with every kind of player and style you can imagine. Country bars and Cajun dances, blues dives and rock concerts, Texas has it all," Block reminisces.
Back home in Nashville, the Big Happy began drawing crowds at their weekly club gig and began writing the songs that are on their self-titled debut CD on Western Beat Records. The record was made in Nashville with the guidance of E-Street band bassist Garry Tallent, who appears on the Cajun/rock romp Chank-A-Chank.
"Garry has spent so much time working for The Boss, we thought we’d let him be the boss for a while," says Billy who adds, "he also plays live with us and that is a dream come true for any drummer."
On their self-titled debut CD, the Big Happy emerge at the top of their game and in fine form. "This record covers a lot of ground musically," says Clearwater. "I tend to write very hooky pop driven songs with a twist of international flavor from various parts of the globe." Note the middle eastern guitar intro to Sunlight as a perfect example.
Jill Block's songs come from a socially conscious place with close attention paid to grooving dance rhythms as on Peace Is Love and Time To Shine.
Mason contributes a Latin percussion laden story song Chano Pozo’s Shoes that could easily be Carlos Santana’s next big hit along with jam/rock favorite Faith Healing and roots rocker Painkiller.
The Big Happy bring everything home on their eponymous titled debut with the anthemic sing along, We Can Change The World.
One Big Happy band can make a difference.