CHRIS DANIELS, "SPOONS"
Chris Daniels was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2013 with Judy Collins, Joe Walsh, John Denver, Poco and a host of other Colorado legends. With his band, Chris Daniels & The Kings, “Spoons is in the middle of his 33rd year of recording, touring and producing with his 15th album, “Blues With Horns,” due out in 2017. He’s toured as a musician with Al Kooper, Russell Smith, David Bromberg, Sony Landreth and he just finished a concert for 18,000 fans - serving as the “stage-band” (think Paul Shaffer) for Garth Brooks, Amy Grant, John Oats, Vince Gill and Joe Walsh to name only a few of the night’s guests. He’s played for Dutch Royalty, three American Presidents, and toured Europe 21 times. In 2012 he received his first Grammy nomination for work on the children’s album “Jungle Jazz Kids” with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Hubert Laws and the late Al Jarreau. In 2011 he received the Excellence in Teaching Award from his college at the University of Colorado Denver where he’s served as a fulltime Assistant Professor for more than 14 years. Diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2010, Daniels counts ever day as a blessing thanks to a bone marrow transplant from his sister Jane. And all of this wonderful journey began with Magic Music. For more information: www.chrisdaniels.com
WILL LUCKEY, "WILBUR"
Will Luckey grew up on Martha's Vineyard Island in Massachusetts. He found a kinship with the guitar at a very early age and spent countless hours on a very sparsely populated island, composing songs patterned after the likes of Bob Dylan and the Kingston Trio. At 14 years old he began to gig at the two local coffeehouses, "The Mooncusser” and “The Unicorn.” His love for guitar led him down the road of fingerpicking and playing with groups of people including Tim Goodman and Bill Makepeace. He had formed two different Blues bands by the time he entered high school where he became enchanted by Arlo Guthrie’s tune Alice's Restaurant and
listening endlessly to “The Birds”, the “Beach Boys” and “Led Zeppelin”, as well as “The
Beatles”, “The Doors” and “Crosby, Stills and Nash.” Tim Goodman, Will’s childhood friend, happened to wind up in the same high school as Will, which further bonded their love of playing music together. After high school, he attended Colorado College for about 2 weeks then checked his draft lottery number which by luck was 335, which meant he probably wouldn’t be drafted into the military and the Vietnam War. He ran away to Boulder to begin some sort of musical adventure. It was there that he forged friendships with Lynn Poyer and George Cahill to form what was later to become "Magic Music".
Eventually, Luckey ended up attending "Berklee College of Music" in 1991. Upon graduation, he pursued a career of private instruction on piano, guitar, mandolin as well as voice and composition. Today, Will Luckey continues to run a very successful, small recording/teaching studio on Martha's Vineyard.
GEORGE CAHILL, "TODE"
Born in Providence, RI, George was a typical Air Force brat. He attended fourteen schools while growing up in various locations worldwide. All the time the one interest he had was playing music. His high school in the Hudson Valley, New York, got him focused on learning trumpet. In 1970 while living above an animal hospital in which he worked, a dear friend named Tamara came to him and asked if he could give refuge to her Colorado born boyfriend who was at the time hiding from her father. Tamara’s dad was looking for Tode’s future musical partner Lynn Poyer with an eye towards serious bodily harm. Tode and Lynn became great friends and the three (Tode, Lynn and Tamera) headed West to a commune outside of Boulder, Colorado, and Magic Music history was made. George went on to raise a family in Alabama and in 1997 he finally was able to get back to his first love - playing music in clubs around Birmingham. His skill and reputation brought him to the attention of famed southern soul singer Mose Stovall and the Pharcyde band. George toured with the band for several years and now he’s playing all around Birmingham and the rest of Alabama. He’s a happy dad and grandpa to his children and grandchildren. And when he is in Colorado he’s a frequent guest artist with Chris Daniels and the Kings. Over a 40 plus year career in music Tode’s flute is the signature sound of Magic Music and if that were not enough he's also involved in animal rescue and incredible good times with his kids and grandkids who live close by.
ROB GALLOWAY, "POONAH"
It all began with a Silvertone guitar given by his oldest sister Ann in 1965. As they say in the ski mags and blogs, "It was all downhill from there." After wandering around college for two years in search of something to answer the question 'What are you going to be when you grow up?', he met a group of Colorado mountain hippies called Magic Music auditioning between his sets in a Boulder college bar. They ended up playing together and at their first gig opening for Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids, received a standing ovation. The hook was set.
After the events detailed in "40 Years in the Making," Rob then joined the band Navarro (no relation to Dave) and a neighbor, Dan Fogelberg, introduced them to Carole King in 1976. Several years of recordings, tours and ego trauma were the result. Fatherhood, carpentry, dozens of bands and side gigs followed and in 1992 Leftover Salmon swam into his life. Then add a couple of decades of playing in a Boulder church, another bunch of gigs with the famous and not so famous, and years as a designer/builder to this story and some of us arrive in the present moment!
KEVIN MILBURN, "CW"
Kevin was born in 1953 in Austin, Texas. His family moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1963 where he attended Boulder High School. He studied saxophone in Elementary and Jr. High School, but upon forming a dance band at age 13, and found to be the best singer of the group, he switched from sax to drums, and at the age of 14 and 15 was making money as a singing drummer at frat parties and teen dances, playing copy tunes from popular rock bands. One of his bands opened for Van Morrison’s “Them” at the Tulagi nightclub in Boulder. When a family friend brought a record album of tabla solos to his parent’s house, he became fascinated with tabla, found an instructor in the Denver area and bought a tabla set. He also picked up some conga lessons from local players. He saw the band Magic Music play at the Glenn Miller Ballroom at the University of Colorado, and began to sit in with the band whenever he could. He soon moved to the Allenspark, CO area where the band lived, and teamed up with Chris Daniels. He became a regular band member with the Band’s appearance as the opening act for Richie Havens in Salt Lake City, and remained with the band until their final breakup. He stayed with Will Luckey as a member of “Horizon” and “Luckey Sayers” after the breakup. Facing starvation or a “regular day job”, he joined a Country / Southern Rock Band and worked nightclubs across the Midwest and Western States, eventually landing in the Reno / Lake Tahoe area where he broke into the casino cabaret circuit, finally becoming band leader of the “Zella Lehr Show”. During this time he learned to play a wide variety of musical styles on the drum set, and further honed his vocal ability. He worked as a freelance musician in the casino convention venues as well, playing jazz in addition to contemporary pop, rock, R&B and country. Witnessing a looming crash of the casino live music industry, Kevin found work outside of music, and today is a licensed life insurance producer working with a nationwide brokerage. He continues to play music as a worship team member at his local Church, and is studying guitar, keyboard and songwriting.