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Blues Bio

The Kingmixers TheBlast
Gary Preston plays a delicious mix of blues and boogie on harmonica, keyboards and vocals. He has performed from Vancouver to Toronto, Detroit to the Caribbean. His recordings with Anita Bonkowski have received airplay and strong reviews around the world, and 2008 featured a CD release tour of Belgium and The Netherlands. Gary's harp playing is top notch, and he has been a regular headliner at the Harmonica Blast at the Yale Hotel as well as being featured in major festivals such as The Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Calgary International Blues Festival, and the International Jazz Festival.

Over the years, Gary has shared the stage with Eric Burdon, James Cotton, Lee Oskar, Colin James, Dutch Mason, The Ray Charles Orchestra, Otis Rush, John Hammond and the late blues master Junior Wells. After hearing Gary play, Junior paid him the compliment of calling him a “Mother#%*&er”!

Gary started performing blues in Toronto, learning from Morgan Davis, Don Walsh and Chris Whitely. He was next an integral part of a great Winnipeg blues scene, playing with Big Dave McLean, Clyde Roulette, Brent Parkin and others. With his move to the West Coast he has carved out a musical niche here, first with the fondly-remembered Gary Preston & the Harpoons, then with The Bill Johnson Band, and now with "Preston & Bonkowski" and "The Gary Preston Band".




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