Blues singer and harmonica wiz
Bill Rhoades was born in Eugene, OR. In junior high school he fell under the influence of British Invasion bands like
the Rolling Stones,
the Animals, and
the Yardbirds, which in turn led him to check out
Muddy Waters,
Bo Diddley,
Howlin' Wolf,
Slim Harpo, and the other American blues artists these bands often covered.
Rhoades fell totally under the spell of the blues, and started playing harmonica. While he was in high school he began playing harp and singing in a band called
the Rhythm Kings, which morphed into
the Party Kings after
Rhoades graduated. The Party Kings worked as the house band at a Eugene club called Taylor's, where they often backed up
Albert Collins,
Michael Bloomfield, and other blues artists who were passing through town.
Ever the champion of the music he had come to treasure,
Rhoades helped found the Oregon Blues Society in the late '70s, as well as the Cascade Blues Association a few years later after he had relocated to Portland, OR. While in Portland in the 1980s he began his long-running blues radio show, Blue Monday, on KBOO, and fronted a band called Blues Deluxe before re-forming
the Party Kings. A stint in the Switchmasters followed, but
Rhoades increasingly began to concentrate on
the Party Kings, who went on to release two albums, Don't Lose Your Kool and
Voodoo Lovin'. He also began playing with guitarist
Alan Hager as part of a country blues acoustic duo, and the pair released
Runnin' & Ramblin' in 1998. ~ Steve Leggett