Tony McPhee
The Groundhogs were an iconic blues and progressive rock band characterised by improvised screaming guitar solos, which achieved several top chart albums (Thank Christ For The Bomb, Split, Who Will Save The World & Hogwash) through the 1970's.
Tony 'TS' McPhee is the talent behind 'The Groundhogs', and his outstanding writing and phenominal guitar skills have formed and pushed at the outskirts of British blues and rock for the last fourty odd years. Despite the album success, The Groundhogs retain a cult status, you are either absolutel
y passionate about them or have never heard of them. In the early 1960s Tony was invited to join his mates band, 'The Dollarbills' a local pop band, he persuaded them to start playing Blues and R &B after he had seen Cyril Davies and the All-Stars playing at the Marquee club and suggested 'Groundhogs' as a name for the band, after a John Lee Hooker album track.
Tony and the band played all of the gigs on the blossoming blues circuit and then were fortunate to be asked to back Hooker on the final week of his first British tour. John enjoyed the company of the band and preferred to travel with them in their Commer van and asked the "Number one British blue
s band", to back him on later British tours. At around the same time the Hogs also backed Champion Jack Dupree who later told Melody Maker that they were 'the best band he'd ever played with'. In 1965 the Hogs backed Hooker on an album which was initially called John Lee Hooker, but which has also b
een re-released as 'Hooker & the Hogs', & 'The London Sessions'.
Filmed here for the upcoming documentaries "Gettin' the Blues" Tony Mchee and the groundhogs go back to the early 60's, when they toured and recorded with american bluesman John lee hooker. Here tony talks about his time with Hooker and performs one of his songs "Graveyard Blues" You can see more
of Tony in the upcoming films about the blues. check out more about Tony McPhee & the Groundhogs at: www.thegroundhogs.co.uk

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