Claremont Voodoo Society

If you want to hear early Baroque music the way it was intended to be played, you'll need period instruments and dedicated musicians steeped in the idiom. If you want to hear great American roots music you'll need the same sort of thing; dedicated virtuosi who speak blues and rock without a contemporary pop accent and those that are true believers in the musical form.

American roots music is populated by the giants of our rich musical history; Little Walter, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Band, Tom Waits, Hank Williams, Jelly Roll Morton, and Merle Haggard just to name a few. The Society is made-up of a few skilled, like-minded craftsmen who respect the power of the shadow these musicians cast over our musical landscape. 

“Every man has a dream but few are brave or crazy enough to pursue it.” The Claremont Voodoo Society is Jerry O'Sullivan, Bill Barrett, Ray McNamara, Roy Durnal, and “Lazy” Brad Lewis' dream; a musical collective made of great musicians playing originals and obscure covers of gutbucket blues, rock, and epic ballads in the manner of Van Morrison and Muddy Waters.

Photography by Mark Takeuchi