I play one of the world's most annoying instruments, the harmonica, and I've been playing in bar/weekend/pickup bands longer than you've been alive. I also play a little guitar, but I'm such a hack guitarist that I can barely stand to pick one up any more.

Bands in which I've played either regularly or intermittently over the years:



 The Joe Chiocca Band
 
 JohnDC All-Stars

 The Tone Popes
 
 The Confabulators

  BG and the Mojo Hands

  Nun of the Above  (no, not these guys)

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 Here are some MP3 music clips:

 Chicken Shack Boogie (JohnDC AllStars -- Live)

 Too Many Cooks (The Tone Popes)

Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White (The Confabulators)

If the Shoe Fits (The Tone Popes)

Ridin' in the Moonlight (JohnDC AllStars -- Live)

Judge a Book (The Tone Popes)

Mama, Talk to Your Daughter (The Confabulators)

Baby Makes My Wallet Hurt (The Tone Popes)

Want to book me or any of the bands in which I play? Write me.

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The following is for harp geeks. You have been warned:

People think I just stroll into gigs with a single harmonica in my pocket and no other equipment.

No.

My gigging harp case contains twenty-six harmonicas -- 10 diatonics, 10 backup diatonics (harps can and do blow up at the most inopportune times, so you need backups), four chromatics and two tremolo harps. At most gigs, I will use about 15 of these -- honest.

I play Hohner Special 20, Bushman Delta Frost and Hering Vintage 1923 diatonic harps, Hohner 270 and Hohner CX-12 chromatics and a couple of Huang Musette tremolo harps.

I usually play into an Astatic T-3 or an Astatic JT30  mic. The T-3 has a Shure CM element installed; the JT-30 has a non-original Astatic crystal element. Usually I run the harp mic into  a Lone Wolf Harp Delay pedal and then into the amp. I also own a Yamaha Magicstomp multi-effects pedal that I sometimes use for delay/echo, but I mostly use that as a practice amp -- it has amp simulations and a headphone output.

Other mics: I also own an ElectroVoice 605 , an Astatic DN-50 (unusual, fun and bulky), a Shure 545SD (preferred by Paul Butterfield and probably the best harp mic you can buy new) and a Shaker dynamic mic. For vocals and acoustic sounds, I go through a Shure SM-57 into the PA.

I have used all sorts of amps over the years, but here's what I own now: An early 1990s Fender '59 Bassman reissue that sounds fantastic but is a pain to haul around and is Too Much Amp for 90% of the rooms I play; Teresita, a Fender Tweed Deluxe clone I built with a Ceriatone chassis, DuMont/Sylvania and  Electro-Harmonix tubes and a Ted Weber cabinet and speaker (it's now my main gigging amp); an Electar Tube 10 that I use for tiny bar/acoustic/practice sessions and a Pignose practice amp.

I also bring this stuff to gigs: a good-quality tambourine, some "shaker eggs" and an LP guiro.

Up-and-coming harp players ask me about gear all of the time. They're all looking for that Holy Grail combination to make them sound like their heroes, but I always tell them it's not about the gear. The right equipment can make a decent player sound better but it will not create good amplified tone out of poor acoustic tone. You've got to put in the practice time to get the result you want.

Here's more info on my musical past. And in the mid-1990s, I wrote this harp amp mini-FAQ that is still floating around on the Web.