I play one of the world's most annoying instruments, the harmonica, and I've been gigging out with bar/weekend/pickup bands for nearly 30 years. I also play a little guitar, but it's of the campfire/playing with friends variety.

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)

Following are some MP3 music clips. I sing and play harp on all of these:

 Judge A Book (The Tone Popes)

 

 Chicken Shack Boogie (The Joe Chiocca Band -- Live)

 I Wish You Would (The Joe Chiocca Band -- Live)

 Iko Iko (The Joe Chiocca Band -- Live)

 Too Many Cooks (The Tone Popes)

 Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White (The Confabulators)

  You Belong To Me (The Joe Chiocca Band -- Live)

  If the Shoe Fits (The Tone Popes)

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

  Mama, Talk to Your Daughter (The Confabulators)

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 Seydel 1847 and Hohner Special 20 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, an ElectroVoice 605  or an Astatic JT30  mic. All three use Shure dynamic microphone elements. Usually I run the harp mic into a Danelectro DanEcho pedal and then into the amp. For vocals and acoustic sounds, I go through an Audix OM-3 or  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, JJ and Philips tubes and a Ted Weber cabinet and speaker (it's now my main gigging amp); a Bugera V5 that I use for tiny bar/acoustic/practice sessions and a Pignose practice amp.

I also bring a good-quality tambourine and some "shaker eggs" to gigs. Unlike a lot of harp players, I can actually play these things.

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.