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Our New Album BLUE TRAIN is RELEASED!
 

Our new 16 track album has just been released and features great Chicago players and vocalists  like Harmonica Virtuoso & Grammy winner Howard Levy, Chicago's Sax Maestro Eric Schneider, guitarist Neal Alger, UK Crooner Dominic Halpin, Jen Zias, Mike Harvey and many more!  These great tunes feature the best of Blues, Jazz, and early R&B and some great Rockabilly, all from the late 1950's - early 60's with some original tunes by Susie Blue and Mel Harker who wrote the title song "BLUE TRAIN" 

It's available for streaming and downloading from all your favorite sites and you can purchase the CD's

here for $20 shipping within the US only 

Listen & download albums and individual
tracks at our Bandcamp Page 

Videos

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Moonlight Serenade - Serenade de Clair de Lune

Moonlight Serenade - Serenade de Clair de Lune

04:17
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Susie Blue & the Lonesome Fellas - THE BOOGIE WOOGIE SANTA CLAUS

Susie Blue & the Lonesome Fellas - THE BOOGIE WOOGIE SANTA CLAUS

02:28
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How Could I Help but Love You

How Could I Help but Love You

04:14
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Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas "I WANNA ROCK"

Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas "I WANNA ROCK"

03:44
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CONTACT

miles


 

 

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SUSIE BLUE & THE LONESOME FELLAS

"Vocalist Solitaire Miles  sings  with warm highs and holds her lows neatly.  There's a jazziness about Miles's phrasing, but she holds fast to a sound reminiscent of roadside bars where just three people are left near closing at the pinball machine.” 

- Wall Street Journal

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BEHIND THE MUSIC

"Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas includes some of the best Jazz and Roots players and Miles adds a lively vocal style that brings to mind a winning blend of Patsy Cline and Billie Holiday. " - DownBeat Magazine

"Miles' voice is wonderful, what an instrument."  - Michael Feldman, NPR

 Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas takes you back to the days of Kay Starr, with the husky voice of Solitaire Miles along with Chicago's best jazz and blues musicians.  They get the crowd on the floor with syncopated honky tonking.   Miles is a joy and  you feel like you’re listening to tunes at the juke box on the counter alongside your hash browns. This band takes you to a place you want to be." - George W Harris, Jazz Weekly

"Miles has a similar voice to Kay Starr and uses it to great affect.  The band is perfect with plenty of guitar,  harmonica  and added sax with nothing forced, just plain and simple.  She does a heartfelt version of "I'm a Fool to Care" which is almost worth buying the whole album for that one song alone.." - Rick Meek,  Blue Suede News Magazine

"In her home base of Chicago Solitaire Miles boasts an avid following as a singer equally at home with jazz and blues. Given that combination of styles, it’s no surprise—but an unexpected delight—to hear what she can do... billed as The Lonesome Fellas, she deploys her warm, sultry voice on choice material, strictly top drawer fare, from some of the most important songwriters in history..."  David McGee, Deep Roots Magazine

Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas is an Award Winning   band in Chicago made up of Blues, Roots, Rockabilly and Jazz players  featuring  Grammy winning Harmonica Maestro Howard Levy,   Chicago Sax King Eric Schneider, guitarist Neal Alger, Hammond player Don Stille, Trombonist Jack Gallagher,  Chris Bernhardt on bass, Tom Hope on piano and Phil Gratteau on drums.   Also featuring great side vocals by Jen Zias and Dominic Halpin

BIO - Solitaire Miles has always loved singing. Her grandmother, a singer with a Big Band in the  1940s, exposed her to a variety of music as a child.  Several members of her family were  musicians and she grew up hearing Blues, Roots  and Jazz at Sunday afternoon  family concerts.   She performed as a teenager in the late 1980's with well known saxophonist Bruce Johnstone in the NW Pennsylvania area where she is originally from.  Solitaire originally planned to be an opera singer, but while attending DePaul University in Chicago, she met the legendary  violinist Johnny Frigo who encouraged her to sing Jazz  and Western Swing.   After college in the early 1990's she began working in Chicago with Sax Maestro Von Freeman, and pianist Willie Pickens, who also played on her self-titled release in 2006. "I was lucky to have their guidance because they were playing  with the greats in their day.” 

During the late 90's while living in New York City, she performed with the great trumpeter Doc Cheatham, learning lots more Swing tunes.  From these venerable bandleaders, she learned more about phrasing.    Since then, she has been an important part of the Chicago music scene performing with pianist Willie Pickens and leading her own groups.     

Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas may be regarded as a surprise by some of Solitaire Miles’ swing fans, but it is a logical step in her evolution.  While Solitaire can name a long list of influences like Ruth Brown, Kay Starr or Mary Ford, she does not sound exactly like any of the singers who preceded her, nor do her sidemen sacrifice their own individuality while doing justice to the material.  Instead, they all fully understand the music and are able to add their own voices to the songs while being themselves.     For the future, Solitaire Miles plans to continue singing Roots, Blues, Jazz and Rockabilly!  “I love them all,  and I am looking forward to performing in Chicago and many different regions of the US.”  Wherever they appear  Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas can be relied upon to provide lively music and a fun time.  This delightful group  features Solitaire Miles at her very best" -  Scott Yanow

 

 

 


 

VIDEO & MUSIC

CONTACT

For bookings and interviews email us at solitairemiles@gmail.com

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