Smokin Joe Kubek and B'Nois King

Smokin' Joe Kubek sure lives up to his moniker, and not because this wild-haired, tattooed, guitar-slinging mountain of a man is often seen clutching a coffin nail in his meaty paw. Instead, the towering Dallas-based axeman regularly sets audiences ablaze with his blistering and bluesy guitar stylings, picking and pulling...

By Benjamin Leatherman

October 13, 2005

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Smokin' Joe Kubek sure lives up to his moniker, and not because this wild-haired, tattooed, guitar-slinging mountain of a man is often seen clutching a coffin nail in his meaty paw. Instead, the towering Dallas-based axeman regularly sets audiences ablaze with his blistering and bluesy guitar stylings, picking and pulling the strings with careless abandon and generating a frenetic, echoing wail. Kubek's sound is a slow burn, a seductive smoldering of Texas-style blues he's been honing for more than 30 years of toiling in roadhouses or sharing the stage with guitar greats like the late Freddy King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Adding fuel to the fire is B'Nois King, a Louisiana-born six-string superstar who's provided a jazzier, meandering accompaniment to the fiery Kubek since 1989 on both rhythm guitar and vocals, laying down fat chords and spinning yarns about cheatin' hearts, wild women and pretty mamas. They're a pair of blues brothers who'd give Jake and Elwood a run for their money.

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Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music, and nightlife. He began writing for New Times in 2003 and joined the staff full-time in 2005. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Contact: Benjamin Leatherman

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