Hall of Fame

2016 Inductees

ANTHONY (TONY) MONTANINO’s first band he played with was The Sunland Blues Band with Steve Samuels, Nate Shiner, and Dave Frasier, playing together about six years. The Sunland Blues Band backed up Luther Tucker, Charlie Musselwhite, John Lee Hooker, Willy Dixon and local Bobby ‘Blues’ Ray many times and opened to a sold-out Boz Skaggs concert at UCD Freeborn Hall.

Tony started a blues band called Quickshake after that, which consisted of Ray Copeland, Jim Monroe, and Liz Peel. After a year the band hired Charles Baty, which evolved into Little Charlie and the Nitecats, and a few months later Rick Estrin was added.

Tony went on to play with Nate Shiner and the Nite Hawks for several years, which later became The Nate Shiner Band. With Nate Shiner, they backed up Big Mama Thornton at the Sacramento Blues Festival along with many others.

In addition to his music, Tony has been painting blues figures for over 25 years and has autographed paintings by Fats Domino and Charlie Musselwhite.

Tony also designed the first logo for the SBS, which was used on the first membership cards & t-shirts. He also did the designs for most of The Sacramento Blues Festival & Heritage Festival posters and t-shirts. Tony has created many fine paintings of blues & jazz musicians, as well as local landscapes.

Born in Sacramento, California, MARCEL SMITH has remained a steady influence on California’s music scene for over 30 years. In his childhood, Marcel was exposed to various genres of music that made an impact on him and would remain with him to this day. Marcel began singing as a young child singing in church.

In 1981, Marcel joined the newly formed gospel group the WD Brothers (eventually would be WD Gospel Singers) and would begin a musical journey that would afford him many opportunities in the ensuing years.

In 1986, Marcel joined local blues band the Soul Prophets with Robert Nakashima. This band would grow to be among some of the best blues/soul bands in Sacramento. In 1993 the Soul Prophets won a SAMMIE Best Blues Band award sharing the honor with veteran blues band Little Charlie and the Nightcats (with Rick Estrin).

Marcel would continue working with both WD Gospel Singers and the Soul Prophets, sometimes appearing at the same blues festivals or club venues. In 2010, “Big” Mike Balma pulled a show together of the Soul Prophets and featured Earl Thomas and Otis Clay.

In 2014, Marcel and the WD’s were honored with the Black Music Award (BMA) Music Icon Award and were inducted into the Sacramento Black Music Hall of Fame.

This is one amazing artist that needs to be heard.

HARVEY “GUITAR MAC” MACKNALLY is from Cotton Plant, Arkansas, but his music is pure Mississippi Delta Blues. He was introduced to playing the blues guitar at a very young age, learning the Delta style which is still alive and kicking in that region. He moved to the South Bay area in 1968 and settled in Sacramento, California. He has relentlessly pursued opportunities to perform and demonstrate this style of music to the masses and this drive takes him all over the world. He’s performed in Europe – all over France, Italy, England, Germany and Holland. In California he’s been playing his music since 1983 at the Sacramento Blues Festival until it’s end.

He has 14 CDs out on the worldwide market I-Tunes. He has also been graced with many prestigious awards, solidifying his mark in this industry: 1990 – Key to the City of Sacramento, CA by then Mayor Ann Rudin; 1991 – Blues DJ Of The Year – Bay area Blues Society; 2002 – Radio Producer Of The Decade – Access Sacramento; 2006 – West Coast Blues Hall of Fame – Blues Band Leader Of The Year; 2009 – West Coast Blues Hall Of Fame – Traditional Delta Style Blues Artist of the Year.

DOUG CRUMPACKER began his career in Blues by playing saxophone and harmonica around Northern California with Buddy Brown and the Hound Dogs in the early 1980’s.

Around 1990 Doug formed The Hucklebucks with Robert Sidwell on guitar, RW Grigsby on bass and the late Jeff Poncia, drums. The Hucklebucks were very popular and played approximately 200 dates a year during the post Stevie Ray Blues boom. They were Sacramento News and Review Sammie winners and have been a fixture at the Torch Club and the former Sacramento Dixie Land Jazz Jubilee when blues bands were introduced to the event in the early 1990’s. Doug’s band has backed up Nicky Hill, a young blues star on the rise and others.

In recent years Doug switched to playing guitar due to a dental injury. His current Hucklebucks lineup features 2013 Sacramento Blues HOF inductee Jim Monroe on piano. Doug is highly respected in the local blues community for his integrity and commitment to Traditional Blues.

DALE LYBERGER has lived in Davis and played bass in and around the Sacramento area since the early 1970’s. Dale’s first band was the Fourskins, a very popular band that often played the Oasis Ballroom and Crabshaw Corner every Thursday night to a packed house for more than five years in the 1970’s, followed by a stint with the very popular Redwing.

In the late 1970’s Dale played with Little Charlie and the Nightcats and his focus shifted to Blues. Dale played with The Bill Scholar Blues Band through the 80’s and 90’s and Catfish and the Crawdaddies from 2000 through 2010. Dale performed at a number of Sacramento Blues Festivals, backing up Chuck Berry, Eric Burdon, Kenny “Blue” Ray, and Steve Samuels, to name just a few. Dale has also played with The Jeff Watson Band and Bob Mora and the Third Degree for many years. The past seven plus years has found Dale playing with The Hucklebucks.

Dale has been a first call guy for blues bass throughout the Sacramento area for 35 plus years.