Hall of Fame

2019 Inductees

There is no doubt that Leo Bootes was born to perform. When he picks up a guitar and steps center stage, he is confident, creative, and focused. He may be playing slide guitar, bass, or singing, but people listen.

The son of a Filipino Merchant Marine and a Scots-Irish mother, Leo lived in Seattle until his mother brought him to Sacramento when he was in elementary school.

When he was 9 years old, someone gave Leo a cheap, old Sears Roebuck guitar with nylon strings. He learned to tune it and play by listening to recordings of the great rock and blues guitarists of the day. When he was 16, he left home to live on the streets of Sacramento and listen to local musicians like Johnny “Guitar” Knox. The two formed a friendship and Knox became Leo’s teacher and mentor. Crowds would gather when they sat outside Java City Café to practice.

Still in his teens, Leo joined with other young musicians to form a rock band named Fat Molly’s Kitchen. The band got attention, playing up and down the California Coast. Later, he gathered other groups such as The Southside Shuffle, and Low Down Dirty Dogs. He spent 8 years with the Gary Mendoza Band and more recently playing pickup with other groups.

Leo believes it has always been his destiny to play the music he loves and his induction to the Sacramento Blues Society Hall of Fame proves that to be true.

Martin “Marty” Deradoorian was born in Providence, Rhode Island and started playing professionally at age 19 with friend and band leader the great Jeffrey Osborne. While in Providence he toured with the Fatman Wilson Revue on the East Coast and up into Canada and Nova Scotia. He moved to San Francisco and played with Johnny Mars and Mike Henderson and backed up the great Albert Collins. He moved to Sacramento and got his first gig with fellow inductee Gary “Wailin” Black. Then he went onto Dave Bonds/Dave Rees band and was asked to join fellow HOF members Jimmy Morello and Ray “Catfish” Copeland to join The Blue Flames. Marty then opened for and/or shared the stage with the following legends: Bobby”Blue” Bland, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Taj Mahal, James Cotton, Bo Diddly, Elvin Bishop, Lowell Folson, and Delbert McClinton, and is currently playing his sax with The Foxtrot Mary Revue and gratefully “guesting” with Red’s Blues as well as The Hucklebucks.

Blues guitarist Kenny Marchese began playing Blues in Sacramento 27 years ago in 1992 after seeing Little Charlie and the Night Cats at a Shasta County Blues Society Show. Kenny was a part of the Shasta Blues Society in its inception, playing in local Blues bands in Redding.

In 1992, Kenny learned about two Blues Bars in Sacramento, The Torch Club, at 16th and L St, Sam’s Hof Brau located on J and 17th, and The Sutter Street Saloon located in Folsom. He started making the drive on Wednesdays for the Johnny Heartsman and Johnny Knox Blues Jams. The Torch Club and Sam’s became a familiar hang out and, in one of Kenny’s first times at a Sam’s blues jam; Robert Nakashima talked Kenny into playing for the first time in Sacramento with him.

Kenny became a regular from then on at these two great blues bars. Bands such as Johnny Heartsman, Johnny “Guitar” Knox, Rusty Zinn, Mark Hummel, Arbess Williams, (usually with Pat Balcom on drums), the Soul Prophets, Glenn Lane, Bobby Blues Ray, Omar Sharriff, Smooth Lou and Jimmy Pailer, Lena Mosley with Gene Chambers and Al Arnett, Johnny Nitro and the Door Slammers, Screamin’ Dave and the Bowlevils, The Beer Dawgs, and Little Charlie and the Night Cats, amongst others, were the bands that kept him excited about the Sacramento Blues scene.

In 1992, Kenny’s band from Northern California Tommy Twang, was included in Sacramento’s first blues compilation CD “Sacramento Blues” produced by “Big” Mike Balma. Kenny also continued to help the Shasta Blues Society book bands from the Sacramento area to their Northern California Blues Festivals in Redding, California.

In 1996, while at a jam hosted by The Hucklebucks at the Sutter Street Saloon, now known as The Power House Pub, band leader Doug Crumpacker asked Kenny to join his band after playing that night. Kenny then played with The Hucklebucks from 1996 to 1998, at times playing 15-20 dates a month in Sacramento, Chico, Davis and other areas in Northern California. During this time Kenny became one of the dedicated students of the late Johnny “Guitar” Knox. To this day, Kenny still plays with The Hucklebucks.

Kenny played with many bands in the Sacramento area over the years, including Ray “Catfish” Copeland’s band Catfish and the Crawdaddies for about ten years, as well as Johnny Guitar Knox’s band for 4 years. He played on and off with other local blues bands such as Bob Mora and the Third Degree Blues Band, Bobby Blues Ray, Gary Mendoza, and Dave Croall. He currently plays with the Kyle Rowland Blues Band with whom he has been playing for the last ten years.

Kenny says “the most important thing about my time in the Sacramento Blues scene is the great people I’ve met and become friends with over the years”.

Robert Nakashima first played guitar onstage at the old Club 400, a venerable Sacramento strip club that featured a blues jam session hosted by the legendary Johnny “Guitar” Knox. As he did for so many younger players, Mr. Knox provided Robert with encouragement, guidance and mentorship at a crucial time. The Blues scene in Sacramento in the mid-eighties was unusually vibrant and alive. On any given night one could run into Johnny Heartsman, Gene Chambers, Marshall Jones, Al Arnett or any number of future Blues Hall of Fame members. It was a welcoming, family-like atmosphere that nurtured young musicians regardless of race, nationality or experience and it was in this environment that Robert received his education in the Blues.

Shortly after that first taste, Robert joined the South City Cobras, a down-home aggregation led by harmonica ace Johnny Ayers. Later in 1985, he formed The Soul Prophets with John Kwock and Anthony Brown. Lightning struck one night when he met and became friends with explosive gospel and soul singer as well as future Hall of Fame member Marcel Smith. The addition of Mr. Smith’s once-in-a-generation talents pushed the band to a higher level of creative power, culminating in the album “From the Old School” and a Sammie Award for Best Blues Band (an honor shared with Little Charlie and the Nightcats), both in 1993.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of “Big” Mike Balma, another Hall of Fame member, the original Soul Prophets reunited for a memorable show in 2010.

Gary “Whalin” Black got his professional name back in 1968 when he joined a band called Rich Waylon. The band never really caught on but Gary liked the name “Whalin” and kept it. Shortly after, he joined a local group called St. George and the Dragons as the lead singer. It wasn’t until another two years that he picked up the guitar.

Seems Gary had always been part of the blues scene in the late 60’s and back in 1970 – 1971. When his number came up for the draft, he refused induction, which got him a two-year stint in minimum security prison. A friend sent him an inexpensive guitar and when he was released, he came out quite a guitar phenomenon; “top of the class” according to Ray “Catfish” Copeland. Gary also learned furniture upholstery and opened his own business “Good as Wood” where he would host after-hour parties when the bars closed.

He was part of the Sunland Blues Band with Nate “Snakeboy” Shiner, Johnny Nugget, Jerry Eddleman, Tony Montanino and Evan Jenkins. Gary started the jams at the Press Club, where he played for over 3 years, and at the Torch Club. He could sing anything and wasn’t limited by genre restraints. He had the talent, history, and dedication for the Blues and was inextricably entwined in the Sacramento Blues scene.