Big Train and the Loco Motives

“When I was a kid, early on my own
I took the highway to be my home
The blues overtook me
When I was a little child
You know fast women and whiskey
Made this poor boy wild”

– Charlie Musselwhite

The blues started early with Jimbo “Big Train” Madsen from when he first picked up a guitar when his age was still counted in single digits. The music manifest in different ways through the years, but the one thing that remained constant in everything he played was the bedrock of the blues.

The start of the Loco Motives can be traced back to 2010 when percussionist Mike “Pinebox” Lander joined Madsen on stage for a Norman Music Festival event, and the two have shared the same stage ever since. Add in the solid bass of Casey “Curly” Saunders, a former touring musician, and the harmonica gymnastics of Bill “Top Dog” Cummins, and you have one kick ass blues band.

Big Train and the Loco Motives music is deep seated in the roots of the blues, due in part to annual pilgrimages to the cradle of the blues in the Mississippi Delta. There they hear the whispers of Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Son House, and Bukka White as they soak up the mojo that is palatable in streets, juke joints, and graveyards.

Big Train and the Loco Motives play what they coined “Red Dirt Blues”. It’s blues flavored by the red soil of Oklahoma, but always in homage to the blues artists who came before them. They cover everything from traditional Delta Blues to Texas Boogie-Woogie, from the south side of Chicago Blues to the Jump Blues of the west coast.

And while you can’t hide behind “3 chords and the truth”, their love and enjoyment of the music is on full display.

Sure, it may be hard to nail them down other than they totally enjoy keeping the clues alive, it’s guaranteed that everyone who shows up in the audience will also enjoy the show.