Billy D and the Hoodoos

Here's The Latest: Billy's newest CD/DVD Somethin's Wrong has really taken off. The 12 videos from the DVD are combining for over 2,000 views per day and have surpassed the one million milestone on YouTube. Online sales in the US, Canada and Europe have increased dramatically as a result. Soon after moving to Portland,OR in 2010 (just before the release of Somethin's Wrong) Billy D and The Hoodoos were awarded "Best New Act" by the Cascade Blues Association and that same weekend opened for the great Robert Cray at The University of Missouri. In early 2012, one of Billy's tunes Bye Now from his new acoustic CD Billy D. Hoodoo Man was licensed by the new hit TV series Hart of Dixie. More as it happens...

Billy D's life experience has given him the strength to write his brand of Bluzy Rock with a passion that only comes from living it. He is heavily influenced by Chicago's blues, but Billy isn't just a typical blues man. His writing and musical talents create a "Backbeat Roots" style that goes way past traditional blues music. His songs reflect the tough lessons of his past and show his love for Mother Blues and her first-born, Rock & Roll.

Born on the south side of Chicago, Billy Desmond grew up surrounded by the Blues and early Rock & Roll — a powerful combination. He started playing professionally at teen dances and parties at the age of fourteen, and by eighteen he was sneaking into the blues clubs of Chicago to hear greats like Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and James Cotton. Within the next few years, Billy would work with blues legends Junior Wells, Big Time Sarah, and Detroit Junior.

By the late '70s he had formed his first band, Skid City Blues Band, as singer, guitarist, and songwriter. After years of touring the Midwest, Billy moved to Los Angeles in 1984, studying with Blues great Tony Matthews, guitarist for Little Richard and Ray Charles, and spent half of the next year playing behind Don "Sugar Cane" Harris, perhaps the worlds greatest blues violinist.

In the mid '90s Billy moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and began playing focusing on writing and playing his original songs. Within the year, Billy D and The Hoodoos were formed. In 2003, KTAO voted his song She's The One the number one song by a regional artist. KTAO hosts the Annual Solar Fest in New Mexico where that year Billy and the band opened for Los Lonely Boys and Robert Cray.

After releasing his second CD, Rokdablu!, and several more successful years in New Mexico, Billy left the Southwest for Oregon in early 2010. His newest CD, Somethin's Wrong , has been embraced by the Portland music community as well as the rest of the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and is receiving outstanding reviews.

Keep Rockin'!