Artist description Some guitarists base their careers on virtuosity, while others emphasize raw emotion, and still others trade on a signature style. Brian Stoltz is one of the few who has all three in equal measure. The guitarist, while touring with the world renowned Neville Brothers for 10 years, continuously created fluid and coherent bodies of work on his own. Renowned for his awesome virtuosity, his unmistakable sound and his breathtaking emotiveness, his performances have been featured on recordings by artists such as Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Edie Brickell, The Neville Brothers, Aaron Neville, and Zachary Richard among others. Brian is currently touring and recording with the legendary Funky Meters. In television appearances including "The Tonight Show", "Saturday Night Live", "Late Night with David Letterman", "Austin City Limits", concerts with the Grateful Dead and Amnesty International, Brian has drawn critical acclaim. He has recieved awards from the CMJ (College Music Journal)New Music Corporation for Lifetime Achievment. His co-written "Healing Chant" as performed by The Neville Brothers recieved a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental in 1991. He has performed on numerous music videos and his work has been called the highlight of movie soundtracks such as: "The Mighty Quinn" and "City of Hope". Brian Stoltz has gained a reputation as a powerful, progressive guitarist whose music has been centered around his melodic and technically fluent fretboard mastery. He also excels as a soulful vocalist, percussionist and keyboardist. Brian has been wooing fans with his inovative and technically superb guitar playing for many years and with his current project, one of the most inventive undertakings of his solo career, he is showing himself to be and exceptionally talented songwriter and bandleader.

Music Style Groove - based Rock

Musical Influences Great songwriters like Bob Dylan, John Lennon, George Harrison, Patti Smith and Neil Young. Great guitar players like Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and all the original blues masters.

Similar Artists Fans have stated that Brian sounds like Bob Dylan,Jimi Hendrix,John Lennon, and Neil Young jammin' with the Funky Meters.If you can imagine that!

Artist History Brian Stoltz has been on the international music scene for 25 years.His musical career started in New Orleans as a sought after guitarist for many local rock bands. In the early '80's he was asked to join the world renowned Neville Bros. Brians first gig with the bros. was opening for the 1981 Rolling Stones "Tattoo You" tour. During the '80's, continuing with the Nevilles, he toured with "Santana","The Grateful Dead","Ziggy Marley",Huey Lewis and the News",and many other major artist, including what Brian says has been one of the most personally gratifying tours of all, the first Amnesty International tour in 1986. To raise world consciousness of political prisoners around the world, the Neville Brothers toured for several weeks with U2, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Sting, The Police, and many other major artist. Brian says the highlight for him was being asked by Bono to come up and play acoustic guitar with the band (U2) and all the other artist on each nights finale, Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released". In 1988 Brian met famed artist and record producer "Daniel Lanois". Dan had just had a string of successes with records he produced for "Peter Gabriel", "U2", and ambient artist "Harold Budd" and "Brian Eno". Lanois was being sought after to produce the next Neville Bros. LP which became the "Grammy" winning,highly acclaimed, "Yellow Moon" LP. The record went "Gold" in 1989. Brian says,"Meeting Lanois was a Godsend. Until then record producers, to me, were just these clowns that we had to put up with to get our records made. Dan came in with an approach unlike any other. He taught me how to approach recording without any pre-conceived notions and to always allow and be open to chance. He truly taught me how to decipher when a track or song or a vocal was finished or when it still needed more work.I find this is a big problem with many musicians,they really don't know what's good and what's not. Their egos'get caught up in it and they begin to believe that anything they do is great. Especially the musician who works from the intellect and not from the heart. I guess this is why we need record producers." The good fortune Brian had in working with Lanois led to him being asked to play on an upcoming "Bob Dylan" LP. In 1989 in a house on Soniat St. in New Orleans they turned out "Oh Mercy". Many major music critics and journals,including "Rolling Stone" said it was Dylans' best record since "Blood On The Tracks". Around this time the "Neville Brothers" were planning their next record. Brian had written and demoed some songs for the record but due to internal problems with the band he left in January 1990. Shortly after the LP was released under the title "Brothers Keeper". The first single off the album was "Fearless", a song Brian had written for Aaron Neville along with a couple of songwriter friends. Later that year, Aaron Neville had Brian work with him on his next solo venture "Warm Your Heart". The record was produced by Linda Ronstadt and George Massenburg. Brian says it's still his favorite Aaron solo album to date. Brian went on to form a band with ex- Neville Bros. bassist "Darryl Johnson" and "Pink Floyd" keyboardist John Carin. The band signed a very lucrative deal with RCA, but due to a shake up at the company, the president got fired, many other heads rolled and the band got dropped along with 6 other groups. During this period Dr.John had asked Brian if he could do a few gigs with him until he found a permenant guitar player. With the end of the RCA deal, and the break up of the band, a few gigs turned into a year of playing with Dr. John. Shortly after Brian was asked to join the "Funky Meters". Brian found that joining the band left him with a lot of time on his hands due to the fact that keyboardist Art Neville was still touring heavily with his brothers and at that time the band was only playing a few choice markets around the country. Brian had been a long time disciple of the great Himalayan Master "Sri Swami Rama". Swamiji had left the U.S. and Brian felt that He would not be back. Rumor also had it that Swami Rama would soon be leaving His body, so having to see Him one last time Brian took the arduous journey to India. This proved to be one of the most spiritually prosperous times of his life. While in India, many of the themes he would write about began to take shape. During this period much of the inspiration he received led to the shaping of the record now known as "Starving Buddha". Shortly after he left India, Swami Rama took Mahasamadhi (left His body). Although Brian continues to write with his friends in the Funky Meters, he says that he finds that "a large portion of the material that comes to me, the songs that hold my outlook on life, the mark of a true solo record, just doesn't work in a traditional funk setting where the focus is on partying and having a good time. Brian say's "of coarse we can still have a good time, the record still grooves and it's not all serious or over-pretentious, but it is important to me at this stage of my life to be exploring themes of Enlightenment, Love, Loss, Betrayal, Death, the Death of Dreams, the trappings of ego, and the ways in which we are slaves to our emotions. In order to have an outlet for these themes I've put out "Starving Budda" and hope everyone enjoys it as much as I've had making it".

Group Members Brian plays all the instruments on the record except drums which are played by Russell Batiste of the Funky Meters.

Instruments Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Percussion, Programing

Albums Bob Dylan-

Press Reviews CD ReviewBrian Stoltz"Starving Buddha"Long Overdue Recordings CDby David CoffinReview date: October 2000 1999 KBA Award WinnerAchievement for Blues on the InternetPresented by the Blues Foundation Brian Stoltz has produced a remarkable disc in "Starving Buddha." Stoltz has poured years of experience, an impeccable apprenticeship and a multitude of influences into his debut solo recording. A native of New Orleans, Stoltz spent many years as guitarist with The Neville Brothers band. His playing credits also include the likes of Dr. John, Edie Brickell and Bob Dylan. Stoltz is also a long time disciple of the Himalayan master Sri Swami Rama and undertook a long journey to India shortly before Swami Rama left his body. This journey provided Stoltz with eastern spiritual and musical inspirations. Consequently this disc is a mix of blues-derived cajun funk guitar rock with raga and spiritual-political overtones. Credit must also go to Stoltz's production for holding back the guitar level. He avoided the temptation to make this a guitarist's record. Instead the focus is on his original lyrics with multi-tracked guitar embellishments in the background. Tracks like "Our own Tears" and "What is Real" are heavy with cajun funk with the latter's outro featuring Indian percussion. "This Old World" is the closest to a contemporary blues and features Hendrix-ey guitar layers. "Seraphina" is the tale of a modern-day New Orleans witch queen while "Take Your Heart Away" is a journey into the lives of another New Orleans couple over backward guitar lines. "Starving Buddha" is almost entirely Stoltz's work. He wrote and produced all eleven tracks and provided vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards and drum programming. Only on a couple of tracks do additional musicians provide percussion and piano. While not being 100% easily recognizable blues this is still a rewarding disc. Laissez les bons temps roulez! http://www.brianstoltz.com /artists/103/brian_stoltz.html This review is copyright © 2000 by David Coffin, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved. Copy, duplication or download prohibited without written permission./ROOTSTOWN MUSICLowland’s Leading American Roots & World Music MagazineMarc NOLIS – Publisher & Editor-in-chiefJ. Verbovenlei 79, B-2100 Deurne, Belgium +32/(0)3 366 2336 -  +32/(0)3 321 8257 Roots.Town@glo.be Reviewed in Rootstown Music 12 (12/00).3 stars = good BRIAN STOLTZ / Starving Buddha / Eigen Beheer (54.25)Wie links en rechts al eens de kleine lettertjes leest op LP’s of cd’s, is zeker de naam van Brian Stoltz al tegengekomen: de man speelde jaren gitaar bij The Neville Brothers (ondermeer op Neville-Ization, Uptown, Yellow Moon en Brothers’ Keeper), hij is te horen op Dylans Oh Mercy, op Zachary Richards Woman In The Room, Pave The Earth en Snake Bite Love, was één van de muzikanten op de Strike A Deep Chord-bluesbenefietplaat, deed mee op verschillende Dr. John-releases, en was co-auteur van het lichtjes fantastische Healing Chant van de Neville’s.Komt nu tot ons dit soloproject van deze kerel, waarbij elke informatie ontbreekt over wie nu wat speelt of zingt. Feit is, dat wie van New Orleans-muziek houdt hier volop aan zijn trekken komt: blues, funk, rock, de hele scala komt aan bod en allemaal op de meest onweerstaanbare wijze en met de spetterende gitaar van Stoltz steeds in een hoofdrol. Voor ondergetekende was het compleet onmogelijk stil te blijven zitten bij nummers als Our Own Tears, het live opgenomen Dreams, het zwaar naar The Rolling Stones zwemende Everything Turns To Dust of het aan Daniel Lanois verwante Someday I’ll Have Mine. Brian Stoltz bewijst met deze cd dat hij méér is dan zomaar een sideman: hij kan de rol van frontman moeiteloos aan, wat bewijst dat hij goed opgelet heeft tijdens zijn ongetwijfeld honderden concerten.Heel aangename, te ontdekken plaat (al hopen wij erop ooit een ‘echt’ exemplaar te kunnen bemachtigen, want deze door de artiest zelfgemaakte kopie vertoonde nogal wat technische mankementjes…). (DH) () (www.mp3.com/brianstoltz) "The Neville Brothers 'Uptown' LP finds the guitarist sharing 6 string chores with the likes of Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, Ronnie Montrose, and Keith Richards, but it's Stoltz who delivers the LP's most incandecent solo on 'Midnight Key'..."Guitar Player Magazine"Stoltz plays squelchy flowing guitar strongly reminiscent of the genius of Jimi Hendrix..."-The Daily Telegraph- "Brians ability to diversify and fit in with the group has led to gigs with artist as varied as Bob Dylan and Edie Brickell,along with leading his own band for his solo project"- Vintage Guitar Magazine-THE DANNY GATTON MEMORIAL STEWY AWARD FOR BEST GUITARIST:"Danny Gatton was one of the most wicked guitarist ever, a rockabilly player from the D.C. area who won the first Aspy award. He then promptly shot his brains out. In tribute, the best guitarist Stewy is given in his honor. The nominees are Roomful of Blues' Chris Vachon, Buddy Guy, The Funky Meters' Brian Stoltz,George Benson, Tuck Andress from Tuck and Patti, Paul Barrere of Little Feat, and B.B.King. And the winner is "Brian Stoltz", that little mother from the Funky Meters and formerly of the Neville Bros. whose licks could probably cure cancer if the FDA would let him. Stewy to Mr. Stoltz".- Aspen News -"Stoltz' latest solo recording effort,tentatively entitled " Starving Buddha", exposes his earthy and soulful rock guitar roots showcased throughout this collection of emotionally moving material. He's allowed himself a stylistic freedom of instrumental and vocal expression within his inventive compositions while maintaining a more song oriented, rock groove based sound that defies exact comparison yet affords true crossover appeal. The project promises to shed new light on this artist's singing and songwriting talents as well as his tremendous guitar skills".-Roger Kennedy/Northlake Monthly

Additional Info In addition to the above Neville Brother albums, Brian's songs also appear on the following albums: Bo Dollis -

Location New Orleans, Louisiana - USA

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