The brothers Goddard
The Brothers Goddard is a rock 'n' roll / heavy blues band led by electric guitar player - singer Mark Goddard with support from the acoustic guitar - singer played Si Goddard. When their brother Jeremy Goddard is in the UK he guests on vocals and piano. A driving rhythm section normally accompanies the vocals, but they also do acoustic duo shows and on very special occasions they have a ten-piece lineup that includes a three-piece horn section and backing singers. ‘The Brothers Goddard' play music inspired by Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Louis Jordan, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mike Bloomfield, Booker T and the MGs, Al Green, Rolling Stones, The Faces, Fats Domino and beyond. Since 2021 the brothers have been regularly performing in the UK and the Carribean. Their next performance is at the legendary Bristol speakeasy cocktail bar The Library on New Year’s Eve.
Videos
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE / LIVE AT BRIXTON HILL STUDIOS
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The Brothers Goddard
by The Brothers Goddard
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The Brothers Goddard
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The Brothers Goddard
Two Brothers Searching for the soul of america…
In the summer of 2002 two British brothers embarked on a road trip with elements of an odyssey and echoes of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’.
Their shared love of rock’n’roll & soul is one that is easy for anyone to understand, but what is more complicated is the delicate balance of factors and influences that led to the creation of the unique legacy of this great American art form that sprang first from New Orleans and then spread up through the Mississippi Delta to the rapidly urbanizing centres of Memphis, St Louis, and Chicago more than a century ago.
Mark & Jeremy Goddard, both musicians brought up on a diet of stride piano, jazz, and blues, wanted to see these places and feel their music firsthand. Flying into Boston on July 4th, American Independence Day, 2002 they set off on a two-month adventure that lasted for a ‘classic American Summer’, which traditionally culminates in Labor Day in early September after which date white should not be worn.
After the purchase of ‘Rufus’ a 1982 Cadillac Eldorado, that they picked up for $1,500 in Chicopee, Massachusetts they headed south…
They drove 7,000 miles to the great Music towns & cities that have shaped America. Along the way, they met Bobby “Blue” Bland in Tennessee, attended Al Green’s Gospel church on a Sunday in Memphis, saw The Isley Brothers in Brooklyn, heard Buddy Guy in Chicago, almost got lost in the murky motels of Elvis Presley Blvd before honouring the King himself at his home in Graceland, visited Sun Studios where Jerry Lee Lewis recorded his rollicking piano performances and even sat in with Jazz Bands in the French Quarter in New Orleans…
It is the memories and experiences that they shared in the juke joints, jazz clubs, blues bars, dance floors, and on stages from New York to New Orleans, Nashville to Austin, Memphis to Clarksdale, and St Louis to Chicago that have shaped their vision for how to honour and continue the spirit of rock’n’roll.
They lived, breathed, sweated, and imbibed the complex cocktail of American musical heritage.
The Brothers Goddard celebrate these musical roots and explore why rock’n’roll shook the world.
If you want to know more about the brother’s journey you can read Mark T Goddard’s new book ‘Losing Eldorado - Searching for the Soul of America’ which is on general release from March 22nd.
Order Losing Eldorado - Searching for the Soul of America click here and the accompanying hardback coffee table book of the same name from here.
gigs
News & Updates
View photographs from the launch of 'Losing Eldorado' on Weds 22nd March at Karma Sanctum Soho, on the Losing Eldorado Facebook page.
Losing Eldorado is the true story of my brother Jeremy Goddard and me touring the USA in a classic '82 Cadillac Eldorado in the summer of 2002. The book snapshots American music and culture at the turn of the last millennium. Alongside the book launch for the next three months, the Karma Sanctum Soho will be exhibiting more than 30 limited-edition photographs and twenty pieces of art from the trip.
