Upcoming "Big Daddy D and the Dynamites" performances include Nov. 7-8 at Sundance’s Place, 116 N. Montezuma, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.; and Nov. 20 at The Birdcage from 8 p.m. to midnight.

Photos by Les Stukenberg

The band, which performs in local bars and restaurants, plays a variety of blues, including “traditional, funky, up-tempo, danceable music. We like to keep it versatile, as long as it’s still within the blues. That way, it’s not just the same music every night.”

They play swing-style blues, such as BB King, Hall said, and a Texas-shuffle style, such as music by Freddy King, adding that they play a few slow songs a night, but for the most part, they play fast, upbeat music “because you want to keep the energy up.”

Other members of the group include Anton Teschner (saxophone), Whit Mercer (bass) and Carlos B. Jones (drummer).

Hall, who also is a lead singer in the band, said Teschner is one of the founding members of the band who once played the bass for the group. “Since he (Teschner) has been playing sax, we have gigged more,” Hall said. “He adds an element that a lot of bands don’t have. He’s a huge part of our sound.”

Mercer “has played with almost everyone in town,” Hall said, and “he keeps us in check. He’s the most experienced road dog of us all.”

Jones has been with “Big Daddy D and the Dynamites” for three years, and “he’s what makes the people move.”

Hall began playing the guitar when he was 13 after a friend of the family gave him a guitar. He said he “practiced a whole bunch and then my dad bought me my first real guitar and I still have it.” He doesn’t play it much anymore because “it’s more sentimental than anything.”

Hall took private guitar lessons for many years, and played in his junior high band. He said he would walk home from school and sit in his room the rest of the day and play his guitar. “It was partially an obsession, an addiction, but a good one,” he added.

In 1995, Hall moved to Prescott and started working at Arizona Music Pro. He had the opportunity to meet and play with Freddy Cisneros, and said, “watching Freddy play is what inspired me to play the blues.”

Hall's background in playing the guitar was more hard rock/technical rock, he said, and he liked the blues because of “the emotion and the way it’s phrased and the way you can say a lot with just a little. Hard rock is based on technicality and blues is based on the feel.”

Performing, Hall said, is the most exciting part about being a musician. “It’s incredibly exciting,” he said, “especially with a good crowd and we’re grooving together. A lot of people have stage fright, but it’s a high. To me, it’s more exciting than fearful.”

Porras said the best part about performing, for him, is having “the band on stage on the same page creating a pocket of music,” describing a “pocket” as music that is flowing together all at the same time.

Porras, who also is a lead singer in the band, didn’t pick up his first guitar until he was 17. He enjoys playing blues the most because “blues music has a little bit of everything ... humor, despair, heartache. It’s just the feel behind it. It’s got a good groove and it’s all about the groove.”

“Big Daddy D and the Dynamites” have two CDs, and they sell them when they play around town, at Arizona Music Pro (405 W. Goodwin) and online (www.bigdaddydblues.com and www.cdbaby.com and www.towerrecords.com).