James B. Dukehouse

After four years of traveling the world performing original American folk music, singer/songwriter Joe Iadanza had become weary of the isolation that comes with being a solo artist and was dreaming about a compelling new band to draw from his classic rock roots.

An opportunity came with Bassist Craig Akin (Barnaby Bright, Red Molly) and drummer Christian Coleman (Little Embers) joining Iadanza as sidemen for a one-off gig in January at the 900 seat Patchogue Theater in Patchogue, NY. But, rather than deliver the expected songs form Iadanza’s folk-flavored acoustic catalogue, Iadanza surprised the crowd with a new set of fully electric roots and rock songs. Described by the local Patch publication as, “Apacolyptic”, the trio generated some interesting buzz and looked like the sure thing for them to carry on with. However, Iadanza was heading to tour in Europe, and there was no time to develop the project, until now.

James B. Dukehouse explores the gritty shadow side of Iadanza’s writing. Instruments are overdriven to create thick tones and a stark interplay of rhythms and harmonic ideas. Coleman and Akin combine to add Zeppelin and Stones-influenced grooves around Iadanza’s bluesy open tuned riffs and Springsteen-reminiscent vocals.

It all came together with a post on Facebook that read, “Go to Wikipedia and hit ‘random article’. The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.”

Iadanza took Facebook’s ‘Wikipedia’ challenge. The first thing that popped up was an article for the “James B. Duke House”, the Millionaire’s Row (NYC) mansion which was once owned by American Tobacco founder James Buchanan Duke. A perfect band name to an artist who has written so much about the struggle for the American dream, and for a band whose music explores the choices we make – at any cost – to get what we want.