Blues at its juke-jointin' finest.
ABOUT THE BAND
DANNY VINSON
Guitar
As a musician, guitarist and band leader Danny draws from his influences and from many years of working with some great musicians.
As the guitarist for the band The Cazanovas for the past 12 years, Danny has been performing shows, festivals and theatre shows and brings this experience to The Royal Peacocks. An avid student and lover of blues music, he constantly pushes himself to become a better musician and guitar player.
In addition to fronting his own trio, Danny has backed and performed with Johnny Sansone, Billy Gibson, RJ Mishou, Brandon Santini, Annie Raines and many more.
ART MCNAUGHTON
Drums
Art grew up on the south side of Chicago listening to his aunt's collection of primarily jazz records.
Having gravitated to the drums at an early age and being influenced by everyone from Gene Krupa to Ringo Art decided that was the instrument for him. Primarily self taught, Art and his brothers, Bob on guitar and Roy (Art’s twin brother) on bass formed their own band. The group played together before and through high school and eventually disbanding shortly after graduating.
While attending Millikin University in Decatur Illinois Art became a member of the Jazz Lab Band playing congas as well as drums.After college Art continued to perform with various acts; The Chicago Jazz Players, the Dick Polk Orchestra, the Good Twins now known as the Twigs and eventually Rewired. Art has shared the stage with Lonnie Brooks, Lonnie Baker Brooks, Coco Taylor, John Hiatt, Little Feat, Little Richard, Taylor Dane, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Turtles, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Johnson, and Asia.
After moving to Atlanta in 2005, and before becoming a Royal Peacock Art has been performing with Mike Watson, Larry Griffith, 3 Way Street, von Grey, Shaky Jane, Hard Luck and Trouble and the Cazanovas.
VALERIE WATERS
Keys
Valerie, otherwise known as "V-Dub," is a classically trained pianist who grew up with music in the family. She started picking out songs on the piano at age 3 after her older brother Thomas finished practicing for his piano lessons. She had 13 years of classical piano lessons of her own, then branched out into live music. (Thanks for the lessons, Mom and Dad!)
She has played with a variety of groups and artists over the years in the Southeast. Some of the highlights have been playing at Birmingham City Stages with Los Calientes, Birmingham Heritage Festival with Latin Sounds, Georgia Blues & Roots Festival with Rae & the Royal Peacocks, sitting in with Shaky Jane for a wedding, warming up act for ABBA cover band Bjorn Again with RubberJean at 5 Points Music Hall, Hard Rock Cafe Atlanta for the Atlanta Blues Challenge with Rae & the Royal Peacocks, and so many more good times along the years.
Valerie was featured in the December 2017/January 2018 edition of Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine. She is the keyboardist for Rae & the Royal Peacocks since 2016, and also plays keyboards with The Cazanovas since 2017 and The Woodys in 2019.
HAROLD PATTILLO
Bass
The son of two professional, touring musicians, Harold grew up in the South knowing his Blues from his Rock n Roll -- and loving all of it. While at Georgia Tech in the 90s, Harold was part of several high-energy bands -- some of which he still performs with today.
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From the beginning, Harold was intrigued by strings and fell in love with the bass. Harold has been a key member of several tight rhythm sections over the years, and that's what he works for every time he's onstage.
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You can find Harold fronting his Chicago-style Blues band Dry White Toast and genre-spanning band The Homewreckers at local hot spots like Fat Matt's Rib Shack, 2 Urban Licks, Darwin's, and private events.
REBEKAH "RAE" EASLEY
Vocals
Rae's earliest memories include sitting on a window seat looking out over the busy New Jersey street they lived on belting out all the Sesame Street songs she could memorize, and then moving on to disco and Stevie Wonder tunes from her mother's vinyl collection. She sang as part of several school choirs over the years, in addition to playing clarinet and flute in the orchestra. In Georgia in the early 90s, she was the girl quietly singing hooks over beats in the school cafeteria, developing an appreciation for live performance that deepened over the decades. After moving to Atlanta, Rae was a regular at local hubs like Apache Cafe, The Five Spot, and other R&B and Hip Hop open mics -- though always as an enthusiastic member of the audience.
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That changed after a trip to Chicago, where Rae walked into BB King's and fell in love with the authenticity and rawness of the Blues. She came back to Atlanta determined to become a Blues performer. Rae heard about a popular local Blues jam at Darwin's in Marietta, Georgia, met up with Danny Vinson and Maurice Nazzaro of the Cazanovas, and over time honed her vocal skills. She and Danny formed Rae & The Royal Peacocks in the summer of 2016, making her dream reality.