Jimmy Carpenter

His recording credits include work for Billy Iuso, Jimmy Thackery, Tab Benoit, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Eric Lindell, Maria Muldaur, Honey Island Swamp Band, and Mike Zito, among others.

The education system in Greensboro at that time, allowed budding musicians get access to quality music programs, with Carpenter playing in the school band from fifth grade.

[4] By high school, Carpenter briefly decided to switch to playing the guitar, but quickly realised his future lay with the saxophone.

Naturally gravitating towards the hippie culture then found on Tate Street, Carpenter expanded his musical knowledge hearing recorded work by Otis Redding and Little Walter.

The Alka-Phonics went on tour in the Eastern United States, playing a mixture of James Brown, Motown and R&B standards.

[4] Carpenter then joined a blues rock band based in Charlottesville, Virginia, named the Believers, which turned in to another eight year working period.

By 1996, with grunge all pervasive, the band found work harder to find and Carpenter left them to open a booking agency.

That band made recordings and toured across Europe with Carpenter picking up the role of road manager, learning new skills as well as obtaining more valuable playing experience.

Eventually Zito put together a full-time backing band called the Wheel, which included Carpenter playing saxophone, plus Scot Sutherland (bass), Lewis Stephens (keyboards), and Rob Lee (percussion).

In 2013, Mike Zito and the Wheel were booked on the Sin City Soul & Blues Revival, in Las Vegas.

[4] The same year he received a "Participation Grammy" (not the statue, but a certificate recognizing contributions) for composing a piece of music that was recorded by the New Orleans Nightcrawlers.

Carpenter noted at first he was uncertain about the idea stating "With such a huge premium placed on original material, I wasn't sure a cover album would work.