Billy D and the Hoodoos

In the last two years Billy D and the Hoodoos’ Somethin's Wrong has charted on The Billboard Blues Album Charts once and Living Blues twice. It was named the Winner in the Blues Category of the 2013 UK Songwriting Contest, and The 12 videos from the DVD have recently surpassed the two-million-hit milestone on YouTube! The band was also awarded Best New Act by the Cascade Blues Association. 

Billy D’s life experience has given him the strength to write his brand of “Bluzy Rock” with a passion that only comes from living it. Heavily influenced by Chicago blues, Rock & Roll, and “Backbeat Roots” music of all types, his songs reflect the tough lessons of his past and show his love for Mother Blues and her first-born, Rock & Roll.

Born on the south side of Chicago, Billy Desmond grew up surrounded by the Blues and early Rock & Roll— a powerful combination. He started playing professionally at the age of fourteen, primarily for teen dances and parties; and by eighteen, he was sneaking into the blues clubs of Chicago to hear such greats as Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and James Cotton. Within a few years, Billy would be working with blues legends Junior Wells, Big Time Sarah, and Detroit Junior.

By the late ‘70s, he had formed his first band, Skid City Blues Band, taking on the roles of singer, guitarist, and songwriter. After years of touring the Midwest, Billy moved to Los Angeles in 1984, studying with Blues great Tony Matthews, guitarist for Little Richard and Ray Charles. He spent half of the next year playing behind, Don “Sugar Cane” Harris, perhaps the world’s greatest blues violinist.

In the mid-’90s, Billy moved to Santa Fe, and began focusing on writing and playing his original songs. Within the year, Billy D and the Hoodoos were formed.

In 2003, KTAO voted his song She’s the One the number one song by a regional artist. KTAO hosts the Annual Solar Fest in New Mexico and that same year Billy and the band opened the Fest for Los Lonely Boys and Robert Cray. After several more successful years in New Mexico, Billy left the southwest for Oregon in early 2010. His first CD, Somethin's Wrong has received outstanding reviews and accolades and has been embraced by the Portland music community as well as the rest of the U.S., Canada, and Europe.