The Pleasure Pilots

Tonight, we inaugurate a “Spotlight on the Blues Series” at Outpost, which is being co-curated by Putnay Thomas, host of the KUNM Blues Show since 1987. It’s also a return to his roots for Outpost Director Tom Guralnick who began his music listening career at age 10 by attending concerts by obscure and not so obscure blues artists with his big brother, blues historian, Peter Guralnick. This inaugural show features The Pleasure Pilots who specialize in old school styles of blues and rhythm & blues. An award winning, seven-piece band (featuring a three piece swinging horn section) The Pleasure Pilots have been performing together for over eighteen years and are among the longest-running bands in New Mexico. They have performed at major blues festivals in the region, including Silver City, Red River, Animas, Mountain of Blues, and the Trinidaddio Blues Festival and they perform songs from the greats, including Amos Milburn, Ray Charles, T-Bone Walker, Albert King, Louis Jordan, and Johnny “Guitar Watson,” as well as their original compositions, but with their own unique sound.  The band released their inaugural CD, Pilot Project, in 2009, and David Phillips, the band’s keyboardist and co-leader, released his all-original What Happened to Love in April of 2021. Putnay Thomas invites you to “take a flight to blues heaven with the Pleasure Pilots!” The ‘Pilots’ are David Phillips, keyboards and vocals; Fred Spencer, guitar and vocals; Terry Bluhm, bass and vocals; Lee Taylor, alto saxophone; Kanoa Kaluhiwa, tenor saxophone; Sam Nesbitt, baritone saxophone; and Davo Bryant, drums and percussion.