Jeremy Lyons & The Deltabilly Boys

Born in Baptist Hospital in New Orleans, Paul Joseph Santopadre started playing drums at age five. He went on to gain a reputation in New Orleans and the surrounding area as a rock solid pocket player, supplying driving rhythms and executing his chops tastefully. He has filled the percussion position in Jeremy Lyons' band since 1996, and can be heard on the live tracks of Deltabilly Swing, and on all of the Deltabilly Boys’ recorded output. Paul is known for his playing, intensity and his driving work ethic, but most of all for the infectiously jovial grin with which he graces the stage.

Paul’s pre-deltabilly credentials include work with groups ranging from rock to Cajun to country to blues. In the late 80's and early 90's Paul was a member of original roots rock bands The Songdogs (co-producing their album Live Without A Leash) and The Hooligans. He has gigged extensively with world-renowned Cajun bands Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys, Beau Bassin, Jimmy Thibodeaux (with whom Paul recorded), and toured Ireland and Belgium with the Cajun rock band Mamou (with whom Paul toured Europe). Paul has also played with Little Queenie and the Percolators, Evangeline, and for years with Kenny Holladay's Three Muscatels and the El Kabongs. Recordings include work with Irene Sage, Boo LaCrosse, Jason Eklund, and numerous sessions and fill-in gigs with other groups. Paul toured France several times with voodoo blues man Coco Robicheaux and played drums on Robicheaux's critically acclaimed album Louisiana Medicine Man.

While Paul's introduction to slide guitar blues came from playing extensively with Kenny Holladay (one of Jeremy’s mentors), Paul met Jeremy Lyons while both were playing with the "Zyde-billy" band Butch Trivette and The Roulettes. Paul and Jeremy Lyons actually played together for the first time at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival '94! The two players clicked immediately, and after a string of local gigs together with The Roulettes, Jeremy was soon calling Paul to play in his band. Since then Paul has become the full time drummer, accompanying Lyons on tours in the US and in Europe.

While growing up in New Orleans and on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, besides playing in numerous bands, Paul Santopadre made his living working for many years in his father's "Big B Western Store" and "Tip Top Shoe Repair." Perhaps it was Paul's early contact with animal skins in this capacity that helped give an understanding of another kind of skins - the drums. Recently Paul has been living in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, working at his brother's bakery, and joining Jeremy onstage for festivals and club gigs when he can.

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