Congratulations to the Boogie People Fan of the Month for December 2024, Mike W! Learn more about Mike below!

Where are you from?: From New Castle, Delaware but live in Ohio now

How many years have you been a fan?: Since 1977- 47 years

What is your favorite George Thorogood song: "Move It On Over"

How many times have you seen George Thorogood live? What was your favorite show? 2, first/best was cleveland around 1981

What’s one thing that sets you apart from other George Thorogood fans?: I knew George from our days as batboys for Parkway semi pro baseball in Wilmington, DE. We both grew up with a love of baseball.

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Courtesy: Phil Weller / GuitarPlayer.com 

The George Thorogood guitarist has played with Joe Bonamassa and Billy Gibbons, but meeting SRV was a career highlight

Nine years before he got his big break in George Thorogood and the Destroyers, a young Texan guitarist by the name of Jim Suhler seized his chance to make an impression on Stevie Ray Vaughan.

“I met him for the first time in 1989,” he tells Guitar World. “We had a family jewelry shop in Dallas and Stevie had an old antique watch he brought in to get repaired. I just happened to be there when he came in. In fact, I walked right past him when my dad was talking to him.”

Suhler had yet to break into the music industry at this point. It would be another three years before the release of his debut album as Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat, and his father wanted to help him achieve his dreams.

“My dad called me back and said, ‘Son, there’s somebody here you want to meet.’ And it was Stevie,” Suhler recollects. “I was in my late 20s trying to get it together. I hadn’t met George at that point, so my dad asked him: ‘Do you have any advice for my son?’

“I was really embarrassed by that,” he admits, “but Stevie said to me, ‘Yeah, keep it clean.’ To me, one of the greatest parts of his legacy was his sobriety and him helping others through that journey.”

With those words still ringing in his ears, Suhler awaited Vaughan’s return to the store. But it was a day that never came. Inexplicably, the guitarist never returned to pick up his watch.

So when he and his band rolled into the city once more a year later, in 1990, he knew what he had to do.

“I took the watch out to where he was playing, got backstage, and gave it back to him," Suhler says. "He had a light — an aura or energy — about him. It was palpable. It was real and he was very powerful. God bless him. He was a great man.”

The show, as part of the B.B. King–headlined Benson & Hedges Blues Festival, would prove to be one of SRV’s last. The guitarist died tragically that August.

But where one legacy ended, another began. Buoyed by his idol’s advice, Suhler developed his career as a solo artist with a slew of album releases. He was also featured on Robert Ealey's 1995 album, If You Need Me, before he caught Thorogood's eye.

Since then, Suhler has gone on to enjoy quite the career, releasing four studio albums as part of Thorogood's band. During that time he's opened for AC/DC and performed with Joe Bonamassa and "The Reverend" Billy F. Gibbons, who officiated at his wedding.

Suhler tapped Joe Bonamassa for a Hendrix-esque number on his 2007 solo album, having seen the guitarist “killing it” with a Rory Gallagher cover while on the road with Thorogood in San Diego, in 2001. He says he needed “superhuman skills” to bring the song to life, and Bonamassa, who has recently talked about why he's brought Dumbles back into his live rig, was the man for the job.

As for his Gibbons-bolstered wedding, Suhler says, “You haven’t lived until you’ve gone out on the town in Texas with Billy Gibbons. His influence is very big on me, personally as well as musically.”

For more from Stevie Ray Vaughan, check out his recently revived classic GP interview, which sees him talking about jamming with B.B. and Freddie King, Dumble amps, and dodging bullets while playing his earliest shows.

Congratulations to the Boogie People Fan of the Month for November 2024, Sally R! Learn more about Sally below!

Where are you from?: Drexel Hill, PA

How many years have you been a fan?: 45 Years

What is your favorite George Thorogood song: "The Sky is Crying"

How many times have you seen George Thorogood live? What was your favorite show? 35 times. Brandywine Club in 79 or Tower Theater in 80.

What’s one thing that sets you apart from other George Thorogood fans?: I've been a life long fan, and in turn, so have my two children. We never miss a show when he's in the Philadelphia area.

Want a chance to be featured as the Boogie People Fan of the Month? Join NOW!

Courtesy Bev Everts | Oleantimesherald.com

Legendary blues rocker George Thorogood and his iconic band, The Destroyers, are bringing their “Bad All Over The World – 50 Years of Rock” tour to the Seneca Allegany Event Center at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26.

Best known for their classic hits including “Who Do You Love,” “Move It on Over” and their 1982 signature hit, “Bad To The Bone,” Thorogood and The Destroyers have consistently delivered high-volume, electrifying shows worldwide for the past five decades, cementing their legacy in the music industry. Last year marked the band’s 50th year with more than 8,000 performances and over 15 million albums sold.

Thorogood said last year actually marked their five decades in the business, so the performance at the event center is part of their extended 50 Years of Rock tour.

The Destroyers include Jeff Simon (drummer) and longtime members Bill Blough (bass), Jim Suhler (lead guitar) and Buddy Leach (sax). Blough has been with the band since its first album. The newer Destroyers, Suhler and Leach, count 55 years with the group between them.

Although disco was king at the time, the band caught the public’s attention in 1977 with their debut album, “George Thorogood and The Destroyers” and, the following year, with “Move It On Over” under the Rounder Records label. They hit at just the right time and both went Gold.

In 2022, they released “The Original George Thorogood,” a hard-rockin’ party collection of original songs. Included among the 14 tracks are his hits, “Bad to the Bone,” “I Drink Alone,” “Gear Jammer” and the previously unreleased “Back In The U.S.A.”

Thorogood, who is the middle child of five siblings in his family, said he owes his musical ability to his parents, especially his mother. He said they didn’t play any instruments themselves, but they urged all their children to learn to play one.

“All five of us tried musical instruments to see who would take to what, but not all of us took to it,” he told the Press in an exclusive interview. “It was myself and my two younger twin sisters, who are pianists, that really attached ourselves to playing a musical instrument.”

Jeff Simon has been with Thorogood since the beginning when they were buddies in school. Thorogood said he was in high school and Simon in junior high when it all began in their hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. At the time, they were playing covers including “No Particular Place To Go,” “Madison Blues” and “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.”

In the beginning, Thorogood started as an acoustic street musician because he didn’t have an electric guitar. About five years after high school, he bought a Gibson ES-125, his first electric guitar, when he found out Simon had booked a gig without his knowledge.

He said they got their band name, The Destroyers, from a mysterious piano player known only as Destruction who played in the Howlin’ Wolf sessions.

“Simon is the original Destroyer,” he said. “After we got out of school, we started playing at one of the first topless clubs on the East Coast.”

Thorogood’s music has stood the test of time and spanned several generations. When the Press asked what he thinks gives his music such incredible staying power, he said, “It’s good.”

“Let’s face it, anything that’s good is going to last,” he continued. “People can identify with what’s good. I mean, Coca-Cola is still on the market, so is Ford and Chevy. If you have a product that’s good, it’s going to last.”

In 1981, George Thorogood and The Delaware Destroyers played an unimaginable 50 states in 50 days. These days, The Destroyers play an average of 70-75 shows a year. Thorogood’s hits live on and a robust touring schedule proves he is still in demand.

The blues-rock legend said he still loves touring and never tires of playing his signature “Bad to the Bone.”

Thorogood said he doesn’t remember any particular career highlight. He said it’s a highlight every time he sets foot onstage with The Destroyers to play for people who are ready to rock.

The band has a longstanding partnership with The Leukemia Lymphoma Society as well as an ongoing collaboration with “Musically Fed” to feed veterans, the homeless and the food insecure nationwide. In memory of George’s late wife who passed away in 2019, a portion of proceeds from the 50 Years of Rock tour will also benefit The Marla Thorogood Memorial Fund For Ovarian Cancer Research, in conjunction with Vanderbilt University Medical Center.