Keri Leigh

Keri Leigh has established herself as a standout figure in blues circles through her work as a vocalist, songwriter, record producer, journalist, and author, drawing sustained interest from the genre’s followers. Still under thirty, she stands positioned to channel her primary focus—delivering blues vocals—for many years ahead.

Her 1995 album Arrival appeared on the Jackson, Mississippi label Malaco Records without her regular ensemble the Blue Devils, yet was tracked at Muscle Shoals Studios, a facility owned by the label, with Leigh and her husband serving as co-producers.

She relocated from her native Oklahoma to Austin in 1990 alongside her guitarist and spouse Mark Lyon, where the local blues community largely embraced the pair, most notably Clifford Antone, who placed them on the schedule at his Antone’s nightclub on a weekly basis for roughly a year.

Within about a year of the move she began her first book, Stevie Ray: Soul to Soul, published by Taylor Books in Dallas, which presents a fervent chronicle of the peaks and valleys in the late guitarist’s brief career.

She first encountered Vaughan during a 1986 interview; after additional conversations the two became friends, and in May 1990 they started work on what was planned as his autobiography, only for his death in a Wisconsin helicopter accident to end the project that August.

Her recordings carry a Joplin-esque character, her vocal delivery frequently described as that of a Janis Joplin for the ’90s, with some critics calling her the strongest voice to emerge from Texas since Joplin.

She has drawn on her radio and newspaper journalism experience to secure coverage for the Blue Devils, her bulging press-clip files underscoring the effectiveness of her promotional efforts.

Leigh and the band maintain a touring schedule comparable to that of other working blues acts across the country, spending more than 150 nights annually on the road.

Her husband Lyon ranks among the most naturally gifted slide guitarists, the apparent ease of his playing masking the real demands of the style, though he has mastered every essential technique.

Two earlier releases appeared on the now-defunct Amazing Records label—No Beginner in 1993 and the 1991 debut Blue Devil Blues—alongside the later Malaco album.

Arrival mixes equal shares of original material and cover tunes and ranks as her most accessible recording to date.

Further productive years lie ahead for Leigh and her group; their congenial manner continues to win new friends and followers in the blues community while also attracting converts from rock audiences.