The Christy Howard Band

Christy Howard, lead vocals
Jeff Howard, lead guitar & vocals
Jan Abrams, drums & vocals
Jon Foley, bass & back-up vocals
Andy Szymanski, keys & back-up vocals
Jim Kahr, special guest guitar & vocals

Awards
Semi-finalists, 2005 Motor City Blues Challenge,
Certificate of Appreciation, 2006 Michigan Veterans Foundation, Detroit, MI
Winners, 2006 Motor City Blues Challenge

Christy Howard (Howard) was born and raised partly in the hill country of rural southern Tennessee. She was a child prodigy with an uncanny ability to harmonize who was singing and playing gospel on piano by age 6. Christy's father was a southern Baptist pastor and missionary. As a kid, she traveled extensively from south to north across the U.S. with her family. In the process, she gathered a diverse musical background in bluegrass, country and nospel. She eventually settled in Detroit, Michigan, where she added blues and rock to her repertiore.

Christy married Jeff Howard in 2002, and they started writing and performing together in 2004. By 2006, they had amassed a repertoire of about 35 original songs and credits on three CDs. The colorful lyrics in their songs are based largely on Christy's bizarre life story which reads like a really bad B-movie. Christy and Jeff won the 2006 Detroit Blues Challenge as acoustic duo, and they competed at the 2007 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. They formed The Christy Howard Band in 2006 to perform and record their original music.

The Christy Howard Band of 2008 includes special guest guitarist/vocalist, Jim Kahr (Jimmy Rogers, Bobby "Blue" Bland, John Lee Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite); guitarist Jeff Howard; keyboardist Andy Szymanski (The Butler Twins Blues Band); bassist John Foley (Albert King, Bobby "Blue" Bland; Dennis Edwards' Temptations, Spanky Wilson); and drummer/vocalist Jam Abrams (The Four Tops, Enchantment, The Floaters, Q. T. Hush).