The New Guy: New Flavor! Red Beans and Rice’s new vocalist Bishop Mayfield and guitarist Gil Rubio.
The New Guy
R&B veteran brings vocal stylings to Red Beans & Rice.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
“This guy has held the band together for 10 years,” Bishop
Mayfield says while looking at his new bandmate Gil Rubio. “I
wasn’t married that long.”
Sitting in the lobby of the Monterey Beach Hotel, Mayfield,
the new vocalist for the popular local blues band, Red Beans
& Rice, jokes around with Rubio, the band’s leader and
guitarist, like the two are old college buddies.
Actually, the two musicians have only known each other for
a few months.
It all started last September when longtime Red Beans &
Rice vocalist Terrence Kelly announced that he was going to
leave the band in 2004 to pursue other interests.
Rubio and his band held off on actively looking for a new
singer until this past March, then held some auditions.
Mayfield, an R&B and blues singer from Northern
California, moved to Monterey last January. He later found out
that Red Beans & Rice (winner of the Monterey County
Weekly’s Best Local Band award for the last nine years in a
row) were searching for a new singer.
Three months ago, Mayfield auditioned for the band by
singing five songs, including two Red Beans & Rice
originals. According to both sides, he nailed it.
“We were all impressed with Bishop, and we thought he was
easy to get along with,” Rubio says.
“I was hired right on the spot,” Mayfield says of the
audition.
According to Rubio, Mayfield adds a new dimension to the
band. “He brings an R&B influence and an opportunity to
expand our horizon and broaden our range,” Rubio says.
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