DELTA WIRES – Devil Got My Woman – notes

The South and the  East came to Oakland to work for the railroads and shipbuilders in the military hub of Oakland during and after the 2nd World War.  As a result, the music in the Bay Area was influenced by the music that came out of those regions, and evolved into the West Coast Blues Sound.  Delta Wires was not only inspired by the blues coming out of Chicago, but also by the blues scene which developed on the West Coast.

Band leader, Ernie Pinata, started the band as a college project for sociology credit. It was a musical presentation with dialog, which followed the regional migration of the blues from the South [after the Cotton Gin came about] to Chicago, He wrote songs and received poetry credit.  These studies culminated in the first performance of the DELTA WIRES

It began with traditional field hollers, to Son House, Charley Patton, and Robert Johnson, along with a few of Ernie’s original compositions.  A Muddy Waters-style blues band (or a “Little Walter style band with a sax added”) finished out the program.  Ernie Pinata and his brother Stephen worked together on creating the concept and the band which performed the project, and Ernie’s childhood friend, bassist Tom Gerrits, became a part of the band around this time.  A three-piece horn section was added and has never left.

This is our 2nd single release this year in tribute to the 75th anniversary of Chess Records.   “Devil Got My Woman” (by Skip James, Delta Wires arrangement) is 5-piece Delta Wires, without horns, more in the style of the earlier recordings at Chess. It is the only song Delta Wires has ever recorded without the horn section.  The other release this year in tribute to Chess is “Searching for a Woman”, which includes the full 8-piece Delta Wires with its usual horn section.

“Devil Got My Woman”
Recorded January 2025 at 2200 Studios, Sausalito CA (formerly The Record Plant)
Producer: Pinata / Gerrits
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Sean Beresford
Mastering: Jason Haxton Productions
Musicians:
Ernie Pinata: vocal, harmonica
Richard Healy: guitar
Tom Gerrits: bass guitar
Anthony Malfatti: piano
Tony Huszar: drums