Son Vo / Members

Son Vo

Son Vo, aka Mekong Delta Bluesman, is an eclectic songwriter with a very unique life story that helped shape his path into becoming a versatile musician. Also a singer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, audio engineer and producer, he's been writing music for 30 years.  Growing up listening to all types of music, his writing style reflects just that: blues, rock, country, Americana, acoustic instrumentals, reggae, Latin jazz, 60's pop and more. He's also the bandleader of the Americana rock jam band, Mother Jones, a unit of top notch musicians who've released 3 albums and performed extensively for years. Son's also played in many bands as a bassist throughout Los Angeles (go to his Timeline for more info),  playing all types of music. Born in Saigon, he escaped Vietnam (along with his sister) two weeks before it fell. He was raised in Harrison, Maine, started learning piano at age 7, then moved to South Portland, Maine at 14 and began taking drum lessons, quickly falling in love with them and obsessively practicing. At age 16, he moved next door to Portland, Maine, and played in his first band, Low Tolerance. From there, he never lost the taste of performing live. At 18, Son briefly moved to NYC and during that time, he taught himself the guitar in an apartment in Queens, NY practicing 8-12 hours a day. He moved back to Portland, Maine 6 months later and started performing throughout Southern Maine, either as a drummer for bands or as a guitarist up until age 24, when he finally moved to Venice, CA. Since that time, he'ss performed thousands of shows, toured nationally,  and has recorded and released 5 albums, either with Mother Jones or the popular 90's jam band, Freshly Baked. He's also been an avid promoter of the Los Angeles jam band scene, having produced countless shows to highlight its regional talent. Son's influences are wide-ranging: of BB King, The Beatles, Waylon Jennings, Pink Floyd, The Talking Heads, reggae (Marley), Motown, Stax, James Brown, Steely Dan,  David Bowie, The Police, Prog rock (King Crimson, Yes),  grunge rock (Soundgarden, Alice In Chains),  and jazz  from all eras - Benny Goodman, Charlie Christian, Lester Young, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, Dizzie, Max Roach, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Red Garland (Soul Junction), Miles Davis (all eras), Wes Montgomery, Ornette Coleman, Chet Baker, Herbie Hancock, Joe Pass, and many others. Son continuously writes and records at his home recording studio, adding to his diverse musical library. You can also catch him performing the first Friday of every month with The Doggie Llamas, featuring John Jakubek (guitar/vox), Perry Ostrin (drums), Tom Costillo (bass) and Son (guitar/vox).