BAND SPOTLIGHT | CW Ayon

New Mexican bluesman CW Ayon (pronounced “I own”) began his adventure as a one-man band in 2008. Playing what he terms his “Hill Country Blues, Chihuahuan Desert, hook-laden groove,” on two bass drums, a rocking blues guitar and blazing harmonica with a gritty voice rising above it all, CW truly makes one very large sound all his own. He’s released four critically acclaimed albums, won Best Blues Song at the 2010 New Mexico Music Awards, gained high praise from the Junior Kimbrough family while playing a show with them and toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Australia. Ayon’s set list consists mostly of his bluesy originals, but he slips in blues classics by the likes of R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Muddy Waters, Big Bill Broonzy and Joe Callicott. His latest release, Lohmador, was nominated for Best Blues and Best of Album of the Year at the New Mexico Music Awards. Currently he’s on a run through Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois, then heading back through Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, before going home to New Mexico.