Biography
Joe 'Survival' Caruso - Lead guitar and vocals
Trey Burkett - Guitar
Paul Zera - Keyboards
Andy Garcia - Bass
Aaron 'Pops' Watson - Drums
Joe Caruso was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up in a musical family. Across the street from his home was the "Club Desire", famous music club where he heard many big-time blues and rhythm & blues shows such as young Ray Charles, Guitar Slim, Memphis Slim, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, Fats Domino, among others… Joe established his first rhythm & blues band at the age of fifteen years old with his schoolmates. The band was called "The Ec,Statics Revue". It was very popular in New Orleans. The band was an opening act for a number of big shows such as Etta James, Hank Ballard, Ernie K-Doe, Aaron Neville, Johnny Adams, Bobby Marchand, and others.
Joe was drafted into the Army in 1969, and did a tour in Vietnam. He returned home in 1971 and immediately picked up where he left off with music. Since then Joe has played with numerous groups and artists. He moved to Oakland California in 1984 with his band named "Survival". He hooked up with the very active Bay Area Blues Society. working with people such as Ronnie Stewart, "Cool Papa" Sadler, Buddy Ace, Freddy Roulette, and others.
Joe traveled to the East Coast and all points in-between with blues singer Buddy Ace as the bandleader. He moved back to New Orleans in November 1992 at the request of Buddy Ace. After leaving Buddy Ace, he worked as a studio musician for the Southland label owned by Mr. George Buck. It was there where Joe recorded his CD "Joe 'Survival' Caruso" "I'll Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive".
In September of 2005 Joe and his mother Verdadelle left New Orleans on a Friday to play a gig with Al "Little Fats" Jackson at the Grand Casino in Kinder, Louisiana. Kinder is located in the northwest area of Louisiana. The weather was beautiful that weekend. While there, Joe received a telephone call from a friend in New Orleans warning him not to come back home because of a storm that was approaching… Little did Joe know that that storm would be Katrina, and that everything he owned would be lost.
Joe relocated to Florida to his sister's home in Deltona where life has been good to him and his mom. His new band is Joe "Survival" Caruso and the Boogie-Woogie Boo-Fay Blues Band which has been very successful…
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