For half a century, Sleepy LaBeef has lived his life on stages, in honky-tonks, and on the road. He has released records in six different decades and has had chart success as far back as the sixties and as recently as the year 2000. Sleepy LaBeef has shared bills with practically every great in music history: Elvis Presley, George Jones, Roy Orbison, Wanda Jackson, Carl Perkins, has numbered in his band over five hundred people (including the likes of Doug Kershaw, Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell, D.J. Fontana, and Grady Martin), and has been an admitted influence to such a variety of people as Brian Setzer, Bruce Springsteen, and the Beatles.

As significant as his recording career has been, it is the live Sleepy LaBeef that is important. Today, at 76, Sleepy still performs two hundred shows a year and plays with such energy that people a third of his age are annihilated when they attempt to keep up with him.

Sleepy LaBeefâs live sets are truly indescribable. One must see them to understand that he is doing nothing less than giving up his body to the spirit of the music and testifying. In this day of studio effects and ever-changing technology, many record buyers wonder why a live show even matters. Sleepy LaBeef is the answer.

--- John Kite