Given the 2004 photography date and the nature of a concert archive, "Lamont Cranston Band" (a Minneapolis blues-rock band formed in 1969, active for decades and playing club circuits) is the most plausible fit. Let me get a bit more detail on their history. This gives solid, well-sourced material. Now I'll write the biography.
The Lamont Cranston Band traces its origins to the small town of Hamel, Minnesota, where brothers Pat and Larry Hayes formed the group in 1969, taking their name from the alter ego of the pulp hero The Shadow. The band was founded in 1969 by brothers Pat and Larry Hayes and continues today with Pat as the band's frontman, and it is named after the alter ego of the pulp hero The Shadow. Originating from the rural Minneapolis-St. Paul area, the group evolved from folk and psychedelic rock influences to a dedicated blues sound after discovering artists like Howlin' Wolf, establishing itself as a key player in the Twin Cities music scene by 1969. With Pat "Lamont" Hayes on vocals, guitar and harmonica, the band quickly built a reputation as one of the founding acts of the Minneapolis blues scene.
The band's rise came steadily through the 1970s and into the early 1980s. In the mid-1970s, the Lamont Cranston Band solidified its position as a cornerstone of the Minneapolis blues scene, releasing debut albums on independent labels like Shadow Records, including their self-titled 1976 effort and Specials-Lit in 1977, before transitioning to Waterhouse Records for El-Cee-Notes in 1978 and Up from the Alley in 1980. Their true commercial peak arrived with the 1981 album Shakedown, and in 1981, the band scored their biggest hit "Upper Mississippi Shakedown," although it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. That same year brought one of the band's proudest moments, as one of the biggest thrills was opening for The Rolling Stones on a leg of their North American tour in 1981. Earlier still, the band's reach extended beyond Minneapolis when "Excuse Moi, Mon Cheri," written by Larry Hayes, was recorded by the Blues Brothers and released as the B-side of the band's single "Soul Man". Over the decades the Lamont Cranston Band shared stages with an extraordinary range of artists and weathered significant lineup shifts. The band has played with notable musicians such as Muddy Waters, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, Kansas, Yes and the Blues Brothers. Pat Hayes also built a name for himself outside the group, touring with Bonnie Raitt as a member of her band on her 1990 "Nick Of Time" tour, and performing with Charlie Musselwhite and later with the Blues Brothers band at the pre-opening of Dan Aykroyd's House of Blues nightclub in 1994. The band's momentum eventually stalled when, following their peak in the 1970s and early 1980s, the Lamont Cranston Band disbanded in 1987, frustrated by limited radio airplay and the major labels' withdrawal of support, remaining largely inactive through the 1990s aside from occasional one-off performances. A resurgence followed, driven by a 1998 show reuniting five original members for the first time in nearly three decades, joined by guests like Bruce McCabe and Jonny Lang, which carried into the release of the live double album Lamont Live!! in 2001, recorded at Twin Cities venues Whiskey Junction and Brewbaker's. The band was later honored when, in 2010, the band was inducted into the Mid-America Music Hall Of Fame. In its later years the band continued to perform around the Twin Cities and beyond, with Dan Aykroyd remaining a steady champion; Aykroyd called on the group to play the grand opening of his new Chicago House Of Blues in November 1996, Cleveland in 2004 and Atlantic City in 2005. Additional archival releases followed in later years, as the band issued further releases in 2009, including In the '80s, a compilation of 1980s tracks, and Live at People's Fair, from a 1987 performance, solidifying their resurgence. Today Pat Hayes has stepped back from performing, though he remains connected to music and art in his own way, as friends have shared that he's in good spirits, has been painting and drawing, playing a little guitar and harmonica, and still writing some songs, though he has no plans to return to the stage. The band nonetheless endures as one of the true elder statesmen of Minneapolis blues, remembered for decades of gritty, horn-and-harmonica-driven roadhouse sound and for the generations of players who passed through its ranks.
It is fitting that a band so tied to hard touring and one-night stands found its way into Wayne Dennon's lens. Wayne photographed Lamont Cranston at one show in 2004, right around the years the band was busy playing House of Blues grand openings and reconnecting with old fans on the club circuit, and the ten photographs preserved from that night remain part of this archive, viewed by visitors 8,260 times. They stand as a quiet but lasting record of a band that helped define an entire regional blues scene, captured in a single frame of Wayne's long career behind the camera.
