Gearin Up to Tear it Up

Making plans for our summer tour in June and July: Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Hampshire and Ottawa! And in May a Barbecue Festival (Charlotte) and Shrimp Festival (St George Island). Plus a gig at our old friends Dave and Elizabeth Claytor’s Inn on Moon River in SC. And I’m chippin away at my own recording project. Having this studio has changed everything musical for me. Here’s my schedule.

I admit it. I’m proud to be a tree hugger. I used to think of trees as my friends. Now I think of em as my family. I’m in St. Augustine this weekend celebrating Earth Day. Being a second generation Floridian has made me appreciate the rivers that bring lush life to this place where we live. I’ve lived close to water, my whole life. When I was young I never dreamed this resource would be threatened, Join me and a bunch of my tree huggin friends for some fine music on Vilano Beach on Sunday April 23

A History of Liquid Summer

This blurry photo taken by Matt Wilson sums it up. You know how history is written. It can get blurry sometimes. But in 1987, I decided to put my sauce in bottles and sell it, because all my friends would come over to my house and eat it all up. I’d make a couple of gallons of the stuff and it would be gone in a few weeks. They would have to take a taste home with em. So the bottle on the left was made with peppers grown in my garden. I had about an eighth of an acre devoted to Datil peppers. After the harvest, we’d buy the rest of the ingredients to make a batch and put em in a pressure cooker, a couple dozen bottles at a time. Then we’d cut out the labels that we printed and we’d glue em on by hand. Several years later, we got help from Stagecoach Sauces, a company that would make a 60 gallon batch for us. After 30 years, Stagecoach Sauces still produces the sauce for us. Liquid Summer Hot Sauce is still made with all natural ingredients without preservatives in 60 gallon batches. We had quite an adventure getting a hot sauce business together, preparing the soil; I bought a tractor trailer load of spent mushroom compost and dumped in the yard. It was a sight to behold, steaming in the early morning. I was so proud. Then growing and picking the peppers, chopping the ingredients, and pouring the sauce into bottles with a funnel. Now a days, I pick up the phone, and say, “Make sauce. Thanks, Bye”

Cahill’s Market and Chicken Kitchen 1055 May River Road, Bluffton, SC 843-757-2921 cahillsmarket.com

Sometimes, all I want is some vegetables. Cahill’s specializes in fried chicken, but the rest of the fare is tasty, totally southern cookin. Chuck burgers, pork chops, meatloaf, shrimp, and catfish rounds out the menu. The market has fresh veggies, eggs, and canned goods from the farm, and they also sell plants from the greenhouse. I bought a nice marjoram plant for my herb garden. All of it looks great, but sometimes, all I want is vegetables.

Gettin to be camping season.
Can’t wait to be gourmeting in the rough again. Here’s my rig, Gumbo cooker and a small paella pan makes a very fast and efficient kitchen.

Perfect for searing fresh from the Bay of Fundy Scallops on top of a caesar salad with local smoked salmon and some of those cold water oysters.

Bon Appetit, Y’all!

RBC Bluesfest July 14, 2023

This photo was taken at “Canada’s Foremost Music Festival,” the Ottawa Blues Festival. A few minutes after it was taken, the sky opened up and drenched us all, but it was all good. We had a blast, and my buddy Steam captured me in my habitat. I will be returning to the Ottawa Blues Festival on July 14th for two shows. It’s my seventh time of playing this festival, and I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and “cooking” in many ways. So to all my Canuck friends, See ya there, Eh! One Day Presale tickets are available on Thursday February 23. For those who can’t make the date, we will be way down south of there in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Hampshire on this run. Say tuned as more dates are being added.

Booking at sauceboss.com/contact.

See the full Fest lineup here.

And…Here we go again!

Tour Schedule.

Some cool gigs coming up. We are booking our summer right now. I’m sooo looking forward to visiting my old Northeast haunts. Also I just booked one of the largest blues festivals in North America! Details soon come.
For booking: sauceboss.com

February 11th, this Saturday night, we will play the BBC for the last time. Another one of the great blues jukes is ending a chapter. (Possibly the whole book) At the beginning of April, The Bradfordville Blues club will close its doors. It’s with a heavy heart that I write these words. The BBC has been a huge wellspring of blues music for Florida; a place where some of the best in the business have hung their hats for an evening, delivering an experience of the most authentic down home blues that you will find anywhere. Evidenced by the portraits of blues players on the tabletops, its a virtual who’s who of the blues. The list is too long to even begin saying who has played the BBC. But it’s safe to say the best bluesicians had the best time ever, and that is when the magic happens. For 21 years Gary and Kim Anton have brought us that magic and good times, but now it’s time for them to kick back have more time for themselves. So here’s a tearful “Thank You!” to you both, and to all who helped make it happen. Come help us celebrate the Bradfordville Blues Club this Saturday. Act now for tickets. This one will sell out.

key west! Here I come.

I’m stoked to get back to the southernmost party in the USA. Hemingway’s Rum Company is hosting a Sauce Boss show on Sunday, February 26. Just two blocks from Sloppy Joe’s, it’s gonna be a rum fueled throwdown.

Swampside Studio News

Cookin in the Studio

While working on some of my new stuff, I have also wrapped the recording, mixing, and mastering of an album for Dick Kraft. I met Dick in the late 60s when he was a teacher in the Florida State University Art Department. At that time he was also heavily involved in the folk scene, accompanying a fledgling Rita Coolidge. Relocated to St. Augustine, Dick got into blowing artisan glass at his St George Street studio and playing at The Tradewinds, the Milltop, and other folk music venues. He became my neighbor when he moved back to Tallahassee, and now continues his music and painting. Like his painting, this album has an abstract, crystal clear, but gentle darkness that resonates in the twenty first century. An unpidgenholeable, indescribable, genre bending listen. Close as I can come to describe it is, “Jazzacana.”

Plantains

I am enjoying my first harvest of plantains now having gotten a cold hearty dwarf plantain pup last year. That’s a twelve foot dwarf, and it is tasty.

Plantains with Collards, Black Beans and Rice, slathered with Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
ORDER LIQUID SUMMER HERE

Benton’s Sugar Shack
2010 Route 175, Thornton, NH 03285 603-726-3867

While we are talkin about food, here’s the latest installment of “Foraging on the Highway”. The Bentons can tell it like it is, so here’s their story.

“The Benton Family has been making maple syrup for six generations. You might say it’s in our blood! When the sugar house was moved here from Millbrook Road, it began as a place to sell our syrup. With more traffic and visitors on the main road, we decided to turn the family farm into a ski touring center, and added a place where folks could sit and eat a small meal before skiing. We served hotdogs, hamburgers, chili, homemade soups, Ma’s famous baked beans, and the basic Pancake Platter.To keep up with the growing demand of loyal customers who were coming less to ski and more to eat, we added our dining room addition in 1999, and the rest is history!”

The Sugar Shack is known for the heartiest of breakfasts, and for their own hand made maple syrup. This family is a testament of hard working American ingenuity at it’s best. Thursday through Sunday, this family slings a slew of bacon and eggs, pancakes slathered with syrup and biscuits smothered in gravy, with a line out the door and round the corner. Once a year they shut the place down for a weekend and put on a HUGE wingding called the White Mountain Boogie and Blues Festival. I have played this festival twice and I can honestly say, “It’s one of the best times you’ll ever have with your pants on.”

Life Goes On

The curb at the Sheetz convenience store in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. Here’s a French Fry.

Namaste…

PS. I made you look

Slatherin Time!

I feel Like I’m in a wakin, bakin, ain’t no fakin, makin some shakin, and stakin all my takins till my brains are breakin kind of mood. I’ve been busy writing and arranging tunes and we have begun putting together a new album. I can’t wait to share this new music with all y’all. I will be joined on this record by the Tallahassee funk cartel, Extra Sauce, so get ready for this melange of funky, funky, blues.

Extra Sauce
Three of us are alumni of the seminal Florida blues label, Kingsnake Records. Philip Gonzalez (bass) and Brett Crook (drums) were the rhythm section of Big Shirley, one of Kingsnakes’ most successful bands, touring nonstop for years. I recorded five albums with Kingsnake Records, The fourth member of the group is Neal Goree. Neal was Tallahassee’s young prodigy guitar player, who first heard Bill Wharton when he was still in the womb. He has matured into the monster that he is today. So you take my music, backed with a “seasoned” rhythm section, topped off with a stellar guitar phenom, and you have The Sauce Boss With Extra Sauce.

Concert Schedule Right Here.

NEW SHIRTS!!!!

So here they are. People have been hounding me for a while for Sauce Boss shirts, and we finally got around to gettin em printed. NOTE. The new shirts will have this art, but the shirts will be dark chocolate brown in color. The same color as the roux that I use to make the gumbo. Preorder one today, and you’ll have it around the end of November.

Splooge yer Turkey for something quirky. Make yer stockins rockin.
There’s a chill in the air. That always makes me hongry. Inject that butterball with the power and the glory of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce – The hot sauce for the new millennium. The road to culinary nirvana.

We are now booking 2023. Here’s an excerpt from our EPK

Bill Wharton, AKA Sauce Boss, has brought his swamp-funk, slide guitar, and a pot of gumbo all across the US and to Canada, Europe, and Asia. He slathers his show with his hot sauce, and splooges a big old mess of it into the gumbo. He invites the audience to participate in stirring the pot, and at the end of the show, everyone eats. He has served hundreds of thousands of bowls for free at his legendary live shows. Bill Wharton mixes media like cornbread in his performance. Hot sauce, blues, chicken, funk, onions and okra, peppers and gospel, soul and seafood and slide guitar, all go into the gumbo pot that we call community. All of this is the reason they call him The Sauce Boss. Bon Appetit! 

Jimmy Buffett sings about him in “I Will Play for Gumbo”. Wharton’s anthem, “Let the Big Dog Eat” was included on Buffett’s “Late Night Menu at the Margaritaville Cafe” album.  Albert Castiglia released his cover of the tune, and it hit #1 on blues charts. Let the Big Dog Eat has also appeared in the movies “Something Wild”(Jonathon Demme), and the Rock Doc, “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President.” This tune and sixteen other works in the documentary earned Wharton “‘Best Original Score” from the Los Angeles Film Awards.

Radio Live and Planet Gumbo Rides Again!

Tune in to Radio Live, Thursday October 6 at 6:00 pm (Central time). It’s an acoustic show, and I’m looking forward to playing my Fine Resophonic Steel Guitar and my 000 Cutaway on one of my favorite gigs.  Kipyn Martin,  and The Rough & Tumble will also be on the bill.

Next week I’m taking it all down to Ft. Myers. Everything. Here’s Planet Gumbo Volunteers, BW, Su Ecenia, Ruth Wharton, Sally Morton, Tanya Hollady, and Jeanie Barrett in Mexico Beach after Hurricane Michael. After Katrina Planet Gumbo was in New Orleans and in Buras, Louisiana , where I saw a refrigerator in the top of a tree, twenty feet off the ground. On October 11, I’ll be cookin for the aftermath once more. The gratitude that I have, to be able to do this work is boundless. Your donations to Planet Gumbo make it possible. Thanks to all.

Florida Shuffle

St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Port St Joe, Tallahassee, Bradenton, Tarpon Springs, Pensacola.

White Mountain Boogie and Blues Festival

What a blast traveling the last few months up north, but it’s nice to be back in Florida once more. It’ll give me a chance to do some recording, get my fall garden started, and hang with my Fla. peeps. Here’s the low down on where I will be.

SNOG People! You know who you are. I will be bringin it to St Augustine on Sept. 1 at the Plaza de la Constitucion. 7 pm downbeat.

Liquid Summer is here! You KNOW you want some!

Liquid Summer Hot Sauce Bloody Mary Will Change Your Life!

Recipe
1 cup tomato juice
1 Tbsp Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
1 tsp horseradish
Dash of celery salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp lemon juice
Couple shots of vodka
Mix ingredients together and pour into a glass of ice.

Order Liquid Summer here!

Follow Me Way Up North On TikTok

This summer I’ll be up north. Why don’t y’all come with me? Follow my Quixotic journey to feed the masses (body and soul) with uplifting blues, great gumbo, and the “Best hot sauce on the planet!”
Starting July 4th, I will be posting daily on TikTok. saucebossx is my TikTok handle. In keeping with the whole TikTok melee, I will be posting music, food, wildness, wardrobe malfunctions, alternative realities, and oddities that I find along the way. Follow me! Reserve a front row seat at the debacle known as the Sauce Boss Traveling Gumbo Show.

Charleston, Pittsburgh, Sharon PA, Buffalo, Johnson City NY, Marion OH, Detroit, Lexington, Wilmington NC, Stafford VA, Fredricksburg VA, Kennebunk ME. Sometime in August, I will make a surprise appearance at a very special event in New England. I’m looking forward to gettin back to this gig. Beyond the valley of the baddest of the bad. I am soooo happy to be out and about once more. Alert the troops! See ya down the road. Here’s the skinny.

But before I head north…this Friday, June 24th, I’ll be bringing Extra Sauce to the Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee, Florida. We will be slathering inside for this one. That’s the only way I can describe this band. Brett Crook and Butch Gonzalez have played together, off and on for decades, and Neal Goree just lays it on top. Slathered! We will be cookin in various ways, mixin media like cornbread. Bring yer funkiest dancin shoes and yer appetite too. TICKETS.

Many thanks came from the folks at The Community for Creative Non-Violence in Washington DC. Three blocks from the Mall. They now serve 2500 clients every day.

Planet Gumbo is back on the road!
Since discovering Planet Gumbo, I have played well over 100 shows at homeless shelters and soup kitchens all over the USA. (And a few in Canada). It’s my volunteer work that I do, to share my gifts with those without. I do not receive a salary for this, but I consider it some of my most important work. In this photo, we are standing in front of a pile of blankets. That day, in 2003, I served gumbo to 200 people. During the pandemic it was impossible for me to do Planet Gumbo gigs. But now, I am super psyched to play shelters this summer in Charleston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Lexington KY, NYC, Wilmington NC, and Fredericksburg VA, along with my regular paying gigs on this tour. The 501c3 Non-profit Planet Gumbo is entirely supported by individual donations. If you would like to contribute click here.

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You Know You Want Some

Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. Get it HERE!

Say The Word [of South] and…A Mouthful!

Yup! The Beatles said it, and I did too. “You CAN be free. You can be like me.” I am sooo fortunate to be able to do what I do. It took a while, but I stuck to my guns. Actually I stuck to my guitars, and now I have artistic carte blanc. That being said, I’m sayin it loud and proud. And the word is LOVE! We are gearing up for studio time and a couple of runs this summer.
Here’s the schedule.

Word [of South] Coming Out of My Mouth!

Bill and Mary Wharton

I’m stoked to be part of the Word [of South] Festival in Tallahassee, Florida. The festival brings literature and music together in a mash up of creativity unlike any other. Writers of books and music stewing together in beautiful Cascades Park in a mind expanding Weekend. I will join my daughter, Mary, for a conversation (with music) about our collaboration on her Rock Doc, “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President”. I supplied the music for the original score. The movie has gotten raves including Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Editing, and…wait for it…Best Original Score from the Los Angeles Film Awards. Please join us for a home girl makes good moment, Saturday, April 9. We’ll be in the AC Hotel ballroom at 2:30 pm.

This Friday! April 1, this fool will be in Paradise
Sauce Boss returns to the Paradise Bar and Grill in Pensacola Beach. 5:30 PM
850-916-5087 21 Via De Luna Dr, Gulf Breeze

Battery Powered Rock and Roll…ANYWHERE!

Out in the woods… See that extension cord plugged into the van? It’s coming from two heavy duty marine batteries connected to a 3000 watt inverter. I can run my whole rig; sound, lights, and everything. Totally on batteries.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Planet Gumbo was there. We came, we set up right by the highway, we cooked, we played, and we fed the survivors on the beach. Now we don’t need to carry bulky generators, so we are able go anywhere, far and wide.
Contact: planetgumbo.org

La Hacienda Family Restaurant Bar and Market
lahaciendasebring.com 825 North Ridgewood Drive Sebring, Florida 33870 863-382-2555
Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you miss it completely. When we drove up to La Hacienda, I was not sure about the place. It was just before lunchtime and there were just a few cars in the parking lot. Red flags waved in my head. This time I would have missed it completely, except my baby really wanted huevos rancheros for breakfast, so we decided to try it.

Spicy Huevos Rancheros La Hacienda

Boy was I wrong. The website positions itself with “Traditional Mexican Food”, and they ain’t lyin! But they missed something in their positioning statement. The word “AUTHENTIC!” Walking into La Hacienda is walking into the family house. The front door is a “portal” to another world. A culinary wormhole that allows travelers a voyage to a Mexican universe, far, far away from Sebring, Florida. It’s the real deal.

“We ordered our huevos and I took a look around the market. The shelves were filled with all Mexican brands of exotic food. I picked up some mole sauce and some Guajillo peppers. This little restaurant/bar/market has it all. When I find a place so authentic and delicious, I make a point of congratulating the owner that preserves the culture of the cuisine. I said, “You really provide a service to this community.” And he replied, “Yes, we are more than just a place to eat.” In a place like Sebring where there are many agricultural workers from Mexico, this is an oasis. As the clock struck 12 noon, a gorgeous Latinx couple walked in to order. Then 20 construction workers filed in the door. A few more couples came in and the place was ROCKIN! It was beautiful. Good thing we got there before noon.

Liquid Summer Hot Sauce

ORDER. http://sauceboss.com/shop HERE

You Got To Move!

After all the quarantine.
After all the hermitizing, sittin around, watching movies, reading, organizing your button collection, rethinkin, re-upin, re-doin and realizing; it’s time to MOVE! I am sooo ready to be back at it, I can taste the gumbo. Oh, to smell diesel fuel again. I am so lucky to have been so productive over the last couple years, but I have terribly missed all my friends out there. It’s time to move. So, we are all crawling out from under each of our little rocks to survey the damage and celebrate with the survivors. It’s a new world, with new challenges and new rewards. It’s time to move. So let us all get up offa that thing and GO!
Here’s where I’m going.

Steve Huntington

The Sauce Boss joins Steve Huntington on Sirius XM Radio on Demand
Tune in to catch Bill and Steve shoot the breeze and share lots of music that’s related to the exploits of the Guru of Gumbo. “The Steve Huntington Show” is on SiriusXM On Demand. To get it, you have to have a subscription and also download the SiriusXM App on your phone or device. On the App, you just hit search & type in “Steve Huntington” and you’ll see the four current shows come up. My show is available for three more weeks, and you can listen to it anytime, as many times as you like. Steve’s interview runs about an hour and a quarter with music from Bill Wharton, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, Jimmy Reed, and Jimmy Buffett.

Word of [South], a festival of literature and music, is a unique blend of writers and musicians and an exploration of the relationship between the two disciplines. This year Jamey Johnson headlines and other musicians include Ricky Lee Jones, Rita Coolidge, and tons of others…me too. There are scads of best selling authors who will be reading and splaining their work. There is also a crossover where some of the musicians will play and talk about their books as well. I will join my daughter, Mary Wharton, and critic Steve Dollar for a “Making of” moment, in an exposé of our collaboration on her film, “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President.” There will be music, film, stories and lots of family. Annie is even flying in from LA. And…we will be splaining.

Arti Gras with Dumpstaphunk!

Xtra Sauce will be slathered all over the tunes when I open for Dumpstaphunk Feb.26 at 3 PM in the Railroad Square Art District. Free and open to the public. Gonna be a throw-down.

The hot sauce for the new millennium

That’s right! Straight out of Florida, Liquid Summer Hot Sauce will CHANGE your life. It changed my life, and it will change your life too. It will open your eyes to a new cuisine, liven up yer oyster, put some zip in yer trip, and you will feel it all over your body. Order it right here, right NOW!!!

Time to move…

Here’s a panorama of the goings on at Swampside Studio. I have begun work on a new album and I can’t believe how good this room sounds. The high ceiling makes plenty of space for those long waves to stretch out. It’s nice to have all the time I need, to get it right. , it’s time to move.

Capellini Salad With Almond Dressing
Here’s a twist on a classic Thai dish. I’ve substituted almond butter for the peanut butter in the sauce and capellini for the rice noodles. Quick and easy. Great leftovers.

Half a package of Capellini
6 cups of julienned cabbage, carrots, , daikon radish, and sweet peppers
(I used Caribbean golden sweet peppers)
6 green onions chopped
10 green beans chopped
2 baby bok choi sliced thin
1 bunch of cilantro
2 Tablespoons Liquid Summer Hot Sauce (more please)
1 cup roasted peanuts

For the sauce…
5 thin slices of ginger cut cross grain
4 large cloves of garlic
3/4 cup of almond butter with a little of the oil
3/4 cup orange juice
3 Tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt (I left out the salt)

Cook the capellini. Drain the hot water and cool it off with cold water
Blend all the almond sauce ingredients
Toss the veggies
Add the cold noodles and toss once more
Pour the almond sauce over the top and toss one more time
Garnish with orange wedges

Here’s a final word of thanks to all y’all who have given me the time of day, applauded my mischief, laughed at my jokes, goaded me on, and given me hope on my Quixotic journey, a mission to communicate love through music and community. You have given this fool a reason to live.
Keep Cookin,
BW

Photo: Laura Carbone

MOTM 2021 CHILL OUT IN key west

NOVEMBER 4, THE CASA MARINA, 3 PM

See y’all at the Meeting of the Minds 2021! I’m playing at the Casa Marina on Thursday, November 4, at 3 pm. This one will be rockin! I’m looking forward to hangin in key west, bumpin into old friends, and doing some free diving, and fishing, and soakin up sun before the winter comes.

Here’s my schedule
Nov. 4 Key West – MOTM Casa Marina 3 pm
Nov 14 Brooksville, FL – Olive Grove
Nov 20 Noontime Palm Coast FL – Florida Agricultural Museum Fall Festival Fiery Chili Challenge
Nov 20 7 PM Tallahassee, FL Cascades Park Ampitheatre with extra special active Ingredients, playing before showing of “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President” movie
Dec 6 Daytona Beach FL – Kids Rock the Nation benefit at The Bank and Blues, with Kenny Neal

Swampside Studio

Super stoked to begin puttin some stuff down. This 16 foot peak gives me plenty of space to stretch out. Swampside Studio is officially up and running. Stay tuned…

Mary Wharton’s rockdoc premiered at #7 nationwide! ICYMI, it will begin streaming on her birthday, November 11, 2021. I actually contributed some drum tracks for the Petty film, so “actually”…I’m proud to be a monstrously tiny part of this film. Here’s a link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1sU9Evua9I

Liquid Summer Hot Sauce

Time to stock up for the holidaze. Liquid summer will turn any meal around. The hot sauce for the new millennium, the road to culinary Nirvana, Liquid Summer will CHANGE you life. It changed mine and it will change yours. Get yours right here!

Sashimi Avocado with Orange Miso Dressing

2 Tbsp miso
1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Dash of sweetener (you can use honey or ripe persimmons or a fruit preserve to taste)
Mix all ingredients and spoon it over avocado slices

AHHHHH!