The Sully Band is fronted by Sully Sullivan (Sully & the Souljahs), an entrepreneur and radio/TV personality who offers business tips and advice on MSNBC and elsewhere. Sullivan was six when he first picked up a nylon-string guitar and played the first few chords of “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” with his dad. An all-American football player in high school and a theater buff in college, he tried his hand at a music career in LA, and instead spent the next three decades moving up from Price Club cashier to self-made entrepreneur to local radio/TV personality, eventually making his way back to the stage and recording studio.
The Sully Band won Best Live Performer at the 2020 San Diego Music Awards. Members hail from Japan, Panama, and Lemon Grove, including Grammy Award-winning bassist James East (Eric Clapton, Elton John, Michael Jackson), sax-flute-harp player Tripp Sprague (Little River Band, Smokey Robinson) and trumpet and flugelhorn player Steve Dillard (The Righteous Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd).
Their debut album Let’s Straighten It Out, recorded at Henson Recording Studio in Hollywood (formerly A&M Studios), was released in March 2022 via Belly Up Records, and marketed and distributed by Blue Élan Records. The album was recorded in five days, with “mostly-live” renditions of ten classic ‘60s and ‘70s soul, blues, and R&B tunes. The tracks were curated by Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama, Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite), including Billy Preston’s “Nothing from Nothing,” Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher,” and “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” by Ray Charles. Local soul singer Rebecca Jade duets with Sully on Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John) and Jessie Hill’s “When the Battle Is Over” (nominated for a 2022 San Diego Music Award for Best R&B, Funk or Soul Song), and young Fallbrook guitarist Anthony Cullins plays on “If You Love Me Like You Say,” evoking the late Albert Collins.
Regarding "If You Love Me Like You Say," Sullivan says "I've been a fan of the blues forever, artists like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and John Lee Hooker, but Albert wasn’t really on my radar. Then, during the making of this album, we were looking for certain songs about love and found this Albert Collins gem and it was love at first listen. Since then, I’ve become a huge fan of The Iceman, and even though we put a bit of a New Orleans spice on our version, I still wanted to bring in a player really steeped in blues to handle the guitar lead, out of respect for Albert. Fortunately, I knew a young San Diego-based blues guitar phenom, Anthony Cullins, and he came into the studio and cut the track live with us, and absolutely killed it.”
A single was released in February 2022 for "If I Could Only Be Sure," a reimagining of Nolan Porter's 1972 funky classic. The album debuted at number three on Billboard’s Blues chart.
Sullivan was named Man of the Year by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s San Diego & Hawaii Region in summer 2022. Sullivan's campaign contributed a record breaking total of $418,459 towards the fight against blood cancer.
(Photo: Steve Sherman)