Band Members

“Tall” Paul Sabel, originally from DePere, WI, started his journey in music oddly enough during his first year of Physician Assistant school at UW Madison. On a Monday night he heard Westside Andy Linderman playing harmonica into a bullet microphone and a tube amp with The Blue Monday Band which was led by Clyde Stubblefield. Paul was mystified by the sound and felt an immediate calling to learn how to do that. At the time, he had been re-awakening his creative side and decided to go at learning the harmonica with the mind of a child—no inhibitions and no pressure for time—and he learned the basics of harmonica faster than he had learned anything before.

He started with beginner lessons from Madison’s DeWayne Keyes and after about a year started sitting in on Tuesdays at The Angelic with Glenn Davis on guitar when Westside Andy would step down for a song or two. From there, Paul started sitting in with The Westside Andy Mel Ford Band, RJ Mischo, Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith, and Gary Primich when they came through the area along with the many jam sessions and bands at the Silver Moon just outside of Janesville. Some of these included John Brim, Jim Liban, and Little Mack Simmons out of Chicago. Little Mack liked Paul’s sound enough to invite him to Chicago to play at Mack’s Thursday night jam at Rosa’s Lounge with Mack and the house band. Paul would go down to Rosa’s in Chicago about twice per month over that next year or so until Mack passed away from complications related to colon cancer in October of 2000. Mack would ask Paul to check his colostomy at set breaks and tell stories about skipping school with a young James Cotton to play harp under a bridge in Twist, Arkansas. Paul learned what was good and what wasn’t by Mack giving him a smile when he played it right and a mad look when it wasn’t. Those nights introduced him to many of Chicago’s resident blues musicians and won him the approval of Mama Rosa who would later recommend to other bands playing at her bar to get him up for a few songs with them, letting them know the kid could play. Just before Mack went on stage at the Chicago Blues Festival in June of 2000, he told Paul’s parents that Paul had the same gift from God that Mack had to play the harmonica and that Mack was just trying to help Paul let it out.

Also around that time, Paul also started making trips to Cuba with the Madison Camaguey Sister City Association and during a trip to Havana, he connected with guitarist/songwriter (thanks to Charlie Musselwhite) Miguel de Oca, founding member of Sociedad Havana Blues (Havana Blues Society) and was welcomed in as a member going on to do several gigs with the band in Cuba. One of the highlights was getting to play with guitarist Jorge Chicoy who has played in jazz groups with Arturo Sandoval and recorded with Chucho Valdes and his renowned band Irakere among many other accolades. Jorge told Paul he was welcome on stage with him anytime.

During a period of time living in the Green Bay, WI area, Paul started sitting in with a Dixieland Band led by clarinetist Kevin Van Ess called The Talk of The Town. He learned many lessons from Kevin and several of the older musicians in the band who liked his enthusiasm and willingness to learn.

Paul also made friends with legendary harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite and his band while they were playing 3 nights in a row at the local casino. He showed Charlie and his wife Henrietta, along with the band including June Core (drums) Mike Phillips (bass), and Kid Anderson (guitar) some of the sites in Green Bay and in return Charlie got him up for a song during his casino stint. Y’all Paul’s cover photo is from that experience.

Also while in Green Bay, Paul played with the band Charlie Hustle which happened to have Paul’s former high school basketball teammate and friend Tom Clay on keyboards. Paul would also sit in with the band The Jazz Orgy. Both of these bands required Paul to learn some jazz melodies and new chord progressions to solo over.

These connections led to later on being asked by guitarist/composer Josh Gordon to record a small budget film soundtrack for a movie called Single Action Colt in 2010. Paul is credited for his work in IMDB.

From approximately 2005-2007, Paul played in the Madison area band The Heart Attacks with Flynn McGee, a guitarist he met when Flynn needed his finger sutured in the ER and Paul was working and was the guy doing the suturing. They talked music, started to hang out and eventually timing was right to form the band The Heart Attacks with Rob Hoium on bass and Bret Stubblefield on drums. The band featured several original tunes, some bluesy, some funky, and some jazzy. Unfortunately the band never made it to studio.

In late 2007 after the tragic death of Flynn McGee, The Heart Attacks were no more and Paul packed up and moved to Chicago to be able to study with world renowned harmonica player, teacher, customizer, and historian, Joe Filisko and also be able to hear the blues and jazz masters live on a regular basis. He also learned some harmonica customization and repair skills from Brad Harrison who would go on to start one of the only USA harmonica manufacturing companies. These experiences led to more opportunities to sit in with bands at Buddy Guy’s Legends, House of Blues, and Rosa’s. He started getting calls to play full gigs with guitarist Rick Simcox and The Tone Questors with bassist Willie J Rausch and sometimes drummer Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith.

In the Chicago area, Paul also connected with Chicago pianist Barrelhouse Chuck who saw potential in Paul. Chuck took Paul under his wing and shared his vast musical knowledge and museum quality collection of blues vinyl and memorabilia with Paul which gave him inspiration and a feeling he was on the right path.

Still in Chicago, Paul became a member of the Latin Blues-Rock band Azul de Noche led by guitarist/composer/singer Fermin Reyes and appears on several songs on their 2012 cd, Alistando el Viaje with the up and coming trumpet player Victor Garcia, bassist Jaime Garcia and drummer Jorge Leal. Gigs with that band were in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, River North, at The Old Town School of Folk Music and the legendary venue Fitzgerald’s.

Other highlights in Chicago include a first place award by Joe Filisko for a talking blues contest for his original tune Tall Paul’s Nightmare and being invited by Joe Filisko to play at the 2013 6th Annul Chicago Blues Harp Bash which also featured Zoe Savage, Grant Kessler, Scott Dirks (one of the biographers of Little Walter), and headliner Johnny Sansone from New Orleans.

After the excitement of big city life wore off, Paul returned to southern WI for medical work and then joined The Ryan McGrath Band. This has led to opportunities to add a unique harmonica sound to Ryan’s original tunes which people have a hard time categorizing, but is basically blues influenced rock. Paul wrote his second song, Badfish Creek Blues as a catharsis over the death of Flynn which occurred right near where Badfish Creek crosses highway 138 between Stoughton and Oregon, WI. This song idea came while Paul and his wife Silvia were taking their young son for a walk and listening to some music. He wanted to put all the negativity he felt about Flynn’s passing behind him and the verses flowed out in about 20 minutes when they got home from the walk. The song is on the Ryan McGrath Band EP available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music. The band has opened for Jennifer Hudson and Darius Rucker and played Summerfest in 2017 a few slots ahead of Peter Frampton and in 2018 even fewer slots ahead of Trace Adkins. Paul reconnected with Willie J Rausch in Chicago at the memorial service for Barrelhouse Chuck in early 2017 and the band happened to need a bassist at the time. Willie was willing to do work in WI and quickly became the new bassist for the band.

Another bonus of moving back to WI was reconnecting with former Heart Attacks rhythm section Rob Hoium and Bret Stubblefield and occasionally getting to play with them. Rob served as bass player for a year in the Ryan McGrath Band and Bret has filled in on drums several times. Paul has also been granted honorary membership in the supergroup that convenes each year in Stoughton, WI in May consisting of master luthier Tom Ribbecke from Healdsburg, CA, guitarist/vocalist Emilio Criixell from Brownsville, TX, Stoughton guitarist/bassist Bruce Anderson and Stoughton based drummer Johnny Surrell who used to do sound for The Heart Attacks. Through those guys Paul also got to play a show with Tom and Johnny and some of Tom’s luthier friends at B.B. King’s on Beale St in Memphis. Paul had a dream to play that stage after listening to the cd Rod Piazza Live At B.B. King’s early in his harmonica education. They let Paul lead with a song he learned from Barrelhouse Chuck called On My Way to Memphis. He greeted the crowd by simply welcoming them to BB’s and said, “I’m Tall Paul and I’m right where I’m supposed to be!”

Another super group Paul has been a part of in the 2020’s is The Riblickers who are a mix of musicians from Chicago, LA, and Northern Carolina. This group had been getting together about once a year until we lost our drummer, the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame inductee Willie “the Touch” Hayes in 2023. Other members include Alberto de Hoyos on bass, Lorenzo Thompson on vocals, Josh Harp on guitar, vocals and harmonica, Pete Foss on guitar and vocals, and James Stowe on percussion. We also have a big family of support staff who aré Riblickers as well including Crystal Lawson (nurse in charge), Pete Kocian (head margarita man), Matt and Andrea (the yin and Yang entertainment couple) and Alberto’s wife Terri who really does almost everything.

Paul keeps a somewhat low profile in Madison as he has been working all along as a physician assistant and is father of two young children but has managed to make it to The Knuckledown Saloon and sit in with Reverend Raven and the Chain-smoking Altar Boys featuring Westside Andy, The Madtown Mannish Boys, The Cash Box Kings, and Brandon Santini. Once in awhile he gets calls no play with a Mexican Hard Rock band called Rock Impacto. He is happy his wife Silvia supports his love of music and performing live. Always looking to add to his repertoire and musical style, Paul is always listening to music that he can bring to life on harmonica. You can follow Paul by liking his musician page Tall Paul Sabel on Facebook. Look for gig updates and hopefully soon some new posts featuring live performances and informational videos.

The New project is Tall Paul and the Naughty Cats. When Ryan is busy, Paul is getting to explore some blues of his past as a band leader for the first time and tackling some difficult harmonica pieces such as the Brazilian tune by Charlie Musslewhite called Feel It In Your Heart where he gets to make the chromatic harmonica sound like an accordion.  This project has allowed him to develop his vocal chops more and get experience leading a band of dream musicians each bringing a unique set of skills and flavor to the music giving them a sound unique compared to many blues bands.  It also has allowed him to play with his long time best friend James LeFevre on drums, a dream of Paul's since he started playing harmonica.  On certain gigs, Paul's children Soren and Arya have started to bring their vocal skills doing solo pieces to open up shows and sets.