Kilgore native Ally Venable is releasing a new album March 24. Real Gone is the 23 year old Texas blues/rock guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter’s latest solo effort. The album features guest appearances by Joe Bonamassa and Buddy Guy, two of her biggest influencers.
Venable began singing at four and picked up the guitar at age 12. By 13, she started her own band and through her early influence of Stevie Ray Vaughan captured the passion and yearning for more in the blues genre.
By the time she was 16 years old she was jamming with world-renowned blues-rock guitarists from around the country. In a field that’s been dominated for years by men, she didn’t let that hold her back. She started winning awards for female guitarist and best blues band of the year as a teenager and has continued to hone her craft over the last few years both on stage and in the studio.
She’s released several albums including No Glass Shoes (2016) and Puppet Show (2018), which helped get her fanbase going as they got charted radio play. It was 2019’s No. 2 Billboard Blues charting Texas Honey and rocking sets on Ruf’s European Blues Caravan tour that propelled her internationally.
She released another Blues Billboard charting album, Heart of Fire in 2021, which challenged her to write not only about love but the unguarded honesty of feeling pain.
In 2022, Guitar World Magazine named Venable No. 2 on the top 15 Young Guns Making the Gibson Les Paul Cool Again, and she received the Road Warrior award from the Independent Blues Music Awards.
Along with Venable’s own tour domestically and in Europe, her band has supported Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepherd throughout the US, as well as Colin James in Canada.
Fans can get a bit of what they’ll hear on Real Gone as she released a single from the album called “Texas Louisiana,” a duet with Buddy Guy.
She’s touring across the country through the summer. Her hometown fans can catch her at The Back Porch in Kilgore on April 8. She’s also at the Majestic Theatre with Eric Gales and Buddy Guy on March 8 and at the Granada in Dallas on April 7.
To get show tickets and buy the album visit her website at www.allyvenableband.com.
