Altered Five

5-piece blues band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Formed in 2002. Jeff "JT” Taylor, vocals, also principal at West Milwaukee Intermediate school. Began singing in church at 6 or 7, joined a men's chorus in college and played jazz piano and sang jazz on the weekends. Wasn't serious about music until until 1986-1987 in Milwaukee playing with bands and singing backup. Scott Schroedl, drums, also studio musician and music teacher based in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Mark Solveson, bass, also works in electromagnetics. Ray Tevich, keyboards, also chief operations officer for online retailer Kraft Music. Jeff Schroedl, guitar, also vice president of pop and standard publications for Hal Leonard. In 2008 signed a recording contract with Minneapolis blues label Cold Wind Records and recorded their first album, "Bluesified", an album of covers. Proclaimed “a staple of the Midwest’s band scene” and “a festival favorite” by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in 2012. The group's third album, Cryin' Mercy, was produced by Grammy-winner Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, Susan Tedeschi, James Cotton, etc.) and released in October, 2014. The band won "Blues Artist of the Year" at the 2014 WAMI Award Show, and Cryin' Mercy won "Best Self-Released CD" at the 2015 International Blues Challenge. The band's third album, Cryin’ Mercy, was the debut release for OmniVibe Records. The album earned the band five nominations at the 2015 WAMI Award Show, including Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year ("Find My Wings"). "Demon Woman" and "Move House" also made it to the semi-finals of the International Songwriting Competition.