Known to friends, fans and musicians alike as “Wasabi”, Bobby Kelly is a professional and seasoned musician & engineer best known for his talents as bassist. Bobby has engineered front of the house sound as well as recorded regional and national acts as diverse as Yes and Black Flag and as traditional as the mountain sounds of Bill Monroe and Tony Rice. In addition, Bobby is a founding member of the highly regarded bands Tornado and Terraplane. As a sideman Bobby has worked with Hubert Sumlin, Bob Margolin, Paul Oscher, Johnnie Whitlock, E.Z. Malone, Armand & Bluesology, Mel Melton and many more. A well-respected bassist and engineer, Bobby has well over 50 records to his credit.
Mike "Wezo" Wesolowski
Influenced heavily by Paul Butterfield, James Cotton and Kim Wilson, ‘Wezo” started playing harp in the early 70s. “My first instrument was guitar, but after a while I looked around and there were all these real good guitar players out there and I realized I wasn’t one of them”. So began the quest for the perfect harp tone. Wezo found an inspired interest in piedmont style country blues and began to collect and listen to everything he could get his hands on in that genre. In the early 90’s he played with an acoustic trio called The Ministers of Sinister and recorded an album on the New Moon label. While with New Moon, Mike had the opportunity to record with Lightning’ Wells, Highway 61, and Big Boy Henry and later starting a Jump/Swing band called Blues-A-Matic, with local guitar slinger Bryan Smith. “Blues World Order started off as an off-night house band at a neighborhood bar in Greensboro N.C. and when Blues-A-Matic shut down in 2001, it just made scene to pursue the gig scene with this band” Wezo is also currently involved with BWO bass player, ”Wasabi” Bobby Kelly, in an acoustic trio called Peter May and Terraplane. “My love of harp playing has taken me in lots of different directions. I’ve had the opportunity to play on other peoples projects which included jazz, country, and rock. I don’t want people to think that because I’m a harp player, all I play is blues.” Mike “Wezo” Wesolowski is a Hohner Harmonica endorsee and plays them exclusively. In addition to playing the harp, he is the primary vocalist in BWO.
Bryan Smith
Bryan was also a founding member of the band Blues-A-Matic. Well schooled in all blues styles. Bryan excels in the deadly combination of screaming slide and jump/swing guitar chunk. He plays vintage guitars and Fender tweed amps. Bryan was also band-mates with Bobby Kelly in the late great Johnnie Whitlock’s band, The Blues Caucus. For over 37 years Bryan has played from Memphis to Manteo for thousands of loyal blues fans.
Ezra Kelly
BWO's newest member is Ezra Kelly. Ezra is son of Bass player Bobby Kelly. Ezra has played drums all his life. There are stories of Ezra at "The Hong Kong House" on Tate street playing on boxes with chopsticks. Ezra is one of the most versatile and gifted drummers in the area. He has given BWO a boost of youth and enthusiasm that the band brings to the stage. Come out and see Ezra with the band for a solid boost of BWO.
