Henflings Tavern welcomes Elmo California Roots Music on Friday, August 28, 2026 at 8:00 pm.

Elmo Roots Music: Breaking All the Rules

By Julie Horner

Acclaimed blues guitarist Ron Tomasello last stepped onto the Henflings Tavern stage in Ben Lomond on a late August evening in 2010 with his band Goodlife Rhythm & Blues Review. In an interview on the back porch that afternoon during sound check, rock journalist Andrew “Tuck” Tuckman wrote, “Ron Tomasello is one of the greatest guitarists around. Flat out, hands down, without question.” The band was known for playing roots music: Latin, blues, jazz, country, and the swampy sounds of New Orleans, drawing inspiration from the backroads of Americana.

Ron returns to old haunts this summer with his new band Elmo. Enjoy a night of smokin’ blues and roots music at Henflings on Friday, August 28, 2026 at 8pm.

As a kid Ron remembers going to Tower Records to buy Elmore “Elmo” James’ Street Talkin’, a compilation with James on electric slide guitar, Jimmy Reed on harp, and Eddie Taylor on guitar. Ron said, “I was pretty much done with rock music at that point.” He also picked up “Whose Muddy Shoes,” the seminal 1969 compilation with blues songwriter and guitarist John Brim on one side and Elmore James on the other. “Great stuff,” Ron said. “It’s still my favorite album. Every time I listen to it, it’s like a moment in time when I first put it on.” To grab that raw postwar Chicago-blues-meets-rural-Delta-blues style, you have to be willing to break the rules.

In the late 70s and early 80s Ron ran amok among the gritty blues clubs in San Francisco and Oakland, rubbing elbows with the greats: John Lee Hooker, John Hammond, The “Silver Fox” Buddy Ace, Larry “Arkansas” Davis — who wrote the song Texas Flood made famous by Stevie Ray Vaughan — and organist Deacon Jones. It was Jones, Ron said, who taught him how to play the blues, and he rolled with Jones’ Bucket of Blues Band for the better part of a decade. Ron was invited to play Eli’s Mile High Club in Northwest Oakland. After inviting Ron to his home to try out his Epiphone guitars, John Lee Hooker asked him to sit in with the band at Hooker’s legendary cabaret, The Boom Boom Room in SF’s historic Fillmore District. He earned his wings on stage and as a session musician on several albums including J.J. Malone’s 1982 recording “The Enemy Called Hate.” From “green” to “got chops” Ron formed The Gaslighters, which became deeply entrenched in the local blues scene playing legendary Bay Area music venues like JJ’s Blues Lounge in San Jose and The Keystone in Palo Alto, regularly opening for touring artists like Johnny Winter, Robin Trower, and Robben Ford.

The next effort, Goodlife Rhythm & Blues Review, saw Ron through the 90s and into the aughts and featured veteran musicians from the Santa Cruz and Greater SF Bay Area including longtime collaborators Tom McQuillen (guitar), Raymond Hauck (percussion, backing vocals), and Bill Ward (bass). The band recorded an 8-track album in 2002 called Jus’ Kiddin’ featuring original roots music and classic blues covers.

By 2012 Ron and bassist Jeff Faust had also begun working on a project called Freestone Peaches, a tribute to the early recordings of the Allman Brothers Band, such as Eat a Peach and live At Fillmore East. Ron was the band’s Duane. Sharing stages all around the SF Bay with top musicians like Kris DiNoto (drums) and Steve Hunt (keys), who would later join Elmo, after a couple of years, Ron needed a break and retired from the road.

In January 2025 friends asked Ron to start a new band. Ron called Kris DiNoto and asked if he’d like to get something together. Joined by Raymond Hauck, Steve Hunt, and Bill Ward, Elmo began rehearsing at Steve’s “Hoedown Central” studios in Zayante. Ron said, “It’s just us playing the music we love to play.” Enjoy the show at Henflings Tavern on Friday, August 28 at 8pm.

Elmo Roots Music: youtube.com/@elmotheband

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Elmo L to R: Kris DiNoto, Ron Tomasello, Steve Hunt, Bill Ward, Ray Hauck

Photo contributed by the band.

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About the Band

Tennessee raised keyboard player Steve Hunt has been in the SF Bay Area Jam Band scene for over 25 years. Putting on his own “Hoedown” festivals at his property in Zayante CA, Steve was a member of Jelly Bone, Grampa’s Chili and the Bliss Ninnies. He has also established himself in the Tahoe area Grateful Dead family with the Tahoe Dead Project and works with Chris Zanardi in High Beamz.

Bill Ward is an in-demand Bay Area bassist who has also been in the Jam Band scene for decades and was the bassist in Goodlife Rhythm & Blues Revue. He currently also plays with Santa Cruz based Fraction Distraction and is a crack stage lighting tech.

Kris DiNoto hails from San Diego via Humboldt County where he graduated with a BA in music. Kris has played with the bands 7 Comes 11 and the China Cats and was also the drummer in Goodlife Rhythm & Blues Revue.

Ray Hauck comes from Long Island NY and has been in the Jam Band scene for over 25 years. Ray was the percussionist with Goodlife Rhythm & Blues Revue and currently plays with Freestone Peaches in the Jaimoe spot. He was a local blues society president in Long Island NY and has played at the Memphis Blues society festival. Ray also has performed with several Little Feat tributes both locally here in the Bay Area and on the east coast.