Jeff Pitchell and Texas Flood Bring Connecticut Blues Power to the Wolf Den

Jeff Pitchell and Texas Flood bring one of Connecticut’s longtime blues guitarists back to the Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun on Thursday, September 17, for a free night of Texas blues, rock, soul, and rhythm and blues.

The show begins at 8 p.m. inside the Wolf Den, where admission is free and seating is first come, first served. The venue is limited to guests 21 and older.

For Pitchell, this is essentially a hometown show. The Hartford-born guitarist has spent decades building a career that stretches well beyond Connecticut, recording and performing with musicians including J. Geils, Clarence Clemons, Dave Mason, Rick Derringer and James Cotton.

But the names on his résumé tell only part of the story.

The reason Pitchell has been able to share stages with musicians of that caliber is much simpler: the guy can play guitar.

It Started With a 15-Year-Old Connecticut Guitarist

Pitchell’s career goes back to an unusually early accomplishment.

At 15, he won a competition naming him the best guitarist in Connecticut.

The young player was absorbing the blues through musicians including B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Those influences remain audible decades later.

Pitchell doesn’t approach blues as a museum piece. His music uses the blues as a foundation before pushing outward into rock, soul, funk and R&B.

That distinction is important if the word “blues” makes you picture a quiet guitarist playing slow 12-bar standards in the corner of a club.

Texas Flood is not that band.

Texas Flood Is Built to Hit Hard

The band’s name provides a pretty substantial clue about its musical DNA.

Texas Flood was the title track of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s landmark 1983 debut album, although the song itself originated decades earlier with bluesman Larry Davis.

Pitchell’s band emerged in the 1990s with the electric Texas-blues tradition as one of its foundations.

Today, the core Texas Flood lineup includes Steve Peck on drums, Dave Natale on bass and Dan Fontanella on keyboards and B3 organ, with Pitchell handling guitar and vocals.

The combination gives Pitchell plenty of room to work.

Bass and drums provide the muscle. The organ can fill the space around the guitar without fighting it. Pitchell can then move from rhythm playing into extended leads while the band keeps the song underneath him.

The result is what Pitchell’s own biography describes as a mixture of rhythm and blues, rock, soul, pop, funk and Texas blues.

In other words, expect considerably more than one shade of blue.

Heavy Hitter Put Pitchell on the National Chart

Pitchell’s breakthrough recording arrived with Heavy Hitter.

Released through Pyramid Records/EMI in 2002, the album reached No. 7 on Billboard’s blues chart.

It also demonstrated the company Pitchell was beginning to keep.

His recordings have featured musicians including Clarence Clemons, the saxophonist whose sound became inseparable from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band; Dave Mason, co-founder of Traffic; blues harmonica great James Cotton; and guitarist Rick Derringer.

Pitchell later worked with another particularly important figure in Connecticut music history: J. Geils.

Geils appeared on Pitchell’s American Girl, which was produced by David Z, whose credits included work with Prince and Etta James.

Pitchell wasn’t simply collecting famous names for album covers.

Those collaborations increasingly connected the Connecticut guitarist to several generations of American blues and roots music.

John Mayall Eventually Recorded a Pitchell Song

One of the more interesting endorsements came through songwriting rather than guitar playing.

Pitchell wrote An Eye for an Eye, a song that earned recognition in the International Songwriting Competition.

Then John Mayall recorded it.

That’s significant company for any blues guitarist.

Mayall’s Bluesbreakers served as one of the great incubators of British blues, with a revolving cast that included Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor before each moved on to another chapter of rock history.

Having Mayall record one of his compositions put Pitchell’s songwriting alongside the guitar playing that had originally brought him attention.

Then Came the Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon

One of Pitchell’s career highlights happened in New York in 2014.

He joined the Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theatre.

It would be difficult to design a setting more appropriate for his style of guitar playing.

The Allman Brothers built their music from blues, rock, jazz, country and improvisation, many of the same musical borders Pitchell has spent his career crossing.

His performance with the band was subsequently released.

Pitchell has also appeared on bills or stages with an extensive collection of artists including B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, Johnny Winter, Gregg Allman, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Elvin Bishop, Joe Cocker and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

He has toured internationally as well, including appearances with The Commitments.

The Connecticut Blues Hall of Fame Eventually Came Calling

Connecticut formally recognized that career in 2018, when Pitchell was inducted into the Connecticut Blues Hall of Fame.

By then, he’d come a long way from the teenager winning a statewide guitar competition.

Texas Flood has earned its own regional recognition, including being named a top blues act in a six-state New England vote.

Pitchell has continued recording rather than turning the band into a nostalgia act.

More recent projects include Playin’ With My Friends and Brown Eyed Blues, the latter involving another impressive group of collaborators.

His output reflects the same pattern that has defined the live band: blues at the center, but plenty of room around it.

The Wolf Den Is Made for a Band Like This

There are shows where an arena makes sense.

Jeff Pitchell and Texas Flood may be more interesting when you’re close enough to watch what Pitchell’s hands are doing.

The Wolf Den sits in the middle of Mohegan Sun’s Casino of the Earth and has built its identity around intimate, free performances.

There isn’t a distant upper deck.

That makes it a particularly good environment for blues, where the small details of a performance matter. You can watch a guitarist bend a note, see the band respond and hear an improvisation develop in real time.

And Pitchell is very much a live player.

His career was built on performing, not simply recording.

Free Comes With One Important Catch: Get There Early

There are no tickets to purchase for Thursday’s show.

Wolf Den concerts are free.

But free does not mean guaranteed admission.

The venue has limited seating, and seats are distributed first come, first served. Guests may begin lining up no earlier than three hours before the performance.

For an 8 p.m. show, that means the line can begin forming at 5 p.m.

One person may hold as many as four places in line, but everyone must be physically present when seating is assigned.

The Wolf Den is also strictly 21 and older, and the venue is non-smoking.

Those rules make arriving early considerably more useful than searching for a ticket that doesn’t exist.

A Connecticut Guitar Player Comes Home

There’s something fitting about seeing Jeff Pitchell at the Wolf Den.

His career has taken him onto stages with musicians whose records helped define American blues and rock.

He’s played with the Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon.

He’s recorded with Clarence Clemons, J. Geils, Rick Derringer, Dave Mason and James Cotton.

John Mayall recorded one of his songs.

But Pitchell’s story started here, as a 15-year-old Connecticut kid who was apparently already pretty dangerous with a guitar.

More than four decades later, he’s still playing.

On Thursday night, you don’t have to travel very far to hear why.

Details

Event: Jeff Pitchell and Texas Flood
Date: Thursday, September 17, 2026
Time: 8 p.m.
Venue: Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun
Address: 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard, Uncasville, CT 06382
Admission: Free
Age: 21+
Seating: First come, first served; limited seating available
Lineup: Guests may line up no earlier than three hours before the show
Line Policy: One person may hold up to four places, but everyone must be present when seats are assigned
Music: Blues, rock, soul, R&B, funk and Texas blues
Smoking: Wolf Den is a non-smoking venue
General Information: 1-888-226-7711
Schedule: Times and performers are subject to change

More information is available at the Event Website link below.

 

 

Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.