He made it through the Still Cookin’album, but succumbed to his illness in August 2021. Through the years, he played on hundreds of records and thousands of shows with artists as varied as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Finnigan held his own place in the music industry. So it was especially painful during the pandemic shadow in 2020 when Finnigan was diagnosed with cancer. Unusual allegiance and true camaraderie come to mind as character traits. It’s a rather remarkable testimonial that these guys who are first-call sidemen for people such as Bonnie Raitt, Etta James, Joe Cocker, Robert Cray, Eric Burdon, Bob Marley among others always seem to come back to their nest with the Phantom Blues Band. Album after album features the same musicians, although at one point Les Lovitt replaced Leonard on trumpet. On its own, Phantom has recorded Out Of The Shadows and Footprints in 2007 for Delta Groove and Inside Out in 2012 and Still Cookin’in 2020, both for VizzTone. At various times, its members have backed just about every marquis band you can name, but they continued to support Taj when he needed them. The Phantom Blues Band – drummer Tony Braunagel, bassist/singer Larry Fulcher, guitarist/singer Johnny Lee Schell, saxophonists Joe Sublett, trumpeter Darrell Leonard and keyboardist/singer Mike Finnigan – has been a resilient unit.
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