S.E. Willis moved to Flagstaff, Az in 1967 and began his career as a musician shortly afterwards. He’s been a significant presence in Northern Arizona ever since, returning regularly during his 35 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. Willis is a multi-instrumentralist, starting with organ and harmonica and later adding piano and accordion. He was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame in 1994, and has since received a Bay Area Music Award (Bammy) and a Blues Foundation Award for Band of the Year (Elvin Bishop Band). He has released 10 albums of his own music and appeared on a number of other recordings with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, the great New Orleans drummer Zigaboo Modeliste, Bishop and many others. His latest release is the recording “S.E.Willis and the Willing Live in Oakland, CA” from a show on May 5, 2024. He has been a featured soloist on many of the Legendary Blues Cruises and toured in Europe, North America and Japan. He has also appeared on stage with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, Jimmy Rogers, James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, Albert King, George Thorogood, John Nemeth and many more.
S.E. (Steve) Willis has dedicated his working life to preserving and advancing traditional American music, perhaps most clearly with his 2007 release “Taproot: Songs of Robert Johnson and Hank Williams” and 2014’s “Turtle Dove Bounce,” a tribute to the piano players who defined 100 years of Blues piano style, in particular Pinetop Smith, Little Brother Montgomery, Big Maceo Meriweather and Leroy Carr. His original compositions respect and advance that tradition.
Willis is known for tight, high energy shows and masterful vocals and instrumentalism.