Isn’t it time you visited Jo Mama?

When Paul Covarelli of Jo Mama was asked why he settled on his band’s name, surprisingly, he didn’t retort, “Jo Mama will tell you!” Instead, he said it was an East Bay thing, as he and his bassist hail from California. Covarelli suggested the name to his bassist, Rick Oneill, and his drummer, Bill Heise. They both liked it and agreed. The decision was fairly casual and spontaneous, which perfectly sums up Jo Mama.

For the past 20 years, Jo Mama has been playing a string of laidback tunes, from blues to funk and mixing it with hot salsa and rock ’n’ roll. As the opening act for Michele Lundeen, the band will pull out their best blues repertoire. And for the kids, Covarelli says they’re throwing in their rearrangements of Walt Disney songs such as “Under the Sea.” The whole time it’s about fun, says Covarelli.

“They’re some bands that play one type of music,” he says. “Then they’re a lot of bands that play a lot of different types of music because they have to. We’re the type of band that plays a variety of music because we love to.”