One of Arizona’s top three blues bands is based in Sedona.

That’s according to The R.D. Olson Band’s third-place ranking at the recent 21st annual Phoenix Blues Showdown, a statewide competition affiliated with the Memphis-based Blues Foundation, the country’s preeminent blues organization.

Olson, a 58-year-old blues vocalist and harmonica player who manages and fronts his eponymous band, knows a thing or two about the blues, having played for 35 years.

Olson began as a blues drummer in Minnesota and Madison, Wis., playing with famed blues guitarist Luther Allison by age 26.

Olson later moved to Phoenix, playing three years with Arizona Blues Hall of Famer Chico Chism. He sat in with Grammy Award winner Buddy Guy and opened for Willie Dixon, Big Time Sarah and James Harman.

Although he began on drums, Olson’s talent and passion was the harmonica, which he plays in the old Chicago blues style made famous by Little Walter and Muddy Waters.

While still playing drums in two bands, Olson began to professionally play the harmonica — or “harp” in blues parlance — by 1990.

A year later, he quit the drums and was blowing the harp full time, but being an instrumentalist wasn’t enough for a blues gig, so he said he had to learn to sing, too.

He more or less retired from full-time music around 1995 to raise his children as a single father.

“I got out of the gates fast,” he said. “Then had to take some time off.”

In 2006, Olson moved his family to Sheridan, Wyo.

While being a full-time touring musician had its appeal, he was more dedicated to being a father, so he only played out a few times a year with bands like Gary Small & The Coyote Bros. and at the three-day Magic City Blues festival in Billings, Mont.

Olson moved to Sedona in January. He sat in with a band in May and by late July, he had formed the R.D. Olson Band and settled on the lineup with drummer Floyd Robinson, alto saxophonist Mike Reed and tenor saxophonist Chris Counelis and Prescott musicians Michael Weight on lead guitar and Mark Aragon on bass.

The band had only two practices and two gigs at a restaurant in the Village of Oak Creek before heading to the competition and playing at the Rhythm Room.

Olson’s band faced 10 other bands from around the state in a double-elimination competition. The bands were judged on originality and blues content, performance, and stage presence on a weighted 1-to-5 scale with the heaviest points awarded to originality.

Coming in a close third, Olson’s band was separated from first place by mere points, losing to Common Ground, a Phoenix band that has played together 16 years and competed in the showdown four times before.

“They just outplayed us that day,” Olson said. He said his band received high marks for blues content and praise for their authentic blues-only sound. Most of the other bands had a blues-rock influence.

All of his lyrics begin with a hook or verse that pops into his head. If he’s feeling uninspired, a two- or three-hour drive can generate the seed of a new song. From there, he writes the verses and arranges the songs for the band.

Olson also builds custom amps suited to his particular needs as a harp player.

All too often harmonica players assume that an old amp or newly-built retro rerelease will give them the right sound, but they’re mistaken. Olson cannibalizes antique amps to find just the right parts, tubes and magnets to get the kind of sound a harmonica player needs to reproduce authentic 1940s- and 1950s-era blues.

Olson said that harp players often describe skill in terms of tone — controlling the architecture of lungs, throat and mouth to produce the right breath through the instrument. Melding his tone with the right amplification is what gives him the Chicago-style tinge that makes his band’s music award-winning.

He’s been ranked at the top of ReverbNation and still has recent songs getting radio play as far away as the Netherlands.

Olson said he plans to release an album soon as part of a two-year plan to be back on the road — hopefully by the time he’s 60. Olson is currently looking at recording studios in Sedona and Phoenix.

“This is kind of a musical comeback for me,” he said.

Competing in contests, making records and touring has its appeal, but making and playing blues music is the root of what drives him.

“You try to leave a little footprint that you were here,” he said.

Olson also plans to form a Sedona Blues Society affiliated with the Memphis Blues Foundation so blues bands from the Verde Valley, Flagstaff and Prescott could send a representative in future years.

Phoenix’s Common Ground will represent Arizona at the Blues Foundation festival in February, competing against 156 winning bands from affiliate branches. The top band wins a $20,000 recording contract that many previous winners have used to catapult their careers.

Olson said he’ll be in Memphis as a visitor, supporting Arizona’s representative and appreciating blues bands from all over the world.

For upcoming dates and Olson’s music, visit his artist page on ReverbNation.com or attend his monthly gig at the Marketplace Café in the Village of Oak Creek.