hey everyone. well, i finally have a day off to sit back and enjoy this lovely spring weather in memphis but i'm still riding a high from blues music awards week in memphis. every year the blues foundation hosts the blues industry's biggest event and it always proves to be a great show. it's always good to see your friends from across the world at the show. we had several great shows on beale street which included some great friends jamming with us. folks like bryan lee ( which was the highlight for me), moreland & arbuckle, billy gibson, j.t. lauritsen, pat pepin, and some other great friends joined us along the way. well, we have a couple days off then it's back to work on beale. hope all is well and happy mother's day!

b.

The following article was written by Silver Michaels, an accomplished published writer for over 25 years. Writing locally, nationally and internationally, Michaels has been published in Rolling Stone Magazine and other high profile publications. He's also became a good friend of mine, and I really appreciate his dedicated support and enthusiasm regarding all of our projects, including WSR.


What Is, What Was and What Could Be (December '09)

I like Beale Street a lot at this time of the year. It's off season; the sweaty summer nights of shoulder to shoulder crowds are gone for a little while. Please understand, I love Otis Redding and I love Wilson Pickett, but if I never hear another Beale Street cover of "Dock Of The Bay" or "Mustang Sally" ever ever EVER again, that's okay with me. Understand also that Beale is wise enough to know where the butta is, and in the summertime, it's in smiling, high energy cover bands playing for middle aged women who want to be able to tell the office pals back home that they "touched the blues" for a little while on World Famous Beale Street. That's okay; it keeps Memphis in the public consciousness, brings cash into the city, and allows Beale to exist for all time.

When the tourist crowds are gone, when it's a chilly Tuesday night in December with a little bit of rain falling from time to time, a few places on Beale offer some really fine blues, if you're willing to poke around a bit into some nooks and crannies. Last night, another cabin fever night for me, I wandered into the Rum Boogie Cafe and played witness to one of the better nights of blues I've had since moving here. Three musicians - keyboards, harp/vocals and guitar, no drums, no bass - and the musical theme of the evening was pretty much "three good friends just playin' some blues." This wasn't machine-gun rapidfire guitar driven blues; this was a fine and mellow warm-glow-on-a-chill-night kind of blues. No set list, just a lot of "whatcha wanna play next?" kind of thing, the sort of thing that three good friends just playin' some blues can muster up, seemingly at will.

It helps a lot when you have musicians on stage who are among the cream of Memphis. Victor Wainwright was playing keyboards; he's among the best I've seen here or anywhere, and you don't have to know me for long before you know that I do love me a good keyboard player. I've seen him in "maniac" mode, knocking out some serious Jerry Lee high energy stuff as the lead player, and he's beyond "real good" at that. He's entertaining, he's got chops to burn, he's got a brilliant stage presence and smile and he sends a crowd away happy and bopping. I've also seen him in band-member mode, adding tasty, clean runs where its proper. Last night was my favorite of the performances I've seen him give. The casual atmosphere and the entire circumstance opened up the repertoire a lot; the less frantic demeanor of the whole evening allowed Wainwright to showcase his heart and soul, and he showed he has an abundance of both.

It takes only minimal conversation with him to figure out that he's not faking it. At one point between sets, I told him that his playing reminded me of the few times I got to hear my grandmother play when I was a boy. Some guys will get ruffled at that, but Victor wanted to know more. Grandma, at one time in her life, played barrelhouse piano in a speakeasy; by the time I got to hear her play, she had arthritis in all of her fingers, and had to have just the right amount of whiskey sours in her to play... but when she did, it was with passion and experience and maybe above all, with style. Wainwright listened to the story with genuine interest, and wanted to know if I had any sort of video of Grandma playing - it's a very cool thing to him and he'd love to see it. Later in the evening, we were just casually chatting about great songwriters, and found that we share an affinity for both Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen, among others. People like that touch a spot way deep inside him; his eyes even change when he speaks of them... and in the final set of the evening, the band covered a Tom Waits piece. It was impressive.

A lot of blues is about the past, about the musicians who came before you and laid the groundwork for what you're doing on that stage that night, and the really good players always pay their respects. Besides the Tom Waits cover, two that stood out last night were classics of the genre; "Caledonia" and "Lay Me Down A Pallet" both received glowing treatments. "Caledonia" can go a couple of ways, and I usually hear it as an uptempo jump style blues, but last night, it was a slow, emotional, heartfelt rendering. "Lay Me Down A Pallet," when done right, is among the most gut-wrenching pieces that can be performed, and the combination of stellar musicianship all around and Wainwright's aching vocals turned both classic covers into showpieces, a fine combination of tribute and personal style. It was the best singing I've ever heard from Victor. He left little pieces of his heart and soul strewn all over the keyboard.

Brandon Santini was on harp and most of the lead vocals last night. To this point, Brandon is best known as the harpist and singer and songwriter and main man for Delta Highway, a superb band way high on most of the blues "up and coming" lists. I've had the chance to see him perform several times in the past month or so. Usually its been under the guise of Delta Highway, a full band with powerhouse players; I've never seen them fail to impress every fan in the room with their playing. Santini is a good front for the band; his stage presence is also very good, his songwriting is among the best in contemporary blues and he has a solid understanding of pacing for a set or a show.

He also seemed to benefit from the living-room atmosphere of last night. Like the other two musicians, he sat down for the whole performance; it was just the right way to play last night. He's more than capable of blowing an audience away with John Popper lightning harp leads (he readily quotes Popper as his first major blues influence), but in a setting like last night, he had the luxury of also showing his deeper, more soulful side. The harp is still intense and brilliantly accurate, but in the more laid-back setting, Santini was at times just dripping with emotion. I also tend to think he doesn't get enough credit for the vocalist he is. He sings in an intriguing hybrid of styles; I hear a little bit of black Chicago blues in his vocals, a little bit of jazz, a little bit of backwoods Americana... good mic technique, good phrasing, and his style and sense of diction add a ton the the essence of the music.

He told me that today he's hopping a plane and going someplace; we're going to set one night and have a nice conversation about how things are moving for Delta Highway, and I mean to write about it some more. I look forward to it.

Josh Roberts is, at times, almost beyond any kind of description beyond "ridiculous." While none of the fellas last night were old men by any stretch, Josh has to be the junior member of the trio; I'll guess early twenties, maybe very early. Plain and simple, the man was born to play blues guitar. His understanding of the music transcends his abilities to play the notes (and believe me, his abilities to play are off the radar). His playing comes from some eternal place way, way inside, that untouchable, indefinable "thing" that great players just have without learning. I've seen him on stage several times now, usually as a fill-in guitarist for Delta Highway, and he's generally been the one the crowd has gone most nuts for. Roberts has style and flair to complement his understanding; he can take a killer lead with a moment's notice, and yet exhibits the patience and restraint that it sometimes takes to add a fill or contribute a solid rhythm to a song.

He also has a demeanor that doesn't show up a lot in somebody of his tender years. It just feels like Josh is really comfortable in his own skin. Off stage, he's quiet and soft-spoken, quick with a smile, quick to talk about music, quick to give props to others around him... at the base of it all, a real nice guy. Talent, quiet confidence and intuition are powerful tools for an artist to own, and I can't for the life of me imagine that in two decades' time, we won't be hearing his name mentioned as among the best musicians of the generation. Yeah, he's that good. His permanent gig right now is with the Reba Russell band; Reba was in the crowd one night when Delta Highway was playing, and she got up on stage and guested a couple of songs; different style from Delta Highway, still way high quality, and it was interesting to see how seamlessly Roberts was able to shift between the two vocalists. On my "need to do" list is catching a night of Reba's band; I want to hear more of both Russell and Roberts.

I feel like that confidence and ease of self he possesses both run very deep. A couple of times, I've seen him deliver completely killer, smoking sets with Brandon Santini & Delta Highway, the sort of performances that prompted members of the crowd who appreciate guitar gods to stand up and give the now-trite "We Are Not Worthy!" bows of appreciation. Josh understands how to act on stage, and he smiles and is very gracious when he accepts that praise... but it doesn't feel like he's all that happy about it, maybe not even comfortable with it. He comes across like it's the song and the whole band that needs and deserves the credit, like he prefers to be part of a brilliant working unit than a solo crusader. It's a question I'll put to him when I see him next; last night, we spent a lot of time talking about the proper way to catch and eat catfish, and that was just fine with me. Up on stage last night, as with the other two, was the "relaxed and soulful" Roberts, sitting down, smiling an easy smile, and contributing perfect, tasty leads and fills all night long. I was particularly impressed with the chemistry between he and Wainwright; blues keyboard and guitar can be a difficult sound to achieve, but the two sounded like they understand one another perfectly well. The music flowed easily and with a gentle intensity through all three sets. Always a pure joy when a music fan gets to hear spontaneous magic.

As I mentioned, these three guys are truly three superb musicians at the top of their games, among the best Memphis has to offer (and that's impressive). They're SO good, they have that beautiful, quiet confidence that allows them to not always HAVE to be the star every second of every song. All three understand that they can set back and let somebody else show off for a while, and when it happens, they all seem to appreciate one another and the beast of a whole that they're creating. It's a beautiful thing, truly.

hey there everyone. man, we had such a fun time on our recent tour to florida. met some really cool folks and played some great music. and don't forget lying on beaches and wactching spring training baseball games. anyway, the band is getting tighter and tighter and i'm really stoked to begin some pre production on our upcoming album. we already have some great tunes that we've been playing live lately and we are planning on some good writing sessions soon. so i'll keep you up to date on our progress but i get a great feeling about it and i think it's going to sound really good! well, gotta run. keep an eye on the tour dates page as we are adding lots of new dates.

b.

hey there everyone! happy 2010. i hope you all have been doing well. so i guess you have noticed that there have been some big changes around here. i am really excited about the new band. this will be the first time i am doing the solo thing and i'm glad to have my old friend slim louis back around handling bass duties, and elliot sowell on guitar, and derek bonn on drums. this is gonna be so much fun. i look forward to playing with these guys some more and touring the world with them. i have tons of new songs and i have plans to get back into the studio within the next few months to start on the new album. it's gonna be great!
so i'm sure the main thing you all are curious about is where did justin, paul, and keven go. we all decided late last year to part ways. they are all talented musicians and great guys but we all decided that we wanted to go different directions. i certainly wish them all well in all they do! so there ya have it.
i hope to see you all very soon out there on the road!