(Sonoma Valley, CA) The scarred old knotty pine walls of the Tradewinds were covered with Mardi Gras decorations for Carnival 'week' (12 days). I was early for once, and got myself a beer to put on top of Rasta Dwight's barbeque; not too many folks in the bar. I looked around for a good place to sit, since I was by myself I settled on a place by the jukebox. And I watched the roadie and soundman get things squared away.
People started to appear in the bar and Dancin' Dave and Donna showed up and put together the door and ticket situation. Dave was the jovial host circulating and Donna all business at the door. And more people showed up and I realized it was going to be a good crowd. Lots of dancers and musicians and the blues crowd in all their variations, kinda quiet and friendly, no shoving. Faces I'd seen in other places, musicians I respected, serious blues fans making no show, some young women bouncing a bit. Mo showed up with her serious dancing duds on and I knew it was rhythm time.
The band came in from their motorhome parked in the back., plugged in did a rapid check and got right to work on the standard opening up tempo number. And it was good and hard and straight forward. Guitar Blues with a solid piano background. I don't pretend to remember all the tunes, but the band worked. Hard. They were going to connect with us. I remember songs about "Talk About My Baby" and a bunch of very high energy roadhouse jump numbers. We were going nuts because it was hard as nails and it was the up tempo blues all at once. There are those who might call it blues rock but it wasn't the kind they sell on TV. It was full of Albert Collins and Magic Sam and Albert King and Richie Valens and Johnny Otis. L.A. funk R&B with a garage band touch. "Shut up and play your guitar."
Dance, dance, dance. Daniel pushed the Telecaster to do its primal scream, and Mike Emerson played keyboards behind him and did the Organ fills that sit in the subconscious with the piano riffs that plink on top. Kevin White excelled at the bass player's hard job of filling rhythm and harmony, becoming more animated as the night went on. Big sound and harmonic coverage. As the night went on I began to watch T. Moran on drums more and more. His shifting accents within the rhythm caught my admiration. Holding the beat structure of a song while making it move.
I remember "Driving Wheel" done with 'chunk', not at all like Junior Parker, or the Chicago versions. Almost Texas meets Jamaica with Albert Collins leads. "Got My Mojo Working" done very hard and then as audience participation. It was fun doing the chorus en mass, and watching the band laugh. We were bouncing up and down in front of them and pointing at them and they were getting 'that look', the one where it's fun to play and not have to think about nothin' 'cept playing.
Then Daniel slowed the roll and did a dedication intro to Albert King and the band played "I'll Play The Blues For You" with Mike Emerson working the organ partly as a quiet Jimmy Smith and partly as a Memphis horn section.
(by Jerry Beach)
If you're down an' out, an' you feel real hurt
Come on over, to the place where I work
An' all your loneliness, I'll try to soothe
I'll play the blues for you
Don't be afraid, come on in
You might run across, yeah, some of your old friends
All your loneliness, I've got to soothe
I'll play the blues for you
I ain't got no big name
Oh Lord, an' I ain't no big star
I'll play the blues for you, on my guitar
All your loneliness, I'll try to soothe
I'll play the blues for you.
It was a peak moment, the blues as expression.
After that the band went back to up tempo dance numbers. And we danced our butts off.
After the second break there was almost no separation between the audience and the band. Both were there for the other. It was one of the good nights where the band trusts the audience and the audience trusts the band. We stood two feet away from the band, not crowded against them, but circulating in and out. And we were 'with' the band. In the opening set you could see the band members checking us out, seeing what we were like. As the night went on they became comfortable with us. They found that on breaks we didn't hassle them much and that we didn't do the star hustle much. Various audience members did strike up conversations with them but were cool about leaving them their break space.
We were there together, the band and the audience. Daniel had Levi Lloyd sit in for two numbers, one slow and soulful and one fast. Levi added a little touch of his melodic lead and it was smooth. Donna, very business-like earlier, began to party and dance and I realized that the evening had been a success in whatever way Dave and Donna had wanted. They've really put themselves out there with this series of bookings and it was good to see them rewarded.
At the break I'd asked Daniel for another slow number and he obliged with a medium slow one. It was almost immediately clear the crowd wanted another dance number and half way through the band without changing tempo, added a lot of beat to it and got the crowd dancing. Mike Emerson, Roosevelt Sykes in tie-dye, playing piano riffs.
Mo introduced me to JB of Bay Area Blues Club. It was too noisy then to have a good conversation and I was still in my shy period of the early evening. I look forward to meeting him again and being able to talk when I can hear better, my ears were overloaded. There were many other people I'd like to meet and talk with. Such a fine night of the roadhouse blues, the kind I haven't seen in a long time. Hats off to Daniel and Mike and Kevin and T.
And hats off to a real blues audience and to Dancin' Dave and Donna for a great night.