MamaSlick encounters Cedell Davis, Paul "Wine" Jones, and T-Model Ford
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Slick and I had the pleasure of meeting those guys in June, of 2001. It was the same night that we purchased his Sugarshine (the dobro pictured on Slick's web page). We left the music store with it around 8:00 that evening, and headed straight to Chapel Hill. Cedell Davis, Paul "Wine" Jones, and T-Model Ford were doing a show at the Local 506 club. We'd never seen any of them perform before and Slick was grinning from ear to ear. I'll tell you, that boy was excited and having one heck of a GOOD day! He could hardly wait for the show and he was so thankful to get that guitar. A few weeks earlier, I'd told him buying a resonator was out of the question. Well.... that was because I saw the price tag dancing around, while he was snapping the strings to that delta beat on a National, that he wanted... Instead, he lucked out with finding Sugarshine. The sound isn't quite as full-bodied as a National, but it sounds great and it's a beautiful guitar. It's a Washburn prototype that was too expensive to build, so they only made three. You can tell a vast amount of time and effort went into making it. (I think they might have thrown in some kind of mysterious special ingredient, too! Whatever it is, it must be something that guitar players are addicted to.... because whenever Slick's around it, he has to play it all the time... and he finds it difficult to put down. I've witnessed other guitar players battling this same terrible affliction, whenever they pick it up... I'm thinking it should have come with a warning label)...Anyway... on to the show. We got to the Local 506 a few minutes late, and Cedell Davis had already started his set. As soon as we walked in, we heard some powerful blues pouring forth from the main room. I couldn't make out what he was singing, but I knew he wasn't telling me to stop at the bar, so I kept going.  The place was packed, but we managed to squeeze all the way up front, and stand at the edge of the stage. Cedell's performance was awesome. He can't play with a regular slide due to the ravages of polio, but he really is something with that butter knife! His music sure moved me. It did a bigger number on Slick; at times Cedell Davis had him shaking his head in disbelief. Mostly he stood there mesmerized, with his mouth wide open and his bottom lip hanging down. After Cedell finished his set, he came out front and sat in a wheelchair near the stage. He was very nice and friendly to the people that went up to talk to him. I think he liked the attention, particularly from the big, busty blonde that kept crawling in his lap throughout the night.  Paul "Wine" Jones took the stage next, even though he thinks he should perform last. I'd met him a few minutes earlier, and he had been telling T-Model... me... and anyone else that would listen... that he feels he should be the one headlining. Of course, T-Model had a different opinion and wasn't in the mood to make a change. These two guys appeared to like each other, but they sure spat a lot. From what I observed they have more in common, than not... they play some nasty-mean blues, love to chase women, and can definitely put a hurtin' on some alcohol! "Wine" played some of them lowdown and dirty kind of blues. He was incredible, and he stirred up everybody in the crowd!Finally, it's T-Model's turn. He starts off playing some great solo stuff. Not long afterwards, I noticed that he's watching Slick, and smiling. Somehow he could tell that boy played the blues, so he started showing him how. It was obvious...  because he'd get right in front of him, then he'd lean forward with his guitar and turn it so that he'd have a better view, and could learn. It was great!! After a few songs he gets his drummer up. I feel blessed to have seen them together, because Spam says they can't get along. He said that he's quit, or been fired by T-Model more times than he can count. One thing for sure, those guys need to just shut up and play the blues, because they were SMOKING! Spam was nailing it on the drums, and together they jumped all over that trance-like, driving one chord blues. They rocked the house! If they had let T-Model have his way, he would've played all night. Hell, he was supposed to quit at 1:30 and an hour later he was still going strong!! The manager on duty had to make him stop so they could close. Before the night was over we met all three of them. They each spent quite a bit of time talking to Slick. They all said, that they could tell right away, just from watching his reaction to the music, that he played the blues. After the show, they told him to go get his guitar. He brought that purty, shiny dobro in and played for em'. The next thing you know Cedell's sitting at the foot of the stage, and Slick, "Wine", and T-Model are sitting on the edge of it, passing that guitar back and forth. Cedell wasn't feeling well, so he didn't stay too late. Slick was in heaven that night. Every few minutes it would be his turn, and he'd play a little bit, and then T-Model or "Wine" would say, "Let me show ya how to do that, boy". At times, they'd argue about who was going to show him and whose way was best. Those guys are a hoot!! I was laughing my ass off. The three of them sat there like that until 4 o'clock in the morning. Ain't that a cool way to break in a guitar? Submitted by Mz.Darlene 01.13.'03 |