Sista Monica at the 2013 Tinner Hill Blues Festival-1997

2013-0608 Tinner Hill Blues Festival-1997, a photo by NoVARon on Flickr.

The annual Tinner Hill Blues Festival was at Cherry Hill Park in the City of Falls Church, Virginia for a full afternoon of blues. 

Perhaps the highlight for me was Sista Monica Parker and her band that included the DC area's marvelous Deanna Bogart on saxophone. Sista Monica Parker is aA vocalist with power and nuance, she can caress a lyric before belting out her heartbreak or defiance. Mix in her ability to communicate with the audience in introducing her songs and her excellent band with Danny B on keyboards, and one has one superb blues performance.

Pearl Bailes, Eleanor Ellis and Gina DeSimone of the Acoustic Blues Women

It was a day of marvelous blues which opened with acoustic blues by Sheryl Warner and the Southside Housewreckers (Greg Kimball on guitar and Rick Manson on harmonica) and The Acoustic Blues Woman (Eleanor Ellis and Gina DeSimone on guitars, Pearl Bailes on harmonica and Pat Quinn on bass) both providing lively versions of classic blues from the twenties and thirties. Roy Bookbinder played a mix of classics from Gary Davis and Pink anderson as well as originals in the style of early ragtime influenced blues.

Beverly 'Guitar' Watkins

The mood got electric with Albert White and Beverly 'Guitar' Watkins representing the Music Maker Relief Foundation with Sol Roots on bass. White is a very soulful performer on his own and did a couple songs before Ms. Watkins, whose career extends over 50 years told her she was back in business. Besides her guitar theatrics, one of the highlight's was her rendition of Roy Lee Johnson's "Mr. Moonlight" which some will be familiar from The Beatles cover. Johnson and her were members of Piano Red's Band (I believe it was known as Dr. Feelgood & the Interns at the time), and still play together at times.

Next up was Sista Monica who I already have raved about. After Monica, Daryl Davis came on the pump some boogie woogie, blues and rock and roll. Chris Polk was with him on guitar and Deanna Bogart joined Daryl for his set as Daryl showed why he is a "Boogie Woogie Man," and even channeled Chuck Berry in his set (Daryl is Chuck's East Coast pianist).

Chris Polk on guitar and Daryl Davis

The only mis-booking was Mary Ann Redmond whose set only gave a nod to blues, although she is a fine singer and her band with guitarist Dan Hovey is excellent. Just that it was not blues. The day closed with Big Bill Morganfield channeling his legendary father Muddy Waters with some fabulous blues opening with "Blow Wind Blow Wind," and included "Hootchie Kootchie Man." His band included two harmonica players. It ended a fabulous day of music. I was pleased to volunteer at this festival which has one of the strongest blues line-ups in the Mid-Atlantic region. Congratulations to Nikki and Ed Henderson, the moving forces behind the Tinner Hill Foundation and the Festival.

The Blues Broads Heard And Seen Live!!!

The Blues Broads is a musical revue that brings together four strong voices together with a tight backing band that began as a collaboration between Tracy Nelson who would join Angela Strehli on West Coast gigs. Later they added various vocalists for an annual BBQ event, "The Blues Broads" before Dorothy Morrison (best known for "Oh Happy Day" as part of the Edwin Hawkins Singers) and Annie Sampson (of a Bay area band Stoneground) became part of what was now a regular group that took the name of the BBQ Event.
               
Delta Groove has just issued a eponymously titled CD/DVD package of The Blues Broads, recorded and filmed live at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley California. They are backed by a band that includes Steve Ehrmann on bass, Paul Revelli on drums, Gary Vogensen on drums and Mike Emerson on keyboards. Deanna Bogart is a special guest on keyboards, saxophone and vocals. The CD has ten songs which are all on the DVD along with Annie Sampson singing Bob Dylan's It's All Over Now/ Baby Blue. The sequencing of the songs differs on the DVD from the CD.

There are some singing marvelous singing to be heard and seen here. Several songs allow the ladies to share verses such as the Tracy Nelson and Gary Nicholson penned Livin' The Blues,' which opens both the performances up. The material mixes blues, classic R&B, and some contemporary blues-rooted roots. Tracy Nelson's vocal on Oliver Sain's Walk Away, is simply a great performance full of both with subtlety and power. Annie Sampson certainly has people take notice of her on Bring Me Your Love, but even more so on her fervent re-imagination of Dylan's It's All Over Now/ Baby Blue.

Strehli's Two Bit Texas Town, is a tough performance that has remember how she used to listen to Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters and more growing up in her two-bit Texas town. Deanna Bogart gets showcased on It Won't Be Long, which is a centerpiece of her live shows. Its brave of Dorothy Morrison to cover Tina Turner on River Deep, Mountain High, and its an enjoyable performance but doesn't really grab the listener or viewer as does the closing gospel numbers Jesus, I'll Never Forget, and Oh Happy Day, with her taking everyone to the Church on this closing performance.

This must have been quite an event for those who attended the performance where this was recorded/filmed. The filming is pretty straight-forward with little if any of distracting gimmicks some others might have inserted. While there perhaps only are a few exceptional performances, the level of the performances still is quite high and certainly this will rightfully appeal to a wide range of listeners who simply enjoy good music.

I received a review copy from the record label.  One can see a clip of The Blues Broads in performance at http://thebluesbroads.com.

John Jackson Honored By Falls Church Blues Festival

It was not as full a day of blues, Saturday July 14, as I was hoping, but the first John Jackson Blues Foundation presented by the Tinner Hill Foundation was a delightful first event of what will grow as an annual event.The Tinner Hill Foundation celebrates the first rural NAACP Chapter in Virginia (Falls Church to be precise), and had been putting on an annual Festival which had featured a variety of local acts including the late John Jackson and the late Sonny Warner. Unfortunately the festival usually was scheduled opposite the Western Maryland Blues Festival. This year the festival was initially renamed as the Tinner Hill Blues Festival, but later renamed in honor of the late Piedmont blues guitarist and songster whose last performance was part of the annual New Year’s Eve celebration put on in the City of Falls Church.



I arrived at Falls Church’s Cherry Hill Park after the initial performance by Danny Blue and the Blues Crew for the performance by the Acme Blues Company. While a capable bar band, they were not very good. Waverly Milor, who fronts the band, plays harp and vocals has a flair and a sense of showmanship, but a limited raspy vocal range that he is not able to enliven with phrasing or other vocal devices and the rhythm of the band was pretty mechanical this day. They were followed by popular favorite Catfish Hodge, who backed by harp and keyboards, may not have performed a straight blues set but was blues-based and was certainly entertaining.



Next up, after Mike Baytop did a demonstration of the bones, was Deanna Bogart with her quartet. Deanna has certainly evolved and matured as a pianist and vocalist and her boogie woogie-derived music is less of a gimmick. It is particularly as a singer that she excels with a honey-drenched soulful delivery. Why she did not play any saxophone, her piano and her band had a nice tight groove, and her vocals were outstanding. After her set, bobby parker, who less than two months prior had serious stomach issues and had successful surgery. Parker was in excellent form with renditions of Guitar Slim’s ‘Nothing but the Blues,’ and some Albert King classics.

During Bobby’s set, the sky darkened and an announcement was made about possible severe thunderstorms heading our way, so I headed indoors where in a gymnasium, Rick Franklin and Mike Baytop did a wonderful performance of classic country blues in the vein of their excellent album, “Searchin’ For Frank.” They both are quite accomplished. Franklin has been performing for over twenty years, often with fellow guitarist Neil Harpe and percussionist Rick Usilton, while Baytop, originally came to my attention for his harmonica playing with the late Archie Edwards and also Mike Roach. After Archie’s death, he became President of the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation, and became an impressively talented multi-instrumentalist. Playing on the gymnasium’s bleachers without any amplification, two pair handled tunes associated with Frank Stokes, the great Memphis blues singer and guitarist of the first part of the 20th Century and his contemporaries. One highpoint of their sets is Franklin’s hokum-tinged rendition of a Hawaiian number, “Big Kanocka,” but other songs like “Tain’t Nobody’s Business,” are delivered in a lusty, exuberant manner on material that many acoustic blues artists today are unfamiliar with as these other artists churn out their mediocre renditions of Robert Johnson numbers. There efforts were warmly appreciated by those who heard them.



The rain stopped me from enjoying other acts outside. I understand Bobby Parker’s set was cut short, but performances by Nadine Rae, Robert lighthouse and Memphis Gold went on, although with a much smaller audience. Nadine is one act I wanted to see and hopefully will get that chance in the not too distant future. Robert lighthouse did his Hendrix thing from reports I heard. A promising debut festival with hundreds enjoying the music. Hopefully, the word on this will grow so that more will enjoy it next year, and even more importantly, the weather will cooperate.