Sunday, August 10, 2008

Homemade Jamz Blues Band at Surf Club Live

Saturday evening, August 9, The Perry clan made their way to Surf Club Live in Prince George's County, Maryland for a show presented by the D.C. Blues Society. The Perry siblings, Tara, Ryan and Kyle constitute the Homemade Jamz Blues Band, who created a sensation when they finished second at the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge in 2007. Since then they have played at a variety of festivals, been on CBS' Sunday Morning and had a debut recording,Pay Me No Mind on Northern Blues Music, which I have reviewed previously here.

Accompanied by their parents and others, the trio certainly displays a considerable amount of talent and exuberance. Musically, the set was a mixed deal. Mixing in covers of songs from B.B. King, Albert King, Little Milton and others along with originals penned by father Renaud (who played harmonica for several tracks), they are talented and Ryan is a particularly promising vocalist. Him and Kyle play home made guitars and bass respectively, fashioned from car mufflers.

Obviously there youth is a basis for their appeal and they certainly are entertaining, but if one did not know that they were 9, 15, and 13, one would not pay particular attention to them. Their youthfulness was perhaps felt by the relatively simple backings they had and problems they had in ending songs which sometimes reached an abrupt conclusion. It will be interesting to see what the future has for them as they and their musical skills grow and mature and whether they become distinctive and persuasive musical voices.

No comments: