Well the trip to North Carolina was fantastic.  We had great weather and I was able to get there ahead of the show and spend time with Mom - what else can you ask for?  How about the country's first African-American president?  OK! 

I flew in there on election day and man what a party they were having down at the Broad Street Cafe in Durham!  We were entertained by the "Poll dancers for Obama" (Mom wished she had joined this group!) and celebrated with crowds wearing other signs like Rednecks 4 Obama  and the like.  With every state total count on the big screen came another roar from the place.  We enjoyed the food, too but there was a lot more goin' on then that - A historical night indeed.
 

The next day it was hard not to feel the change in the air.  Now I know that no one can know what's going to happen next - and politics are funky especially in this country.  But so many people have been given a sense of pride and hope by Obama's landslide election that it was impossible not to feel it everywhere we went this week.  This poster was found on the side of a telephone pole downtown and I think it says it all - "Speaking to U.S."  This isn't about Black and White - it's about everybody and I think we deserve it.

Then the real reason for my trip came blowin' into town.  This was my third show as the guitarist for Henry Gray and The Cats and man what a doozy it was!  This band is unstoppable.  I overheard a guy call someone after soundcheck to tell them simply: "sounded like a freight train".  Andy Cornett, B.B. Bruce and Earl Christopher are just so in touch with Henry Gray's fluid Blues energy.  You can't help but get swept up in it. It was so cool being a part of the show and I think the dancin' and shoutin' all night long made it evident that the crowd thought so too.  Jaws were droppin' when Henry went into renditions of Howlin' Wolf's "Little Red Rooster" - which he played on at Chess Records - as well as his own classics "Mr. Lucky" and "Mojo Boogie".I think I'm going to hang around these cats for a while... Little Ronnie and his band from Richmod, VA opened the show with a killer set, too!

And just to hook back into the change in the weather goin' around the country, I read that Obama has Howlin' Wolf on his Ipod!  Now that's a welcome change!

peace - Marty

All things went great for my first two gigs with Henry Gray and the Cats this month.  We started out in Helena, Montana during a snow storm and ended up in Manchester, New Hampshire watching the fall colors go crazy on the trees.  Both shows got the crowds dancing like crazy and we were told that was a rare event for either city!  Cephas and Wiggins were also on the bill in New Hampshire and they rocked the house with an acoustic duo that brought elements of Piedmont and Delta Blues into play.


Henry Gray is a class act all the way and never tired during either show.  Constantly pounding out the Boogie Woogies and killer Chicago blues tunes, many of which he played the piano for on the originals!  His take of the classic Worried Life Blues by his mentor Big Maceo is mesmerizing and all of the Howlin' Wolf tunes (Henry played with the Wolf for fifteen years) were truly inspiring.  The rest of the Cats (Andy Cornett on bass, B.B. Bruce on Harmonica and Earl "The Bishop" Christopher on drums) have been with him for over thirty years and they kept the backbeat alive and authentic in true Louisiana Blues fashion! Both shows were sponsored by the NEA to feature National Heritage Awards winners Henry Gray and John Cephas.

It was definitely hard to tell if I was having more fun playing guitar or watching the show at times - it was such a rare form of good authentic Blues.  But I did play, and we all seemed to click from the get-go.  It was an honor to share the stage with these guys but it was fun as hell, too!
Our next show will be in Baton Rouge this Saturday at Buddy Stewart's Rocktoberfest at 3:30pm.  Then it's off to  Raleigh, North Carolina to play the Loafer's Beach Club for the shag dancers!  Hopin' to do a lot more shows with Henry Gray and the Cats in the future!  I'll keep you posted fo' sho'...

seeya,
Marty

Hangin' with John Cephas after the show