Well, it's official. Sonny Boy Terry's blues band will represent Houston and its blues society by winning the finals of the regional International Blues Challenge held this past Sunday, October 25, 2009 at Dan Electro's Guitar Bar. I wasn't in attendance, but I expected that his band would do-the-do, get 'er done, pull out all the stops, and generally play the "Real" blues the way it's supposed to be played-- to the extent that the judges would have no choice but to send them boys on to Memphis. Now, I'm sure that The Clay Melton Band, Bourbon Street, and the Blues Mafia put up the good fight, and that they all went at it tooth and nail. I know that Sonny Boy and his band put everything they had into this competition, and that they wanted to win and have a chance to display their chops along with the best unsigned blues bands from around the world. I've never met anyone more dedication to the genre than Sonny Boy Terry and if his band doesn't whip the competition in January, then it will not be from a lack of effort. NOW GO GET 'EM GUYS.
P.S.--Here's a link sent to me by a representative for the Blues Mafia for anyone wanting to know what they put down. http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/1947150
P.S.S--Here's a video of the same--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_7-_rMo69o
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Hey, Ricky --
Sorry you didn't make it to the HBS Finals. It was TOUGH competition there, I tell no lie! (Which means it was an afternoon of GREAT music.) I was there to support Blues Mafia from Austin but, even in my admittedly biased opinion, it was difficult to figure who came out on top. Bourbon Street was amazing -- and made me nervous for them as they played right up to the very last second of their time, and Clay Melton is a guitarist in the great SRV tradition. I don't know how old Clay is -- maybe 20 something? I do know that the only reason Blues Mafia didn't enter the Youth Category is because one of their members is over 21. So I imagine we can all look forward to more good blues challenges in the future. Many congrats to the deserving SBT -- and let's all put the mojo on them and say WIN MEMPHIS!!!
Ricky, I really appreciate your more than kind words. Once again, my band and I all thought this was the most fun non-paying gig we had ever done. Everyone was great, including all the bands.
Had I been in the audience and not a participant, it might have been a tough call for me to determine a winner too because I saw some good performances. But the judges knew the genre well and were vetted to choose blues and specifically informed to go by the scoring criteria set forth by the Memphis Blues Foundation proper because is how it will be in Memphis.
My point is while any of the finalists could have pulled off the victory, the judges were functioning under the scoring system Memphis will use to determine the winner. It wasn't exactly a contest of who the judges liked the most. I could think of tons of scary talented blues based acts in Houston who would benefit from participating in one of these. Few though could just walk in and win. Most would need to to study the scoring system, do some research first, and maybe coax their bands to buy into it all then formulate a plan just the way the Houston Blues Society prepares for the IBCs.
Hats off to HBS for using Memphis as a model and sticking with it. The finals here had Memphis quality judges. Obviously, it's the only way for the organization to bare fruits. Now all of us have our own idea of what blues is, but most in the business hard core know it when they hear it. But if you have the goods, the IBCs can give an artist a clear opportunity for success.
You're right about the Memphis rules -- that's how the judging will go there and we want a Texas band to win. From what I heard, y'all have the chops to could to take the whole thing. We'll be routing for ya to Win Memphis!
Post a Comment