Blues Can Make You Feel So Good

Tuesday night, I was invited to a blues showcase at the Bluebird Café. I figured if it wasn’t good, it would at least be fodder for the blog. As my father says, “Good blues can make you feel so good.” There were three acts in this round. Dave Perkins (friend of my new friend), some other guy, and a couple whose band name is Blue Mother Tupelo.

Now, the guy who seemed to have organized the evening, ironic that I can’t remember his name, he sang mostly about food. I have deemed him to be bubblegum blues. He also shook his head in order to produce vibrato. That one stumps me. How do you not develop natural vibrato? Or why don’t you go see an ENT when your vocal cords no longer meet? Anyway, he was enjoyable in a pop blues kind of way. He told a story about a mentor of his named Coot Wilfred. Now, Coot was married to a woman called Susta Baby. She got this name by being the youngest girl in her family. When she went to college, she went by her given name. But when she married Coot she went back to Susta Baby because she didn’t want to be Winifred Wilfred. I turned to my friend and said, “Honestly, are these real words?” Classic southern story.

Dave Perkins was an interesting cat. He is apparently getting his PHD in religion. His music had blatant theological overtones. Which if you have listened to very much blues, if they have a theological bent, it is usually quite simple. But Dave’s music had well developed, conflicted, at times even doubting theological assertions. His was a very intellectual blues. Fantastic, to be sure. Remarkably talented guy. He had some of the smoothest and measured guitar licks I have ever heard. Although he is a bit out of my age range, he is still super cool looking. One of those folks with fashion sense that never expires. He ended his set playing a Robert Johnson tune that the entire group joined. It was…well…not sure I know the right word for it. “Marvelous” will have to do.

Then there was Blue Mother Tupelo. Oh my goodness. We all can appreciate the difference between talented people and those that have the cosmic “it” factor. These two have “it” and then some. The wife of the team sounded like Patty Griffin on steroids. She had that earthy, node-ridden quality to her voice. Her lines just flowed and danced through each song. She doesn’t have a very full or even sonorous voice. It was like coloratura husky. And when she played the tambourine, she looked like a boxer warming up for a fight. Every part of her body was moving and contracting as this 5 foot nothing pixie added percussion to the mix. Her husband was crazy good. He swapped back and forth between his acoustic and a steel string guitar. And when they sang together, they didn’t have harmonies that lived symbiotically. It was as if they were both singing their own melodies that just met up now and then. I was so enraptured with these two that I passed her a note in the middle of the show. It said, “You guys are rad. Best act I have seen in Nashville.” She thought it was so sweet she put it in her shirt “next to my heart.” I talked with both of them after the show like a bumbling fan. Couldn’t find an articulate word in my brain. I was so captured and lifted and mesmerized. I went home and bought one of their records on iTunes. And the best thing happened. I listened to it, loved it, and thought, “This doesn’t come close to the live show.” So much better than having a record that you love and then being profoundly disappointed by the performer live. If you have any interest in Americana/Blues, you need to add Blue Mother Tupelo to your catalogue.