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With
temperatures in the mid 90s all week with added
humidity, this year’s King Biscuit Festival in the
little town of Helena on the banks of the Mississippi
river in Arkansas was a tough one to cover with six
stages on the Friday and Saturday.
On the opening
Thursday it was only the main stage presenting music. I
sadly missed the opening band The Oxford All Stars Band
who were winners of the International Blues Challenge in
Memphis and I heard were excellent. Festival mainstay
Stirling Billingsley and his band gave their usual
competent mix of covers before Heavy Suga and The
Sweetones featuring the superb vocals of bassist Heather
Crosse delivered a cracking set including Etta James’
“Damn Your Eyes”.
New Orleans
guitarist Keith Stone with his band Red Gravy gave us
some slick N’Awlins grooves before Rick Estrin and his
Nightcats presented tracks from his excellent new cd
Groovin’ In Greaseland. They’d cleaned up at this year’s
Blues Music Awards in Memphis winning Best Band, Best
Song and Best Traditional Blues Artist and they
certainly gave us a slick show with Norwegian transplant
Kid Andersen showing why he is regarded so highly.
One of the
stars of the weekend was undoubtedly John Nemeth and his
incredibly tight band. Idaho born but now a Memphis
resident, his excellent harp playing and superb vocals
were matched by the brilliance of Matthew Wilson on lead
guitar and a great brass section. Stand out was his
chromatic playing on the slow blues number “Blues in my
Heart”
Then there was
Bobby Rush... what more can be said about this legend
that hasn’t already been said?! Presenting his full show
with all of its politically incorrect sexual nuances he
had the audience eating out of his hands. Just a few
days short of his 85th birthday he had the
energy of a man of half his age and his band as usual
were superb.
The next day
saw the other stages come into play and so it’s always
difficult to choose who to see and with the temperature
and humidity even affecting the locals, charging around
from stage to stage just wasn’t going to happen!
Surprisingly,
the 1st act we saw was British when excellent
Bath based veteran guitarist Kevin Brown appeared on The
Quicksand Stage. Kevin, who in his youth received some
tuition by Son House, spends 5/6 weeks in Clarksdale
every year and gave a superb set which was warmly
received by the audience.
This was
followed by a visit to the Lockwood/Stackhouse stage for
a touch of great north Mississippi hill country blues
from Robert Kimbrough Sr the son of legendary Junior
Kimborough. Playing with a really tight band which
featured guitarist Jesse Cotton Stone they paid their
dues to Junior on his classic “All Night Long”.
A quick visit
then to the main stage to see Memphis blues queen and
darling of the crowd, Reba Russell give her usual superb
show. She’d earlier sang a moving tearful a capella song
dedicated to the legendary Radio KFFA, King Biscuit Time
dj “Sunshine” Sonny Payne who’d passed away in February
aged 92.
The Front Porch
Stage is set in a room of The Delta Cultural Centre
which probably seats no more than 100 people but it was
here that most of the true African/American blues was
staged. I’d caught the end of husband and wife guitarist
and vocalist Johnie B and Iretta Sanders from Jackson
Mississippi before 82 year old Earl “The Pearl” Banks
from Memphis took the stage. This was his 1st
visit to the festival despite being a regular on the
Memphis scene for many years. Playing mainly covers like
“Dust My Broom” and “Crosscut Saw” he gave us a great
show.
Staying put at
The Front Porch Stage, 67 year old Soul/Blues singer
from Hattiesburg Mississippi Johnny Rawls gave a
wonderful set of silky smooth soul with his superb voice
and was arguably one of the best vocalists of the
weekend.
A visit was
then made to the Lockwood stage to see Charles “Skeet”
Rodgers and The Inner City Blues Band from St Louis.
Another great soulful blues set complete with brass and
female backing vocals even managed to get some people
dancing in the heat.
A visit to the
Cedell Davis stage for the first time caught the hugely
talented Jesse Cotton Stone and later on, one of the
stars of the weekend, 65 year old Robert Finley. This
lovely man was only discovered a few years ago after
retiring from his joinery business due to failing
eyesight. He had sung for years in bars and clubs near
his home in Bernice Louisiana and was helped by the
Music Maker Relief Foundation, a non profit organisation
that helps elderly musicians in getting their music
heard. Following on from his successful first cd in 2016
on Big Legal Mess records, “Age Don’t Mean a Thing” and
particularly the title track, he came to the attention
of Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys who helped produce his
next cd, “Goin’ Platinum” in December 2017. He has an
amazing soulful blues voice and most of his songs are
throw backs to 60s soul and were delivered brilliantly
backed by his young band. The exciting news for the UK
is that he will be appearing in London, Leeds and
Manchester in November – I strongly recommend you see
him.
It was then
back to the main stage for some brilliant southern rock
influenced Americana from Paul Thorn and his superb
band. From Tupelo Mississippi Paul has a near cult
following at this festival with his infectious humour
and songs about everyday southern life.
Classic titles
like “Pimps and Preachers” about his father a
Pentecostal preacher and his uncle who was a pimp get
the whole crowd joining in along with “Burn Down the
Trailer Park” and “What The Hell is Going On”
I’m afraid that
headliners on the main stage Blackberry Smoke are as
near to the blues as Black Sabbath and whilst as a rock
band they are very good and indeed many fans loved them,
but by the same token, many didn’t. After 3 numbers we
departed. As someone who has organised 23 festivals I
can understand the need to get bums on seats but I don’t
think a rock band at a blues festival is the answer.
On the final
day, the first act to see on the main stage, flying the
flag for the UK, was the Reading based Backbone Blues
Band. These hard working lads self finance themselves on
a deep south tour most years, taking in New Orleans,
Baton Rouge, Clarksdale and Helena. This hadn’t gone
unnoticed by the festival organisers and despite lead
singer Duncan Highet having vocal problems due to a
virus, they gave a cracking account of themselves and
gained many new fans.
As on the
second day, most of the afternoon was spent at The Front
Porch Stage where all the acts were African American,
many of whom were not that well known. Having said that,
it did not detract from the quality of the music.
The last 10
minutes of Robert Finley’s second appearance was caught
before Sweet Angel and her band took to the stage.
Again, another great surprise. From Memphis, she has
been compared with Tina Turner, Dinah Washington and
Denise LaSalle with her superb soulful voice. The
difference is that she also leads the band from the
front blasting out great alto saxophone.
Next up was 80
year old guitarist Millage Gilbert from Kansas City (who
has been seen in the past in the UK at the famous
Breakdown Blues Club nr Peterborough). A lovely easy
guitarist, he played some beautiful traditional,
straight from the heart blues. A real treat.
A great 45
minutes was then spent in the company of 73 year old
guitarist Clarence “Bluesman” Davis 55 year old Jock
Webb on harp both from Alabama. They have been prominent
in the Alabama blues world for years and they gave a
great set of classic covers joined on drums on some
numbers by Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith.
Helena native
saxophonist Phillip Stackhouse gave a great set of sax
drenched blues backed by a very tight band. He is the
grandson of the legendary Houston Stackhouse and it was
to the stage that bears his name alongside that of
Robert Jr Lockwood that we then went to hear Louis
“Gearshifter” Youngblood. This Jackson Mississippi
guitarist is the great nephew of the legendary Tommy
Johnson and his music incorporates a unique blend of
country blues and soul blues and a little traditional
folk. He too has performed at Breakdown Blues Club and
also at Goin’ Up the Country Blues Club in Worthenbury,
north Wales when he played with The Hokum Hotshots.
Another visit
to the Cedell Davis stage produced another new name -
Deidra from Alabama. Possessing a great powerful
soulful voice behind an excellent tight unit, The Ruff
Pro Blues Band, she also got everyone dancing despite
the heat.
There are many
great artists playing on Cherry Street, the main street
behind the stage and a great set were heard from
acoustic trio from Jonesboro, The Arkansas Brothers.
Also playing was regular Guitar Mac, father and daughter
Tyrannosaurus Chicken who are great favourites and
regular UK visitor The Reverend Robert.
A trip to the
main stage then to finish the day caught a very good set
from Hamilton Loomis who appears regularly in the UK and
finished with his usual “Bow Wow” encore however it was
Austin,Texas guitarist Carolyn Wonderland that I wanted
to see particularly since it was announced that she was
to be the next, and first female, guitarist to be asked
to play in the legendary Bluesbreakers with John Mayall.
She was absolutely brilliant delivering superb guitar,
be it conventional or lap steel as she did on Blind
Willie Johnson’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”. Another
standout was “Come Together” a track she wrote with
fellow Texan Ruthie Foster. She will be touring the UK
with John Mayall next spring so it will be worth
checking her out.
Final act of
the festival was an unusual choice and again had very
little to do with blues. Steve Cropper from down the
road in Memphis needed no introduction as Stax Records
legendary soul guitarist however many Americans were
heard to ask who Dave Mason was. After his early success
with English 60s band Traffic he moved to the USA and
made his name mainly with his song writing and playing
with bands like Delaney and Bonnie. They have teamed to
present a Rock and Soul Revue that has been touring the
USA this year. Backed by Mason’s US band with the
excellent Tony Patler adding vocals as well as keyboard
and Gretchen Rhodes on vocals they moved between Stax
classics “The Dock of the Bay”, “Green Onions” and
“Knock on Wood” to “Only You Know and I Know”, “Dear Mr
Fantasy” and “Can’t Find My Way Home” to an encore of
“All Along The Watchtower”, the Hendrix classic on which
Mason had played.
It turned out
be a very pleasant wander down memory lane for many of
those present of a certain age and, whilst as I said it
had nothing to do with blues, it was great to see
everyone up dancing and reminiscing of the 60s and early
70s.
Again many
thanks must go to the friendly, hard working organisers
and volunteers who work tirelessly to make this event so
enjoyable and even though the main stage line-up was not
up to the standard of previous years in my opinion with
too many acts appearing year on and perhaps moving away
from the blues, the other stages more than compensated
with some excellent lesser known blues acts. There were
a number of acts that I’d liked to have seen but timings
and the heat made it impossible but overall, it was a
great three days.
PETE EVANS
www.kingbiscuitfestival.com
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