KYANA Blues Society

Blues Benefit

By Dallas Embry

Saturday, August 26th, Uncle Pleasant's had a real case of the blues; both the old-time acoustic roots blues and the more contemporary Chicago-type get down and boogie blues, with a smattering of original blues thrown in for good measure, as they hosted a benefit concert for the KYANA Blues Society.

Alan David Brock began the evening by playing his "San Francisco Bay Blues" medley consisting of songs by Mississippi John Hurt, Dave Van Ronk and some other folk blues artists. Strumming on his brand spanking new guitar he evoked the days of front-porch pickin' as well as the early coffee house days.

Pen Bogert followed Brock with a series of his own country blues songs. Using his unique finger-picking style with a few new licks learned recently from Duck Baker and blowing a little bit of harp, he sang of the Georgia piney woods, and of the train, the "Southern Crescent" along with some more personal themes.

It was really nice seeing acoustic blues included in a local blues show. There are a lot of people around this area who do the old country blues but who seldom are included in the blues concerts.

Lamont Gillespie and the Homewreckers began the boogie portion of the program and the real highlight of the evening came when they were joined by Sam Meyers of Anson and the Rockets fame. The night concluded with Curtis and the Kicks doing some original tunes and some standard songs with new arrangements.

As a benefit for the KYANA Blues Society I'm not sure how successful the event was, but for an evening of fine entertainment and party atmosphere it was hard to beat.