Blues fans will have a second chance tonight to check out local blues music that is sure to please. Memphis blues band Daddy Mack Blues Band and opening act Blues Axis from Starkville will play their unique brands of authentic blues music at Rick’s Caf starting at 8:30 for their second Blues Night, co-sponsored by MSU radio station WSMV.
The last Blues Night about two months ago was a success, and Steve Ellis, director of WSMV, thinks this Blues Night will be just as successful.
“The first ‘Blues Night’ was really well-received,” Ellis said. “We had about 225 people, and we decided that after [Friday’s show], to go to a monthly show.”
With Daddy Mack Blues Band headlining the show and Blues Axis opening up, there’s no way Friday’s show will be any less exciting than the last. Ellis plans to make the show a spotlight for local bands and true blues musicians that he is confident everyone will enjoy.
“Our plan from the beginning was to always have a local band to give them some exposure opening up,” Ellis said. “As far as the headliner goes, I got information from different blues labels, listened to what they had to offer and chose [Daddy Mack Blues Band] because they sounded the best and we really liked them a lot.”
The Daddy Mack Blues Band undoubtedly has plenty of experience with blues music and will be instantly recognized since they were all members of the widely popular Fieldstones between 1991 and 1994.
From Paris, Tenn., to Paris, France, the Daddy Mack Blues Band has entertained audiences around the world with its funky, contagious, urban blues, according to Resource Entertainment Group of Memphis’ Web site. The four-piece band has enough grit, sweat and passion to get any crowd on its feet to boogie.
According to Daddy Mack Blues Band’s liner notes from their latest CD The Weekend, DMBB is part of a fraternity of down home Memphis blues performers that presently includes other artists such as Earl “The Pearl” Banks and the Peoples of the Blues, Big Lucky Carter and His Mighty Men of Sound and the Hollywood All-Stars. They make blues for a good time-dancing, drinking and getting loose on a Saturday night.
Since the Fieldstones broke up in 1994, the band continued performing together as the house band at the legendary Green’s Lounge. Since then, the band has been cranking out infectious grooves around Memphis. Born and raised in Memphis, brothers James and Harold Bonner on guitar and bass form the nucleus of the band, having performed together for more than 30 years.
Despite having picked up a guitar only 10 years ago, vocalist “Daddy” Mack Orr, born in Como, has developed a unique and expressive style rooted in the deep tradition of Memphis guitarists. All of Mack’s songs reflect his understanding of the different ways the blues can appear in a person’s life. His songs are about feeling good when you’re down and the stark realities of loss and betrayal. The rest of the band consists of Wilroy “Wolf Sanders Jr. on drums and Scott Henley on guitar.
DMBB is known for their extended versions of songs that allow them to stretch out their playing and keep the dancers happy and out of breath. Mack’s brand of blues is satisfying to the soul, just like Memphis barbeque tastes good going down.
“Daddy Mack Blues Band is an exceptionally good blues band,” Ellis said. “I think they’ll be great and do a good job.”
“We thought it went great [last time],” Ellis added. “We were really tickled because we had an older crowd there earlier, but about 11 p.m. or so we had a shift in the crowd and about half the older folks left and all the college students came in, so it was a good mix all night. I didn’t realize people danced a lot to blues music. [People] were getting up and having a good time.”
Many of the people who came out to see the last show had a great time despite the fact that the cigarette smoke disturbed many patrons. To ensure that everyone who attends the show will have an even better time, Rick’s has made the concert hall smoke-free, with the pool hall and bar room still welcome to smokers.
For more information, call Steve Ellis at 324-8481.