Live Review
Three Nights of the Blues
John Hammond (February 29, 2004)
The Holmes Brothers (March 7, 2004)
Rory Block (March 19, 2004)
The Cedar Cultural Center – Minneapolis, MN
by Dave "Doc" Piltz
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award"
Achievement for Blues on the Internet
Presented by The Blues Foundation
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Over the past month, the Cedar Cultural Center and KFAI radio have worked together to bring several special blues performers to the Twin Cities area. Between February 29 and March 19, blues greats John Hammond, The Holmes Brothers and Rory Block graced the Cedar Stage, performing to large and enthusiastic audiences. With Hammond and Block performing their solo, “true to the form” style of country blues and The Holmes Brothers demonstrating their unique combination of soul, gospel and secular blues; all three performances included exceptional musicianship and an ability to emotionally sway the audience. One commonality among all three performers was that each had a recently released recording to draw from, accompanied by an extensive list of compositions and covers to draw from for fans, both old and new.
On Leap Day, February 29, John Hammond performed and excellent, extended single set of music, featuring several tunes from his 2003 Modern Records release, Ready for Love. Hammond has forged his lengthy musical career on being able to authentically reproduce songs written by some of the masters of the country blues including Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Because the music on Ready for Love has taken Hammond in a slightly different direction, his performance at the Cedar had a slightly different feeling to it. This is not to say that the performance was better or worse, just that it was different since it incorporated some songs from the old masters, as well as newer songs written by the likes of David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Willie Dixon and for reportedly the first time ever, an original composition, the John Lee Hooker inspired “Slick Crown Vic”. Hammond’s performance was infused with some great stories about his life and musical career that were humorous, reflective and entertaining.
Just one week later, on March 7, the extremely popular Holmes Brothers visited The Cedar. Introduced by KFAI on air personality Lolly Obeda, The Holmes Brothers put together two sets of great music, this time dominated by their 2004 Alligator Records release, Simple Truths. The group, made up of brothers Wendell and Sherman Holmes (guitar and bass respectively) and fellow Virginian, Popsy Dixon (drums) have always represented the heart and soul of the band. Noted for their rich harmonies and seamless blending of secular and sacred sounds, The Holmes Brothers covered their usual broad range of songs during the evening, including songs by everyone from The Beatles (“And I Love Her”) to Townes VanZandt (“If I Needed You”) to Hank Williams (“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”), along with original songs like “The Promised Land,” “The New and Improved Me” and “Run Myself Out Of Town.” In one interesting variation on your typical concert event, the band stayed just off stage during the intermission to sell CDs, sign autographs and talk to the large, enthusiastic crowd at The Cedar that evening. Wendell, Sherman and Popsy’s graciousness, appreciation and talent were noted by everyone in attendance.
The triple shot of great blues was completed on March 19, when the enormously talented Rory Block made her appearance at The Cedar. The mood in the hall that evening was ripe with anticipation of Block’s appearance. An exceptional guitarist (an acolyte of the legendary Son House), expressive singer and talented songwriter, Block came to The Cedar on the heels of her fine 2003 release on Telarc Records entitled Last Fair Deal. Block’s guitar work that evening was dazzling, impressing many with the sounds she was able to obtain from her Martin acoustic and chrome slide. Block performed several songs from Last Fair Deal during her two set performance, explaining that much of what she had tried to accomplish on the recording was to capture the essence of her voice and her guitar, using both instruments to create a full, complete sound. The set included several songs written by Robert Johnson and Son House, along with some of her own fine compositions. As was the case with John Hammond’s performance a few weeks earlier, Block’s set was filled with great stories about her life on the road as a 15 year old runaway, lost loves and a humorous story about the transformation of the song “County Farm Blues,” a song about prison to “Country Farm Blues” to “County Fair Blues,” because of misprints at the record company. Block laughed as she indicated that the song was still about prison, it just had a more innocent name. The performance ended with a couple of encore numbers including “Silver Wings” from Ain’t I A Woman, specifically requested from the audience. When she was done, Rory stopped at the table by the stage to greet well wishers and to sign autographs.
The Cedar Cultural Center continues to be one of the few venues in the Twin Cities that supports these types of blues performances and brings them to Twin Cities blues fans on a regular basis. Similarly, KFAI is one of the few radio stations in the Twin Cities that actively supports all forms of blues music with regularly scheduled programming. To learn about upcoming events at The Cedar or to make a pledge to this locally supported nonprofit, visit their website at www.thecedar.org.
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