Delta Roadhouse Showcase

We are so fortunate to host as many cool shows as we do. I mean, we work hard at everything and they say you create your own luck, but we still find ourselves delightfully experiencing an increasing number of "holy crap!" moments. One thing we try to do, above and beyond the normal business of booking good shows and providing a good environment for music, food, and beverage, is putting on special shows - shows with themes, concepts, and purposes that are unique to anything else, with multiple artists playing in unique combinations and settings. Our friend, resident artist and Northwest Americana treasure JD Hobson recently approached us with this wonderful idea to put a bunch of blues & roots oriented guitarists on stage for an evening of Mississippi Delta style acoustic music. There was Alice Stuart, whose career goes further back than she'd want you to know 'cause she's, like, seventeen-goin'-on-somethin'... There was Orville Johnson, veteran of the St. Louis scene and whose music has been heard on more than a hundred (literally) albums as well as the Tonight Show, PBS, and various soundtracks. There was Terry Robb, one of the West Coast's top acoustic blues guitarists - um... TWENTY-time Muddy Award winner for Best Acoustic Blues Guitarist - who has toured with Buddy Guy and Steve Miller and whose mantle includes some Grammys and Emmys; add Mark DuFresne on harp, and we've got the Delta Roadhouse Showcase! Here on the blog, we try to give some off-the-cuff recaps of some of the happenings here at the club, and the quality of the photos and video that garnish the posts will vary. Mostly, they come from our digital cameras. We're still waiting for MTV to return our call. On that note, here's a little slice of the Delta Roadhouse show:
Okay, we can't figure out how to upload this video for the blog, but you can watch it - all you gotta do is CLICK HERE

Guns N' Poses Variety Show

On the third Wednesday of every month, Purty Mouth brings its special brand of "countrypolitan camp" to Highway 99. In recent months, they've gone above and beyond what most bands do, especially on mid-week gigs when not as many folks go out for live entertainment and the adult beverages that normally accompany a night out. So rather than throw in the towel and consider their Wednesdays a "paid rehearsal" (note to bands: never use that term when talking to a club owner!), Purty Mouth puts together a variety show by bringing other bands and entertainers, they produce a new showbill and flyer every month, they even give each show a different name and theme - they take what most bands are inclined to treat as an ordinary weeknight and turn it into a unique and exciting event. Their monthly show consistently offers new and interesting performances, and it's always a blast. The other night, it was the Guns N Poses Variety Show with hostess Rebecca M. Davis, the two-step honkeytonk of The Rainieros, and the lovely ladies of Heavenly Spies Burlesque, who performed on their own as well as on stage with Purty Mouth. What a marvelous show!
Country + Burlesque = Fun!

The Heavenly Spies!



Purty Mouth & James Blonde in a patriotic performance:

The Rainieros take things down to a nice respectable level:

Duke Robillard, Sonny Rhodes

Last week was another special one for us. In addition to the packed house on Saturday for the CD release party with the Red Hot Blues Sisters, we enjoyed three touring artists making their Highway 99 debut: Roomful of Blues founder, former Bob Dylan and Tom Waits guitarist, Grammy and BMA winner Duke Robillard hit the Highway on Wednesday; on Thursday, it was Delta Highway from Memphis; ; and on Friday night, Sonny Rhodes came in from from California by way of Texas. We had remarkable experiences with them all, and we hope each of them will visit and grace our stage with their music again soon!

Duke Robillard plays a delicate ballad:


Sonny Rhodes and his band rock the joint:


Video of Sonny singing Goodnight:

Joe McMurrian Quartet, August 30

Below - photo and video from the club debut of the Joe McMurrian Quartet, a fine group from Portland with monster chops and a fresh, musically sophisticated, jazzy take on Delta blues. Great guys with a great sound.

Janiva Magness, 8/10/08

Our webmonkey has been on vacation for a couple weeks, so we don't have a bunch of notes and content at the moment. We do have some nice photos of the Janiva Magness show from August 10, courtesy of our main man, Jef Jaisun.

Jason Ricci, New Blood, Nathan, Ben, + the Devil Boy

What a fun week we just had! It jumpstarted in a rockin' way on Wednesday with the latest installment of the Dudley Taft Blues Overkill. Then we had the pleasure of hosting the Highway 99 debuts of two oustanding, internationally-touring, critically-acclaimed and highly-respected artists: Nathan James & Ben Hernandez, winners of the 2007 International Blues Challenge and a couple o' really nice guys. Friday marked the debut of Eddie "Devil Boy" Turner and holy crap can that guy PLAY.
(below, photos of Eddie on stage and at the bar with Highway 99 Blues Club proprietor Ed Maloney)

On Saturday, our old friend Jason Ricci was in town to play with his band, New Blood. We love these guys. Jason is from Maine, and as the Maloneys are from Boston, we became fast friends a couple years ago when he first played the club. Last weekend, Magic Dick asked us to call and let him know how Jason did, as Magic appreciates Jason's playing. Our report back to Boston is a knock-down, drag-out rave. Jason & Co. always blow the roof off the joint, and every show is the best one we've seen. He's such an engaging frontman, dazzling us with his harp and riveting us with his stories.
(Below: photos & videos from Jason's first set)

Harmonica Houseparty!

(photo L-R: Jeremy Kidder, Tim Gonzalez, Magic Dick, Lee Oskar, courtesy of Shoji Onozawa)

As a celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Lee Oskar Harmonicas, and in conjunction with Lee's monthly residency at the club, we threw The Harmonica Houseparty which featured an all-star cast of harp players including (of course) Lee Oskar, Magic Dick, Tim Gonzalez, and Jay Maybin. Our friend and esteemed harp player & author Kim Field also sat in. They were all backed by a house band of Andrew Cloutier (drums), Eric Bryson (bass), Jeremy Kidder (guitar), Scotty Harris (sax), and Telvis Ward from the Lowrider Band (keys). What a show. What a night. Thanks to Lee for getting such great harp players on the bill, especially Magic Dick, of whom we've been a fan since our earliest memories as kids growing up in Boston, worshipping the mighty J. Geils Band. Magic was in town for a few days and we enjoyed our time with him very much. He is as nice a guy as he is a tremendous musician and we only hope to have him back at Highway 99 anytime he's up for it. Tim Gonzalez, still in town on Sunday, showed up to sit in with the band on the Sunday Blues BBQ jam, while Lee and Magic came down for some dinner and to cheer him on. Later, the three harp surgeons ended up taking some harmonicas apart to share some reed grading and alteration tricks of the trade. If Friday was the Harmonica Houseparty, Sunday was definitely the Harmonica Geek-Out.
Below: Magic Dick playing his signature song, "Whammer Jammer"


Also this past weekend, the Robbie Laws Bigger Blues Band played on Saturday night, and Lloyd Meadows of the Zydeco Flames came up from Oakland to stir some s**t up with his squeeze box. Earlier in the week, the Johny Broomdust Trio returned on Wednesday, and Brian Nova's Felonius Funk Orchestra played on Thursday.
Below: Steve Sarkowsky (drums), Robbie Laws (guitar)



Below: a clip from the Harmonica Houseparty grand finale jam