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International Blues Challenge Preview

Not Your Daddy’s IBC

By Don Wilcock

George Boone was gimping across the stage like some crippled bird that had just been bitten by a rattler. He was on the final turn of his International Blues Challenge (IBC) performance screaming the lyrics to “Dock of The Bay,” his leg encased in a cast from toes to thigh. The timekeeper at the Daisy Theater was waving the 30-second warning to him, but she might as well have been the switchman flagging down an out-of-control train. He sailed right through, ran six seconds over, and nailed the coffin on any chance he may have had to build on a career that included European tours with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Phillip Walker.

The year was 1996. As president of Boone’s sponsor, Northeast Blues Society, I remember that moment as if it were happening as I write it. We’d held “Get Out of Town,” a benefit to raise funds for the trip. We drove nonstop in two identical rented white Grand Prix sedans for eighteen hours each way from Schenectady, New York, to Memphis and back with the return trip through a driving sleet and snowstorm. How George got the money for those cars I’ll leave to your imagination, but the fallout included losing his wife. We ate one meal a day at Shoney’s, piling our plates six inches high and stayed at a motel with no facial tissues (always the deal breaker when I toured with Buddy Guy and Junior Wells) across the river in Mississippi.

How far we’ve come in fifteen years. Then, there were thirty-eight contestants. This year, from February 1 through 5, at the IBC in Memphis there will be one hundred and nine bands and eighty-three solo/duo acts. Then, the whole event happened in three days, all in the Daisy Theater. This year the IBC, sponsored by the Blues Foundation, runs from Tuesday through Saturday, spread across nearly every storefront that has a door facing Beale Street, and beyond. From The FedEx International Showcase on Tuesday to the separate solo/duo and band finals Saturday, the week is blues’ answer to SxSW Music Conference, with workshops, the Keeping The Blues Alive Awards, and other events scattered throughout the week.

George Boone is still in Schenectady. He’s opened for B. B. King, done some solo gigs in Europe without his band, and when Danny Kalb from the Blues Project comes into the area he looks for this guitar slinger with a G-clef etched into the hair on the back of his head. He never made it “out of town,” after his slide-by shooting, but others have sparked their careers at the IBC, artists like Eden Brent, Michael Burks, Albert Castiglia, Zac Harmon, Jason Ricci, Tommy Castro, Albert Cummings, Delta Moon, Homemade Jams, Teeny Tucker, and Super Chikan.

How many George Boones and how many Zac Harmons will we see this year? As many as there’s room to shoehorn in. Below are a few of the more, shall we say, unique contestants in the contest.

Mark “Muleman” Massey Blues Band represents the Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola. Mark did time at Parchman Farm (Mississippi State Penitentiary) after shooting his brother in “self defense.” He was in the Parchman band while he was there. He now lives in Senatobia, Mississippi, and owns his own Goodyear store. He also raises hogs and chickens and learned blues from RL Burnside and Jack Johnson. He was recently included on the Mississippi Blues Trail marker at Parchman and one of Mark’s dreams is to re-instate the music program at Parchman.

Isaiah B. Brunt represents the Sydney Blues Society. Isaiah’s early influences came from his father’s ukulele and lap steel playing. He collaborated on a gospel album and later worked with some of Australia’s leading artists. Almost thirty years later he has come full circle, writing his own blues songs. In 2008 a friend recorded Isaiah’s song “Lovers Blues” chosen as part of the Qantas in-flight music program. He was then invited to perform it at the Sydney Opera House. Later that year he recorded a song for the 2008 Railway Blues album. Isaiah sings and plays guitar, blues harp, piano, and slide. He regularly gigs and busks around Sydney and is often likened to the early Delta bluesmen.

Carlos del Junco (Toronto Blues Society) whose name translates “of the Reeds” has won international awards for his harp playing. Playing a ten-hole diatonic harmonica, Carlos has developed the unique ability to play chromatically by using a recently developed “overblow” technique taught to him by jazz virtuoso Howard Levy. His band is The Blues Mongrels.

The Rusty Wright Band, representing the Detroit Blues Society, plays rock and blues fusion. The six-piece band has been together three years and features Rusty’s wife Laurie La Cross-wright on vocals and guitar. Bluzapalooza founder Steve Simon calls them, “One of the most entertaining Blues bands in the country today.”

Blues Lovers United of San Diego present Karl Cabbage and Jimmy Zolo. Cabbage was a severely autistic child. His return to the IBC this year marks his only consecutive days off from Northrup Grumman since last year’s IBCs, when he was the front man of The Smokin’ Knights. Jimmy Zollo has played with everybody from local San Diego legends such as Chill Boy and Lance Dieckmann from D.A. and the Hitmen.

Aphonso Sanders and Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry represent Crossroads Blues Society of Rosedale, Mississippi. These 2010 second-place winners in the Solo/Duo category released a CD, Twice as Nice, in June. In his early career, Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry spent some time in Chicago where he wrote for musicians such as Lil Johnny Taylor, Ted Taylor, and Cash McCall. He worked for Phil Chess as a studio musician and for Stan Lewis where he wrote for Jewel Paula Records. He did a stint writing for J.J. Taylor on a Willie Dixon Label. Later he joined up with Little Milton for a while and then started his own band.

Finnish Blues Society presents Jo’ Buddy & Down Home King III. The Finnish singer-guitarist Jo’ Buddy and his drummer Down Home King III, who have just released their third album, Everything’s Gonna Be Alright, and play roots, gumbo, ragtime, down-home blues, swamp boogie, gospel, New Orleans R&B, rock ‘n’ roll and zydeco with echoes of psychedelia.

Jeff Norwood, representing Lowcountry Blues Club, began his career performing in small town dance halls and backwoods juke joints. He then apprenticed himself to R&B greats, The Drifters, and later, The Tams, working as road manager, sound man and fill-in band member whenever possible. Norwood has worked with artists as diverse as Hootie and The Blowfish, The Independents, Jason Ricci and New Blood, The Impressions (Curtis Mayfield’s Band), GWAR, and Rockin’ Jason D. Williams. His new release, produced by James “Jimbo” Mathus, hits the streets this year.

Micah Kesselring, representing Pomeroy Blues & Jazz Society, is a seventeen-year-old acoustic blues slide guitarist and vocalist. His music is a combination of Delta and country blues he describes as “Appalachia Blues.” His first appearance at the IBC was in 2009, performing during the Youth Showcase. After his performance, he was awarded the first annual scholarship to Blues at Centrum: The Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival and Workshop, which was presented by Cassie Taylor at the band finals. Kesselring performed at the 2009 Blues Music Awards as a special guest with The Otis Taylor Band. At the conclusion of his performance, Taylor declared, “Micah is the future of the blues.” This year marks Kesselring’s second year of competing at the IBC. He is also a member of the Blues Foundation Youth Board, Blues Is My B.A.G.

Chrissie O’Dell & One Hot Mess, representing the Long Island Blues Society, has been described as “full-throated with little of the false growl so many women affect” and has an independently released CD, If I Had A Dime, that went to number three on B.B. King’s Bluesville on XM Sirius. O’Dell and her band were a winner of Blues Revue’s fan-based Sponsor The Band Contest in their January/February issue.

Randy Oxford of the Randy Oxford Band, representing South Sound Blues Association, plays trombone as the lead instrument in his six-piece band. A twenty-year performing veteran, he got his start in the U.S. Army Band touring Europe. His guitarist, Jho Blenis, was born in Japan, and his bass player, Farko Dosumov, hails from Uzbekistan in central Asia.

So there are some highlights of some participants at this year’s International Blues Challenge that might be interesting to check out. But with nearly 200 entries, you just can’t see them all and often your favorite will end up being the one you stumbled upon. That is the beauty of attending the “Largest Blues Festival in the World,” you always walk away with new favorite artists. This is one of the blues’ premier events. If you can’t make it this year, make it next year. See you on Beale!