The Finals of the Granite State Blues Society IBC Competition were held at Tupelo in Londonderry, NH Saturday June 19th
by Diana Shonk
I am very familiar with many of the bands in the New England area, so I was delighted to get a chance to see three bands that I had never seen before. There was a good turn out. The crowd in attendance included many relatives of the competitors, fans and some newcomers to the New England Blues scene. As I gave out complementary copies of my newsletter, The Blues Audience, I spoke to most of the people in attendance. One man told me it was his first time there and he wanted to know all about the competition. Another told me that he heard about the competition and came to see the bands.
First up was Poor Howard & Bullfrog Rogers a very high quality duo act. Howard has a very nice full voice and plays beautifully on a twelve string guitar, which gives his original songs a beautiful acoustic sound, and his Dobro sets another mood altogether, more of a Delta feel. His set was a good opener for a great night of music.
The Road Cases are a father, son duo with a really rough rootsy approach to some classic instruments including banjo and washboard. The father played slide on the banjo, something I have never seen done before which made it more bluesy. They also did a song that was presented on more traditional instruments, an electric guitar and regular drums. They were very well received by the crowd, and I really liked their individuality.
Arthur James came up to the stage as a solo act and played his heart. He has a strong vocal approach and very good range, and plays guitar like it is as natural as breathing for him. He dedicated a song to his wife, who is recovering from a recent transplant and is still in recovery, otherwise she would have been there with him. His song was very heartfelt and I think the crowd was touched by his feelings.
Charlie Keating band is no stranger to playing out and their three piece electric sound brought the performances up to a new level of energy and volume. Charlie is a guitar player who plays a lot of slide and has an aggressive approach, his bass player (the only woman in the competition) Linsay kept a heavy rhythm to accompany the very dynamic drummer and Charlie wailing away on slide. I was impressed that the provided drum set held up under his attack!
The Glympse was another trio of young bucks who have really done their homework in Blues and they have very good taste in what they choose to play. Not just your straight “bumpa bumpa” Blues, that’s for sure. I detected the influence of Magic Sam and was very impressed with their original song which has some interesting stops. The singer Nick Amann had a good range and made use of it. He also played some very strong guitar. His bass player and drummer were right there with him the whole set.
RBK band summed up the night with a set powered by the guitar player/singer Ryan Brooks Kelly, whose stage presence and musical ability showed professionalism beyond his years. He skillfully presented original music that was well worn and his trio help up the bottom and gave him a strong base to work with. They knew their stuff and it showed in their confidence and professional stage presence.
After all the votes were tallied, our MC for the night Rob Somogyi announced that we appreciated the high quality performances from all the acts, but there were only two bands, one acoustic and one electric, going to the IBCs. Arthur James took it for the Solo/Duo category and RBK Project took it for the electric band! Congratulations from all of us who were there and The Granite State Blues Society. GSBS will be raising money to help with their expenses and both bands will be playing at the Barnful of Blues Festival on August 6th, 2011 in New Boston, NH. We hope to see you there.
Diana Shonk lives in Harrisville, New Hampshire and is publisher of the Blues Audience, the only New Hampshire magazine featuring live blues in the area. Read more from Diana at www.bluesaudience.com.