Charlotte Blues Society-IBC
We headed out Monday night to the Rabbit Hole in Charlotte, NC to check out the Charlotte Blues Society send off for the two bands selected to represent them in the 2018 International Blues Competition. The Charlotte Blues Society is a non-profit Affiliate Organization of the Blues Foundation. These great folks have set out to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of the uniquely American art form. Doing these Competitions is one of the ways to help further that agenda.
The Charlotte Blues Society gets to pick a Single Artist/Duo and a Band to represent them at the 2018 International Blues Competition, so they chose the Duo called Root2 Music.The Duo Root2 Music is made up of members Nancy Reid (fiddle, vocals) and David "Alabama" Frank. These two formed the duo ROOT2 MUSIC to find out what music happens when Celtic fiddle runs into Delta slide guitar way back up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia....check out their website ROOT2 MUSIC. These folks bring back some great tunes from the Blues. David "Alabama" Frank Slide Guitar is second to none and Nancy Reid's Fiddle playing was incredible. At the end of their set the Charlotte Blues Society gave them $500 cash to spend in Memphis TN while representing them at the competition.....very nice, hope they bring back a trophy for best IBC Duo of 2018.
Take a listen to them here
Moses Jones was the next Band up. Moses Jones is made up of 4 Members
Robert Johnson - Lead Vocals and Guitar
Kennon Knight - Drums and Percussion, Vocals
Arda Bagcioglu - Lead Guitar
Joe Williams - Bass
Jim Ashton - Pedal Steel
These guys will represent the Charlotte Blues Society as a Band in the 2018 International Blues Competition. These guys are very good, they play tight and they sound good....really good. You won't find a better band. The Charlotte Blues Society sent them off to represent them with a check for $1,000 spending money in Memphis, TN....very nice indeed.
At the end of the night at Charlotte Blues Society events they also have a jam session for those who want to get up on stage and play. I convinced Steven to get up there and blow that harmonica. I was talking to a guy named Flynn Wolfe who is in charge of volunteers for the Charlotte Blues Society, and he said he had several harmonicas in his car and would lend them to Steven if he wanted to play. Steven got up on stage and played. Michael Ingmire, Rob Dayton are the two guys who are the backbone of the jam sessions on stage. They keep everything flowing and sounding good. Both are great players. Michael Ingmire plays guitar and, Rob Dayton plays the harmonica. Steven has been taking lessons from a great Harp player here locally called Todd Parrott. Steven has only been playing about five months, and has really picked up on it. This Christmas we bought him a whole set of 10 harmonicas and a cool TurboGLO Harmonica Case for them to go in. He has been having fun playing them.
