Parks & Recreation Department

Warehouse Blues

 

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Cool John Ferguson

Cool John Ferguson was destined to be a great musician. At the age of five he was playing church music professionally, often out-seating musicians 10 times his age. For three years he was a featured entertainer on the Low Country Sing on channel 5 Charleston TV, appearing with his three sisters (the Ferguson Sisters), a popular gospel trio. In the years since, John has traveled where the music has taken him, equally comfortable in churches and clubs. He has been active on the tent revival circuit, a little-documented but vibrant niche of American religious culture, and has been associated with LaFace Records of Atlanta, Ga., collaborating on pop recordings with his niece, Esperanza. Coupled with the willingness to play with anybody, any time, in any style, familiar or not, he possesses a formidable panurgy that is making him a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.

Captain Luke

Captain Luke

Luther Mayer, known as "Captain Luke," was born in Greenville, South Carolina in 1926. Luke was blessed with a deep natural baritone. He was accustomed to carrying the low parts in church, and his abilities soon caught the attention of Otis King, who taught him how to hold the low notes and make them rise and fall. Soon Luke was singing bass professionally in King’s Gospel Quintet. He also began to entertain at informal gatherings, an avocation that would endear him to friends and strangers alike throughout his life. Accompanied by whatever instrumentation available, Luke would travel in a wide circle from Winston performing in drinkhouses, the social hubs of the African-American community in the North Carolina Piedmont. Luke’s music and art are rooted firmly in the African-American working class of the Carolina Piedmont and the mystique of his message refers continually to the blues experience. Luke’s rich, dry baritone provides a panoramic tour of his musical influences and arrives at an unusual convergence that might be called Outsider Lounge Music, basic and sophisticated in the same moment, that speaks to us with the savage perspicacity of Louis Armstrong in his prime and swings with the easy grace of a young Dean Martin.

Whistlin’ Britches

Haskel Thompson was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1932, and lives there to this day. Captain Luke gave Haskel his nickname, Whistlin’ Britches, a year ago. He has an amazing spirit and exudes utter joy when he sings. He also possesses the unique ability to pop and click his tongue, something many try to imitate when they hear him. He says, "It is great being part of Music Maker and meeting different artists. I love it to the death. I love knowing that we are trying to help people. It is wonderful going out to entertain because we bring happiness, joy, and peace. I got children out here clicking and going on. When they see me they say, 'Here comes the clicker.' They try their best to do it."

Sol Creech

Sol

Sol is a rare, one-of-a-kind musician. His talent stretches from fiery rock to laid-back jazz, and from funky innovative grooves to soulful ballads, always drawing on a deep background in blues. Sol has performed nationally and internationally with the true pioneers of the blues including Cootie Starks, Lee Gates, Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, John Dee Holeman, and Jerry "Boogie" McCain. Additionally, Sol has performed with the international guitar hero Cool John Ferguson, who he performs with on a regular basis. With Cool John Ferguson, Sol has opened for the great B.B. King, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and the Derek Trucks Band. Sol’s roots run deep into the blues but his unique versatility has allowed him to gig with Latin, African, reggae, gospel, jazz, funk, R&B, and folk performers. Sol also heads his own groups performing throughout Virginia, North Carolina and Washington, DC.

 

 

Big Ron Hunter

Big Ron Hunter

Big Ron Hunter hails from the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, area and has just released his first album. Hunter picked up guitar in the 1960s and played in various local bands. He was mentored by bluesman Guitar Gabriel and developed his unique style while raising a family and working a day job. Retired now, Hunter is looking to break into the blues scene and play his music.

 

 

 

Drink Small

Drink Small

He was born in 1933 in Bishopville, South Carolina, and started making music when he was 11 years old. First he played an old pump organ, then a one-string guitar, and he made his own little guitar, cutting up an old inner tube for strings. After singing and playing in church and school, Drink Small joined the Spiritualaires, recording on the Vee Jay label. They played at the Apollo Theater in New York City and toured with Sam Cooke, the Harmonizing Four, and the Staple Singers. Since the breakup of the Spiritualaires, Drink Small has been to Europe, played at Wolf Trap and toured around the country. Drink Small plays a range of blues, earning him the nickname "Blues Doctor." His repertoire includes bottleneck, ragtime, Piedmont Blues and Chicago Blues.

Mudcat

Mudcat

Born on the banks of the Mississippi and raised in Georgia, Mudcat dropped out of acting school in New York to pursue a blues major on the streets. Eventually he graduated to Atlanta where he converted the Northside Tavern into his school of music. His tutelage continues under Cootie Stark, Frank Edwards, Eddie Tigner and Cora Mae Bryant. A world-class slide guitarist with a voice so rich it feels fattening, Mudcat’s education is something you can feel in your bones. Mudcat serves on the Music Makers Foundation’s board of directors.

 

George Higgs

George Higgs

George Higgs was born in 1930 in a farming community in Edgecombe County near Speed, North Carolina ("a slow town with a fast name" as he is fond of saying). He learned to play the harmonica as a child from his father, Jesse Higgs, who enjoyed playing favorite spirituals and folk tunes at home during his spare time. George got to catch the medicine showman and harmonica player Peg Leg Sam playing locally in Rocky Mount during the tobacco market season and he made a lasting impression on the young harp player. He was later attracted to the guitar as a teenager and reluctantly sold a favorite squirrel dog to a neighbor to raise funds to purchase his first guitar. As a result of their close proximity, the dog spent more time at George’s home than at his new owner’s, so he got to have the guitar and keep the company of his dog.

Boo Hanks

James Arthur "Boo" Hanks is an acoustic blues guitarist with roots in the Piedmont string band and blues traditions. He saved money for his first guitar by selling packets of garden seeds, picking out the same old-time songs he heard his father playing after long days in the tobacco fields. As a young man in the 1940s, Hanks earned pocket change playing guitar at barn dances with his cousins accompanying him on the mandolin and spoons. His rich musical repertoire reflects his multiethnic heritage (his ancestors were white, African American, Ocinneechee Indian and family folklore says they are descendants of Abraham Lincoln's mother, Mary Hanks.) Drawing from the deep musical well of his region, Boo Hanks showcases his virtuosity in the driving time and delicate finger-style guitar of the classic Piedmont Blues made famous by Blind Boy Fuller.

Adolphus Bell

Adolphus Bell was born in the country outside of Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up on a farm, working in the cotton fields, and describes music as something that was just "always around me." He began performing at the age of 22, four years after moving to Pittsburgh. As a "One Man Band," Bell sings and plays guitar, drums, high hat, and harp, playing blues hits from the 50s and 60s. He has been performing and serving as an activist, trying to improve the lives of urban youth since the late 1960’s. He began touring Europe and released his first CD in 2005 with the help of Music Maker Relief Foundation.

Dr. Burt

Dr. Burt

Dr. G.B. Burt was born in Birmingham, Alabama. During WWII his family moved to the west coast where his father went to work in the shipyards. He comes from a musical family as his mother played the piano and sang gospel music. G.B. took up the guitar and playing the blues when he was in his teens and has kept it up ever since. Inspired by watching the feature film on Lead Belly, he bought a 12–string guitar that he has stuck with ever since. "When folks hear my music they know it is me. I sing how I feel. I do not sing about violence. I sing about love. I do everything I can do to sing about good things. It comes out alright. I want to put my stamp on this music, get my name in the book, so people remember who I am," he said.