Austin Sound

The evening before Valentine’s day, legendary blues artist David “Honeyboy” Edwards brought his Delta-steeped country blues guitar to the stage of the Cactus Cafe. Arriving on the heels of his recent Grammy win for best traditional blues album for Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas (released on Blue Shoe Project, also featuring Pinetop Perkins, Henry James Townsend, and Pinetop Perkins), the 93-year old patriarch from Mississippi was in fine form throughout his two hour set of real deal blues.

And Honeyboy is the real deal. As one of the last living representatives of the second generation of Delta blues players, he played an integral role in the development of acoustic country blues long before it migrated to Chicago and went electric. He often played guitar with Robert Johnson—yes, the Robert Johnson—and shared the stage with him the night Johnson was poisoned at a juke joint in Three Forks, Mississippi in 1938. Honeyboy has also traded licks with seminal figures such as Big Joe Williams, Sonny Boy Williamson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Muddy Waters, and he cut his first sides for Alan Lomax in 1942. One selection from those impressive Library of Congress field recordings, “The Army Blues,” is featured on Honeyboy’s newest album Roamin’ and Ramblin’, just released on the Chicago-based Earwig Music label. This phenomenal record includes cuts from a 1975 session with the great Big Walter Horton, as well as several new studio recordings that pair Honeyboy with harmonica players like Bobby Rush, Billy Branch, and Johnny “Yard Dog” Jones. Honeyboy’s new release, his Grammy win, and his active touring schedule (in 2007 he played over 100 shows) are all a testament to the dedication and desire of this American legend.

Honeyboy, backed by Michael Frank on harmonica, played over twenty songs in a two hour stretch with no intermission (which is longer than many musicians half his age perform there!). Dressed to the nines in a red silk shirt and blue vest, the sage bluesman walked on stage to a standing ovation. “I’m gonna start with a blues,” he announced to the capacity crowd as he tuned up his electric guitar, then launched into the Jimmy Rogers-penned classic “That’s Alright.” He backed it up with “Apron Strings,” a funky number featured on his new album. Honeyboy would revisit both songs later in the set, but not before charging through much-loved standards like “Going Down Slow,” “Little Boy Blue,” and a crowd-pleasing cover of Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago.” While Honeyboy’s vocals were marked occasionally by the passage of time, his pipes have retained much of the power and vitality of his earliest recordings, and his guitar work was simply stunning.

Few things are as inspiring as watching an artist who has spent the greater part of the last century honing his craft, and Honeyboy was clearly enjoying himself as he delivered jaw-dropping renditions of classics like “Rollin’ and Tumblin” and “Crossroad Blues” (both played with a slide on an acoustic guitar), “Catfish Blues,” and his own “I Feel So Good Today.” The highlight for me was Honeyboy’s performance of “Country Blues,” with the feigned innocence of lyrics like “Don’t say I don’t love you, because I stay out all night long/don’t say I don’t love you, because I stay out all night long/I’m just a country man, I’m a country man/and I don’t know right from wrong.” Like I said, he’s the real deal.

One disappointing part of this magical, intimate evening was the harmonica playing of Michael Frank, long-time manager of Honeyboy and owner of Earwig Music, the label he has recorded for since 1979. To be fair, Frank rightly deserves praise for his unwavering support of Honeyboy’s music and legacy, and, admittedly, I feel uncomfortable criticizing a man who has stood by Honeyboy’s side ever since the two met in the early seventies. That said, Frank’s harmonica work detracted more than it highlighted Honeyboy’s performance. The old practitioners of country blues have always been notoriously difficult for harp players to follow, given their penchant for breaking time and coloring outside the lines of traditional 12-bar, I-IV-V chord structures. And although Frank has been blowing alongside Honeyboy for some thirty years now, his repetitive riffs and inability to keep up with Honeyboy’s unique guitar phrasing made for some uncomfortable moments.

But Honeyboy, the star of the show, delivered a flawless performance and retains his rightful place as the living king of Delta blues. If his incredible energy and musical prowess are any indication, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pass through Austin again ten years from now.

Website:
www.davidhoneyboyedwards.com

Roger Gatchet writes for Living Blues magazine, and hosts “Blues At Sunrise” Wednesday mornings from 7-9 AM on KVRX 91.7 FM.