The Bryan Lee Show and Skips Place Review...... Part I
As promised in the post below, you all get an O-fish-al, "YerUnk Gets Out of the House and Goes Someplace" Review.
A little background first. As much as I like music and the Blues in particular, I don't follow the music scene at all and haven't in years. I'm kinda stuck in place and have been for a long time. There's so many good old Blues players that following all the new folks (and being able to afford all of the music) just hasn't happened since about 1985. Just how it is.
When Pandora Radio came along a few years ago I jumped on it and enjoy it a bunch.
And one of the reasons I enjoy it is the artists they will include that you've never heard of before.
THAT'S how I first came to hear, Bryon Lee. Pandora radio. If for no other reason than that, you may want to check it out. Hell, It's free. Not like you're spending any money for it.
I immediately liked all of the songs that they played of Bryon Lee & I ended up buying a couple of his CD's from Amazon and liked everything on them.
I started checking in at his website Braille Blues Daddy and watching show dates.
Me being me, I missed him when he was in Indy last Fall and also missed a couple of other halfway close shows.
So when I saw he was gonna be up in Northeast Indiana and that I was not gonna be working it was road trip time.
The ride to get to the show ended up being about 220 miles. Sounds like a lot if you're not a motorcycle rider. Not so much for a guy who rode almost 400 miles out of his way to see, "The Worlds Largest Ball of Twine". It's in Kansas if you're interested.
Doesn't matter. 220 miles was worth it to see this Band. Hot Damn, Skippy! One of the best shows I've seen in a long time.
The venue, Skip's Party Place is so good I'm gonna do a review of just it in what will be Part II, Monday or so.
Ok, where to begin......... May as well give ya the bad news first. The show started an hour later than planned due to some kind of transportation SNAFU.
Mr Bryan Lee is totally blind and can't drive himself so he and his lovely wife arrived an hour late and the show kicked off at 9:05 instead of the scheduled 8:00.
The good news: They didn't stop playing till 12:45 with only one break in there to make up for it.
The Band Members John Perkins on Drums, Brent Johnson on guitar and the Bassist, who's name I missed (Not the same guy on the link above.) worked as a solid unit once things started rolling.
Bryan settled in and strapped on a big black Gibson Flying V and the Music just flowed from there.
He's an Old Skool player who gets a hell of a lot of emotion and sound from fewer notes and smooth slick transitions up & down the neck than just blazing speed. And he bends the hell out of those strings. Wow!
Brent Johnson, the other guitarist, is a Guitar Slinger extraordinaire and could easily front a band on his own. Bryan let him off the leash right off the bat and the kid ran all over the neck of that Gibson making smoke.
The 2 of them traded leads and rhythm back and forth all night and the contrasting styles really made things move. They really compliment each other and as the show went on it just got better. Towards the end of the show, Brent strapped on a Gibson SG and let 'er rip on some serious slide playing. Now I love me some slide guitar and that kid really cut loose.
The Bassist was playing a crazy looking DanElectro bass and he was rock solid. I was told by Bryans' Lovely Wife, that he'd only been with the band for 4-5 weeks but he sounded like he'd been there a lot longer than that.
Drummer John Perkins, playing a no nonsense minimal kit, carried things rhythmically just perfect. All the beats at all the right times. He was smiling all night and singing along (no mike, just having a good time) as he played.
There were a lot of smiles among the band members throughout the show and it seemed like they were all having a good time while making some fabulous music.
Check this guy and his band out if you're a Blues Fan and try to see him live if he's anywhere close. You won't be disappointed.
You have an "Oh-Fish-al YerUnk 2 Thumbs Up" guarantee on quality and fun.
Not the same band here, but here's his signature song with an example of how guitarists interplay.
I'll have a review of the Venue, "Skips Party Place" Monday, because it deserves a write up on it's own.
Here's another video that shows a bit of Brent Johnson's Chops-
Gotta get ready to head to the ER and fight the Zombie Hordes, Kids. Have a good weekend.
Gratuitous Picture for a Saturday Morning- That's a Bluesman there.
