The Musical Box

david "honeyboy" edwards. photo from earwig music.

Referred to with great and proper reverence as the last of the great Delta bluesmen, David “Honeyboy” Edwards settled into a groove yesterday at the Master Musicians Festival in Somerset that seemed very much to his liking. It was a raw, rhythmic, bouncy riff that kicked off Standin’ on the Corner. “You like this one, don’t you Honeyboy?” asked harpist Michael Frank, to which Edwards replied with a subtle, studied smile before returning to the groove.

For the better part of his hour long set, though, Edwards seemed to play as if no one else was watching. Tempos accelerated and slowed, keys shifted back and forth as Frank and bassist Aron Burton did their best follow the musings of the 93 year old Edwards. But such is the wily way of a bluesman still full of obvious playfulness and almost purposeful contradictions.

For instance, Edwards was regaled in stage introductions for his pioneering acoustic blues work, yet he played electric in Somerset. His roots are solidly in the Delta, yet when he dug into the deep pocket soul of Shake ‘Em On Down, the inspirations seemed to wander up to the hill country of North Mississippi.

Sure, the vocals were mostly unintelligible. But the rhythmic authenticity of Edwards’ playing was so arresting that it took some work on Frank’s part to convince the bluesman that their allotted stage time was up. After the first urging to wind things down, Edwards slid back into Muddy Waters’ Rollin’ Stone, the same tune he began the set with. Sure enough, that devilish Delta strut sounded even cooler the second time through.

pinetop perkins. photo by andrew stearns.

One of Edwards’ few living life-long contemporaries, pianist Pinetop Perkins, followed the guitarist, but not until after some blues revelry from Willie “Big Eyes” Smith had concluded.

Perkins and Smith worked extensively in the‘70s and early ‘80s with Muddy Waters, although drummer Smith performed exclusively as a harpist and vocalist last night as he took on Chicago-ripened blues works like Old Woman’s Sweetheart and Rub My Back. Perkins, 95, arrived dressed in white shirt, black hat and tie and took to the keys of a portable Roland keyboard like it was an upright piano in a Mississippi juke joint.

The resulting boogie-woogie was served with an ageless cheer as it sharpened the percussive shuffle that percolated through Back to the Chicken Shack. Unfortunately, a well-intentioned but cloying onstage birthday celebration by MMF performers and organizers for Edwards (whose birthday was actually in late June) and Perkins (July 7) ate up way too much of what was already a way-too-brief set (about 25 minutes).

Perkins, like Edwards, played by his own rules and launched into Down in Mississippi just as Somerset officials approached the microphone to hail him with more accolades. Perkins wasn’t being rude by cutting in. In all honesty, he likely thought the regaling had concluded. But then again, with early evening temps still in the low ‘90s and the festival clock ticking, neither artist nor audience seemed to be in the mood for politicians stating the obvious. Yes, yes, these are fine American artists. But Perkins came to play. Too bad he didn’t have more time to do so.