Charlie Parr / Suzannah Johannes / Tyler Gregory & The Blue Shuffle / LJWorld.com

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Suzannah Johannes

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Details

Categories: April Fleming Best Bet, Blues, Folk, Music | Old Timey, Singer/songwriter
Event posted: July 14, 2009
Last updated: Nov. 13, 2009

Event details

Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, 10 p.m.
The Jackpot Music Hall, 943 Mass., Lawrence
Cost: $6 - $8
Age limit: 18+

When it comes to the Delta blues, it's easy to get lost in a retroist mindset that overwhelms the immediate power of blues music in the present. Minneapolis-based songster Charlie Parr could well have been plucked out of a Harry Smith Anthology, but his songs are his own. He accompanies himself with National resonator guitars, 12-string guitars and gut-string banjos, informed by the stylings of influential pickers like Rev. Gary Davis and Dave Van Ronk. It was only a couple years ago that Suzannah Johannes started writing songs and performing; first as a solo artist, and then with backing from Ghosty's David Wetzel and Josh Adams. Eventually the whole Ghosty camp joined her, and her debut four-song EP thusly became a full-bodied affair that plays to each member's laid-back skill set. Tyler Gregory can regularly be found busking on Mass. St. with his deep voice and steam-powered melodies bouncing off the street-side architecture. His sturdy songcraft takes cues from WWII-era blues bellowers like Leadbelly and Son House as well as modern folk artists like William Elliott Whitmore and the Avett Brothers. With his brother Todd on drums and percussion, Tyler Gregory & the Blue Shuffle have fast become a fixture anywhere cheap beer is served. Check out our podcast interview with Gregory.