Boo Hanks and Dom Flemon’s collaborative album released!

Sonny Boy King, an
Alabama treasure

Sonny Boy King
is an Alabama Bluesman that has
been with Music Maker for almost seven years. For over twenty-five years he
played parties in Alabama, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland, developing his
skills. During that time he has become a one man band with drums,
guitar, harmonica, and stomping his feet.

His love of music began when he
was fourteen in 1944 Lyons County, Alabama. He started playing guitar at parties
and he also worked at a sawmill as a water-boy. Since that time his
guitar has supported him for most of his life. He performs wherever
people gather at house parties, fish fries, and clubs. After partnering
with Music Maker he’s played venues including the Byron Bay Blues Festival in
Australia, enabling thousands to hear his foot-stomping blues outside
of his home community.

As a man that has fathered and
raised 33 children, Sonny Boy King has this to say to the next generation:
“As for my advice to kids today, they are worried too much about what
kind of guitar they have. I tell them, as long as it got the strings on it, play
it. The guitar does not play itself. You got to play it. But the most
important thing is you have to treat people right, to get treated right.”

—
Mike

Boo Hanks signs a
young fan’s wristband, Roots and Leaves Show 6/15
by Cornelius Lewis

Diggin’:
Live with Captain and Cool

I spent this past Friday night in
Chapel Hill, N.C., sitting with blues legend Captain Luke as the first
Roots and Leaves show took place, as Cool John Ferguson blew out
his guitar amp, as John Dee Holeman crooned to
a crowd of hundreds.

Thirty minutes in, Luke
extinguished one of his cherry cigars and walked onstage for his set with Cool
John. The opener, “Hotel Happiness,” showcased Luke’s smooth baritone
voice and John’s soft fingers on the electric. Together onstage, the two
redefined coolness and stunned a crowd of all ages. This was the finale
to my first week interning at Music Maker.

The featured song this week,
Captain Luke and Cool John’s live rendition of “Rainy Night in
Georgia,” (not to be confused with Snowy Night in Georgia, which we
featured last week) gives new meaning to the word “silk.”

Check it out, and if you’re in
the area, come see Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen
and Essie Mae Brooks this
Friday at 6:00 p.m. in Southern Village, Chapel Hill for our
third Roots and Leaves show.

— Jeremy

Jeremy is a summer intern
with Music Maker from Hampshire College in Massachusetts. He is helping us with
our audio archive, audio-mixing as well as with general office
tasks.

Boo Hanks Collborates with
Dom Flemons on “Buffalo Junction”

Boo Hanks grew up
sharecropping in Vance County, N.C., where he learned to play guitar. Music
Maker has helped Boo go from being heard only in his community to playing for
thousands at shows and festivals across the country and around the world. Dom Flemons, who won a
Grammy in 2011 with the Drops, was at Music Maker the day Hanks first arrived,
and their friendship and collaborations grew from that first jam session over
the next six years.

Hanks’ and Flemons’ new album Buffalo Junction, named for
Hanks’ hometown in Virginia, features upbeat, country blues that crosses
generational lines. The album highlights Hanks on the guitar and
vocals, while Flemons plays a variety of traditional instruments such as the
jug, harmonica, bones and also sings backup vocals.

Dom Flemons
said of the recording experience: “Boo Hanks is a treasure. His vocal
and guitar phrases are something so unique and forgotten in the modern world of
folk and blues. He an absolutely engaging songster and it has been a pleasure
to have played with him for several years and to be a part of this album which
will hopefully present his music to a much wider audience.”

The Illinois Entertainer calls
Buffalo Junction, “Fascinating, important, a singular musical
experience, and required listening for blues, folk, and musical history fans
alike featuring dazzling picking.”

Buffalo Junction is now
available at musicmaker.org here – and you can see Boo and Dom live this
summer! Tour dates are below, more info to come!

8/15
World Café in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

8/16 Joe’s
Pub in New York City

8/17 Blue
Ridge Music Center in Galax, Virginia

8/19 The
Hamilton in Washington, D.C. on August
19

Listen:

Captain Luke and Cool John
– Rainy Night in Georgia –
Live

Quick
Links:

Website

Merch

Music

Upcoming Shows: Click here for more info on upcoming
events

6/22 – Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen, Essie Mae Brooks – Music Maker Roots and
Leaves, Chapel Hill, N.C., 6-8pm

6/23 – Cool John Ferguson –
Sertoma Theatre, Cary, NC, 6-8pm

6/27 – Beverly “Guitar” Watkins –
Sweet Georgia Juke Joint

6/29 – Pura Fé Trio, Lakota John
Locklear – Music Maker Roots and Leaves, Chapel Hill, N.C., 6-8pm

7/4 – Lakota John and Kin –
Carrboro July 4th Celebration, Carrboro, NC, 12:30pm

7/6 – John Dee Holeman – The Eddy
Pub, Saxapahaw, NC, 8pm

7/13 – Ironing Board Sam – The
Depot, Hillsborough, NC, 8pm

7/14 – Pura Fé – Harrison Hot
Springs Festival, Harrison Hot Springs, Canada, 3:40pm

7/14 – Ironing Board Sam – The
Whiskey, Durham, NC, 9pm
7/15 – John Dee Holeman, Captain Luke, Big Ron,
Ironing Board Sam – Jimmy Williams’ “Music Maker” at Waverly Artist Group, Cary,
NC, 5-8pm
7/20 – Pura Fé – Folk on the Rocks, Yellowknife, Canada
7/21 –
Ironing Board Sam and Big Ron – Saxapahaw Farmer’s Market Stage, Saxapahaw, NC,
6pm
7/27 – MM Blues Revue with Beverly Watkins, Albert White, Shelton Powe,
Robert Lee Coleman, Nashid and Ardie – Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw, NC, 7pm
(doors)

Music
Maker Relief Foundation, Inc. helps the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of
Southern music gain

recognition
and meet their day to day needs. We present these musical
traditions to the world so American culture will flourish and be preserved for
future generations.

If you like what I’m doing, Like —Bman’s Blues Report— Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! – ”LIKE”

Boo Hanks and Dom Flemon’s collaborative album released!

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