THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9407280206
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Usually Ford Reid, our fishing columnist, writes about the blues. The Outer Banks is renowned for the ``blues blitzes,'' when the bluefish are literally waiting on the shore to be hooked and carried home for some tasty eating. This time around, the blues blitz is about music.
We're talking about the blues. The ``I'm feeling some deep pain and I need to get down in my soul and let it out'' kind of blues. This is real American music - music from Baton Rouge, Memphis and Chicago. In an age of over-produced and over-sung music, the blues are making a comeback and nowhere more than on The Outer Banks.
The Rundown Cafe in Kitty Hawk features a blues night on a regular basis. Rundown's owner, Will Thorp, feels the blues is a return to the roots of rock 'n' roll. ``It's intimate, simple and direct,'' says Thorp.
The Rundown opened in l993. The blues night started in November. Local singer Laura Martier established the blues night, and the response has been so positive that Thorp is featuring the blues several nights a week.
Thorp has booked Kenny Neal for an Aug. 3 show at the Rundown. Neal, a Baton Rouge guitarist/singer, has four Alligator Records' releases under his belt. Neal burst onto the scene in l988 with his debut album, ``Big News From Baton Rouge.'' Neal was hailed as a man with a destiny - a legend in the making, and just six years later, he is fulfilling his destiny. He learned the blues from his father, Baton Rouge singer/harmonica player, Raful Neal, and from family friends, Buddy Guy, Lazy Lester and Slim Harpo.
At one of the early Neal jam sessions, Harpo gave the young, crying Kenny his first harmonica in an effort to pacify him. Kenny mastered that instrument and went on to learn trumpet, bass, piano and guitar, his weapon of choice these days.
Neal played Mex-Econo in Kill Devil Hills on the l988 tour. Thorp, who was playing pool in the club the evening Neal appeared, remembers the night well.
``I was just shooting pool, waiting for the band to start,'' says Thorp. ``All of sudden this guy starts playing, and everybody in the bar starts watching; it was amazing.''
Thorp says there were about 25 people in Mex-Econo that night. Neal was booked for two nights. Things were much different the second night of Neal's gig. Word of this extraordinary musician had been broadcast over the Outer Banks' grapevine and the crowd was standing-room only.
Neal and other blues musicians are receiving significant airplay on WERX, Rock 102. Program director Brent Todd says he believes the blues are resurging, although Todd sees the movement more as awareness than resurgence.
``We are trying to please an adult audience and the blues fit nicely with this approach,'' says Todd. Blues music makes up about a quarter of the station's playlist. Margie Beale, a blues singer who fronts her own band, hosts the Sunday night, ``Blues Report,'' on Rock 102. The two-hour program features a full range of blues and interviews.
``Margie is real knowledgeable about the music, and you can feel that,'' Todd says. Beale gets 50-100 requests weekly.
Catch the blues up and down the Outer Banks. I'll guarantee you'll like Laura Martier, Kenny Neal and Margie Beale.
If not, call me about a rebate. MEMO: John Harper covers Outer Banks music and entertainment for The Carolina
Coast. Send comments, questions and rebate requests to him at P.O. Box
10, Nags Head, N.C. 27959.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Bassist Dexter Whittaker, a member of the Laura Martier & Co. band,
solos during a set at the Rundown Cafe.
BLUES ON THE BANKS
ON RADIO
WERX, Rock 102
Sunday night, 9-ll.
LIVE
Rundown Cafe, milepost 3 on The Beach Road
Laura Martier, every Monday night
Kenny Neal, Wednesday
For more information: 255-0026.
by CNB