Joe Fingers Puts the Roll Back in Rock and Roll

By Chris Manson August 9, 2007 Issue

When I arrive at Maas Coffee Roasters in downtown Fort Walton Beach’s Miracle Strip Parkway, Joe Fingers—nom de piano of Joe Fuller—is joined by 16-year-old singer Faith Karwacki. “I’d never met her before,” Joe says. “The owner is good about promoting this. It’s not ‘official’ open mic, but if you want to play, we’ll work it out.” While Joe and I talk, he relinquishes the stage to Matt Foley — a singer-guitarist from Navarre – for several songs, notably Bob Seger’s rarely played The Fire Inside.

Joe plays keyboard-driven rock and roll in the grand tradition of Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, and Little Richard. I’d seen him over the past four years with Hans McMinamin in Black Cat Bone as well as numerous other bands. I always admired his gifts as an instrumentalist, but tonight I suspect I might have underestimated his vocal talents.

Jim Maas’ coffee house has played host to Joe Fingers for three months now. A 27-year-old jazz guitarist, Steve Perkins, usually joins Joe. “We do bluesy stuff,” Joe says. “We play standards and improvise off them. I met Steve and he said, ‘Mind if I come back and jam?’ That’s the whole idea—to keep it lively and interesting for folks. It’s not your standard nightclub thing where’s there’s just one person.”

As a kid, Joe started out behind a drum kit. “But I got tired of the band mentality,” he says. “I took up the piano so I could play New Orleans style boogie-woogie, Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, Dr. John. That’s kind of my forte now.” It was a short trip from the Big Easy to Chicago and the great blues legends. “Then I lived in California for a while and became a fan of Tom Waits and Randy Newman.” He and Foley team up for a marvelous take on Waits’ The Heart of Saturday Night.

Tonight’s gig is also generous with original songs like Goin’ Southwest and Worry ‘Bout My Baby (Outside in the Rain). In 2000, Joe released an album of solo recordings, For Cryin’ Out Loud. One of his most popular originals from that album, Peace, Love and Everything (“about a phantom hippie bus”) is performed here often. Like many musicians around these parts, he has a little recording studio in his home. His other passions include poetry, boxing, and a novel-in-progress. Joe promises the finished book will be somewhat autobiographical with lots of material inspired by his musical adventures.

Joe has been at it since 1963, but when he moved here in 1977 he stopped performing in public. In 1993, his longtime friend Janet encouraged him to play at a now-defunct jazz and blues club where Joe hooked up with various other musicians.

Maas opened Maas Coffee Roasters about six months ago. Joe and his friends play out back, where patrons can enjoy freshly roasted coffee, pastries, and the best pizza on Earth from Fat Clemenza’s in Destin. “I’ve known Jim for probably 10 years,” Joe says. “When he told me about his coffeehouse, I offered to do music. I wanted to do something a little different. We’re starting to build this up. Jim more or less lets me do what I want—within reason. It’s mutually beneficial. What I like most about this is stretching, seeing where it goes.”

This being the time of year that it is — the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death — the conversation turns to the King. “I was of the generation that wasn’t supposed to like Elvis until I saw the ’68 comeback special,” Joe says. “The eulogy in Rolling Stone magazine was the only thing written about him that wasn’t sensationalized.” Later, Presley’s influence is acknowledged during a rendition of Jailhouse Rock and a take on Hound Dog that owes a large debt to Big Mama Thornton’s original. Fats Domino gets his props when Joe introduces Blueberry Hill as “the first song I ever learned on piano.”

The small Friday night crowd seems to enjoy good old rock and roll — hard to resist when it’s played with so much energy and sense of fun. There’s Kansas City, Dion’s Runaround Sue, Mungo Jerry’s In the Summertime (which includes a seamless transition into Domino’s Whole Lotta Lovin’ and a whole lotta playful scat singing), a blues song about Joe’s baby running off with the bus driver, and Got My Mind Set on You. That last one was a chart-topper for George Harrison in the late 1980s, but I suspect Joe’s version is closer to the obscure 1962 recording by James Ray.

This Christmas, Joe Fingers plans to perform a tribute to Huey “Piano” Smith’s 1961 Christmas album. “I’m gonna promote myself as ‘Boogie-Woogie Santa Claus,’ and play all the songs,” Joe says. “I finally tracked down a copy of the album after they played some of tracks on NPR. This has always been a dream of mine.”

Chris Recommends:
Stephen Marley: Mind Control (Tuff Gong/Universal)
Carolina Chocolate Drops: Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind (Music Maker) Thanks, Tricia.
DVD—Jerry Lee Lewis: Live from Austin, TX (New West)
Jason Isbell: Sirens of the Ditch (New West)
Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Live at the Fillmore East March 6 & 7, 1970 (Reprise)
Stevie Nicks: Crystal Visions… the Very Best of Stevie Nicks (CD & DVD) (Reprise)

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