Singer-Songwriter Sundays Raise a Big Stink

By Chris Manson February 7, 2008 Issue

Aside from coming up with the name of the place, the smartest thing the proprietor of Stinky’s Fish Camp did was employing “Blue” Lew Hogue as the restaurant’s musical director. Here is a guy who loves music—loves playing it, listening to it, talking about it.

Singer-songwriter Sunday has been part of the entertainment package since Stinky’s opened last April. I found out about it through the South Walton Message Board. “I love it,” Hogue says of the website. “It’s free, and it’s so easy to converse with people you don’t know and become friends.” However, he adds that he and wife Nora still write all their comments on paper first.

Sunday nights are usually dominated by Ted Cobena and Hogue d/b/a Quite the Duo. With the addition of bass player and guitarist Butch Blasingame tonight, it’s actually three-fourths of the much-loved Loco Locals with Nora sitting this one out.

Then there are the guests. “Anyone that wants to can come by, whether it’s original music or an original way of doing something,” says Hogue. “We’ll give them one shot, and if they’re good, we’ll let them play all night. We haven’t had to break out the hook yet!”

Last week, J.B. Roberts—a young musician from Troy, Ala. — called right when we were getting ready to get done, so we stayed open an extra 45 minutes,” says Hogue. “He’s very original, very southern blues.”

Cobena adds, “He had some funk in him, kind of like Little Feat.”

“It’s a jumping off point for people to play on Friday nights and get paid for it,” says Hogue.

There is plenty of great music to enjoy here. Alice Bergeron, who recently recorded some tracks at Cobena’s home studio, is a familiar face, and so are Dave Pretlow and Coconut Radio. The Michael Foster Project, a New Orleans brass band, will appear to celebrate Mardi Gras. Dread Clampitt turns up at least once a month —“You can’t move,” says Hogue—and soon Clampitt’s Kenny Oliverio will have a solo spot at Stinky’s.

“We’re trying to do a rotation with six to eight good artists on Fridays,” says Hogue. “To make it easier on everyone.”

The Loco Locals, meanwhile, will bring their winning mix of bluesy and beachy music to Gulf Place Memorial Day Weekend. They have a new album out, too—It Is What It Is, recorded mostly at Blasingame’s studio. The dozen originals are all solid; that’s six more songs of quality than the new Eagles CD. One of my favorite lyrics has Hogue singing “They’re changing the menu ‘cause the ‘birds are in town.” You can pick up a copy at any Locos appearance and from Web sellers CD Baby (recommended) and iTunes (proceed with caution). The colorful cover art is by Cynthia S. Keller, a dear friend of this publication.

Quite the Duo plus one begin their 8:30 set with the T-Bone Walker blues Stormy Monday. Hogue plays acoustic guitar, Blasingame thumps along on electric bass, and Cobena employs a less-is-more philosophy with brushes and a single snare drum. Hogue’s growling vocals are a plus.

Mean Old Frisco gets a slightly more rockabilly treatment. Hogue wraps up the song by informing the patrons he’s been listening to John Lee Hooker all day. Later, he tells me about a fantastic website called Pandora Radio.

“Lord, it’s been rainin’ on my side of town,” Hogue wails on his original What Was You Thinkin’., “Even when the sun comes out, the cold raindrops keep fallin’ down.” Blasingame plays some fluid electric guitar on this one, and just once I’d like to hear him trade blues licks with Black Cat Bone’s Hans McMinamin. Later, Hogue says he wrote the song three weeks ago about a friend who lost his young daughter.

Next, another “new twist on an old song” as Hogue and his pals transform Jimmy Reed’s immortal classic Baby What You Want Me to Do. A call to “do something Southern” finds Cobena adding congas to Skynyrd’s The Ballad of Curtis Loew. The set ends magnificently with Hank’s Move It On Over. Who can resist “I’m in the doghouse scratchin’ fleas” paired with Blasingame’s spaced-out guitar effects?

The Beat Recommends:
• Ronnie Earl: Hope Radio (Stony Plain Recording Co.). Spellbinding, all-instrumental, guitar-heavy blues recorded live. Highlights include Beautiful Child, which 18-years-sober Earl dedicates to “all the sick and suffering addicts in the world today.”
• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raising Sand (Rounder). This T-Bone Burnett production confirms Plant’s greatness as a solo artist, and makes you hope they’ll postpone that full-on Zep reunion unless they can get Krauss to sit in.
• Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (New West). With Jason Isbell gone, bassist Shonna Tucker joins in on vocals while founding members Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley continue to stake out new musical and lyrical terrain. All 19 songs are solid, which is 13 more songs of quality than the new Eagles CD.

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