For those who are interested in younger blues players, I'm going to suggest that you keep your eye on Marcus "Mookie" Cartwright, 19 years old. He's a guitarist and singer from the Arkansas Delta near Helena. He's a friend of Shine Turner's, so we took a break yesterday and had him sit in. He played a solo set. He stopped the crowd dead. He did all the old Delta blues stuff, John Lee Hooker style, just an electric guitar, a foot, and his voice.
Here's a video from last year. It gives you a basic sense of where he's coming from, but he's gotten better than this. He's a good looking, extremely personable young man.
He made the music live and breathe. He doesn't sound like a relic or a museum piece. He makes you understand what it must have been like to be in the presence of the Old Guys when they were young guys.
The proof is in the pudding. He made about forty dollars in the 35 minutes he played. At the end, people were walking up to him and putting bills on top of the speaker cabinet next to him. I told him that it's only a matter of time before managers, booking agents, and movie people come knocking.
You heard it here. Remember the name: Marcus "Mookie" Cartwright.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Apr 15, 2013 4:23 AM
