I'm genuinely excited by a new project that I'm taking part in.
About a month ago, I got an email from somebody named Rod Patterson. His stage name is "Sir Rod," taken I gather from Sir Mix-a-Lot; he's a 54 year old man who looks 35 and who happens to be Sterling "Mr. Satan" Magee's nephew. He's a man of many talents, but he makes his living primarily in two ways: by doing anti-bullying presentations in schools, black and white, something he's been doing for many years; and by doing singing/dancing shows in nursing homes and other community venues in which he features the songs of Ray Charles, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Michael Jackson, and the Temptations.
He told me that he was born to sing the blues; that his uncle Sterling had lived with his family for a couple of years when he was a teen--several years before I hooked up with Sterling on the streets of Harlem; and that he wanted to join forces with the Blues Doctors, learn from me, and take the next step.
He ended up driving over to Oxford a couple of weeks later and we spent two days in the recording studio. I was blown away, frankly, but what we were able to achieve. Half of the eight songs we recorded were Satan & Adam originals; the other half were songs Sterling and I recorded and/or performed on the streets, including "I Feel Good," "No More Doggin'," "Little Red Rooster," and "What'd I Say."
It feels like a natural, almost uncannily so. So we've decided to give it a go. The Blues Doctors aren't dissolving, but we're shifting our energies in a major way towards this new act--and we'll be issuing our first album, entitled "Brother Sterling," sometime in May, I hope. We need another day in the studio and another three tunes.
We're planning on bringing Rod along to our three gigs in mid-March: St. Louis, Chicago (Rosa's) and New Berlin, IL:
3/19/20: St. Louis, MO - Joe's Cafe Concerts (Blues Doctors, 8 PM)
3/21/20: Chicago, IL - Rosa's Lounge (Blues Doctors, 8:30-9:30 PM)
3/22/20: New Berlin, IL - Danenberger Family Vineyard (Blues Doctors, TBA)
I've also approached Roger Stolle about playing Juke Joint Fest, and if Rod is free, that will happen.
Rod took the liberty of sharing an unmastered version of "Little Red Rooster" on his YouTube channel. I'm not going to share anything until it's 100% ready, but since he's gone public with that, I'll share it here:
Keep in mind that although Rod has been dancing and making money at it since he was a teen, this was his very first recording session and the first time he's been part of a blues band. I'm excited by the possibilities. I still haven't seen him dance live, but the contemporary blues world doesn't have a lot of that, and I'm excited by the prospect of having him as a front man.
Here's a brief video into we did after the session:
Sounds great. I'm always amazed by how many talented people are out there, just waiting for the right opportunity to let them do something great artistically.
There is that great legacy feature, his relationship with Sterling. And then his serious talent. Synergy. It's a great place to live. Y'all embrace the opportunity and take it where it must go. ---------- Music and travel destroy prejudice.
