My day begins at noon with the first of 4 educational conferences. The first is with the irrepressible R&B shouter Tommy Brown who is articulate, funny and informative about his 50+ years in music. This is followed by a superb session moderated by the great Holly George-Warren called “Here Come the Girls.” This panel is with guitar player and singer Barbara Lynn and the lovely La La Brooks. In this panel these 2 great women discussed their careers from the female perspective. This great panel was followed by a rather strange session with noted New Orleans record dealer Jim Russel. The afternoon was topped off with New Orleans pioneer arranger, bandleader and trumpeter Dave Bartholomew. Bartholomew is one of the great icons of New Orleans music and the session was a real treat moderated by the great British music historian John Broven and our own Dr. Ike.
Next we had a wonderful dinner with historian John Broven, Fats Domino biographer Rick Coleman, studio legend Cosimo Mattassa and singer Gerri Hall then it was off to the evening’s shows.
The second nights shows were more typical Stomp shows then the first night because they featured 2 of the Stomps great backing bands, Paul “Lil Buck” Sinegal and the Topcats and Deke Dickerson and the Eccophonics. One of the most distinctive features of the Stomp is joining these (often) aging performers with absolutely top notch backing bands, giving them settings probably far better than anything they would be able to muster on their own.
The first half of the night featured Lafayette guitar master Lil Buck backing a total of 8 performers. These included funk/R&B singer Willie West, swamp blues harmonica master Lazy Lester who played as good a set of “lazy” swamp blues as you could ever hear. Lester was followed by blued eyed soul singer Roy Head who literally tore the roof off with his high energy set ending with his signature smash “Treat Her Right.” Roy preceded Stomp favorite Barbara Lynn. I love spending time with Barbara who is such a quite, reserved lady. Barbara, who has lived in Beaumont Texas her entire life, is soft spoken and just a delight to be with, but put her on stage and her guitar might as well be a Tommy gun. She delivered a blazing show that had the audience eating out of her hand and screaming as she powered thru a set of R&B classics as well as her own giant hit “You’ll Lose a Good Thing.” Barbara was preceded by a surprise 2 song guest set by Ronnie Spector who looked and sounded great. Ronnie and Barbara were followed by elderly R&B singer/songwriter Sugar Pie DeSanto who did a superb (if oddly sexual) set of classic soul and R&B.
The nights last 4 acts were all backed by Deke Dickerson and his band the Eccophonics. Like Lil’ Buck, Dickerson is a master of (seemingly) all musical styles. Over the years we have seen him do Rockabilly, Western Swing, garage rock, country and all with enormous skill and sensitively. First up was Louisiana rockabilly icon Joe Clay. Joe’s always crowd pleasing set was followed by legendary truck driving country singer Red Simpson. Red’s understated delivery was masterful and Deke brought just the right amount of Bakersfield twang to the occasion – this set was a real treat. Next up was R&B singer Little Jesse who did a red hot, foot stompin’ set of classic R&B, ending with is totally rocking masterpiece “Hit, Git and Split.” The night ended with the original guitar hero of rock and country gentleman Duane Eddy who did a perfect set of his famous guitar instrumentals.
With a twang the 9th annual Ponderosa Stomp drew to a close. As always a great time, being thrilled in seeing performers you never thought you would see, many you barely knew about, but virtually all delightful, surprising and entertaining. The Stomp is a direct look into the face of so many American musical traditions. The Stomp is also an odd little cult; you see many of the same faces each year because for music fans once they come to the Stomp they simply refuse to ever miss it again. During one of the conferences the speaker asked the audience if there was anyone from Europe, in that one small group there were individuals that had flown in from Finland, Germany and England to attend the Stomp! I meet many folks from the Boston area and from all over the country so unique is The Ponderosa Stomp. I suspect most would agree with me when I say God bless the Ponderosa Stomp!
For more information please visit www.ponderosastomp.com
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