One
of the unexpected developments during my two tours in Charleston was a new
found love of live music – especially the Blues. From 2003-2005
I lived in a city with nightlife for the first time in my life. This was also my first real exposure to
live music at every turn.
Charleston is a great city for performers and artists. Great music is tucked into the nooks
and crannies that pepper King, Queen, Market, and High Street. Cover bands, jazz, rock, reggae,
country, and the Blues provided an eclectic soundtrack for my two years in
Chuck-town.
My
favorite club, however, was Mama’s Blues
Palace on John Street. The
house band Mama & the Misfits was
the lovechild of a pair of retired schoolteachers. Mama and Papa Dupree, their son Jo-Jo, and a group of some
of the most talented artists I’ve ever heard blew the roof off that club every
weekend. My friends and I made it
a point to check out the show at Mama’s as often as we could.
It
was in that dingy little blues bar on John Street, where we met Del Rae, a jazz
singer, piano player, and composer.
Del, who famously hated Stevie Wonder for beating her out for ‘song of
the year’ at some point in the late 70’s, was standing the warm up act. Well into her 80’s by the time we met
her, she warmed up the house for an hour every Thursday thru Saturday.
After
her set she’d visit with us early birds and let us buy her a drink. She was a great old lady. She was one classy lady (unless you got
her talking about Stevie Wonder).
Over the course of our visits, Del taught us that music had to come from
the soul, and as long as you had music you could live a long and happy
life.
Mama’s
Blues Palace closed in 2004, while I was home for a visit so I missed the last
show. The Misfits broke up, and
Mama only rarely played during the last year of my assignment in
Charleston. I am happy to report
though, that Mama, Papa Dupree and Jojo are back performing in the clubs of
South Carolina under the new name of Mama & The Redemption Band.
There
is an impermanence of life that forces us or allows us to change, adapt and
evolve – that’s true in the Blues as well. No one sings about being blue, always being blue, and
staying blue forever. The Blues
are about transitions. Times were
good, now they’re not. Times are
bad, but tomorrow will be better.
I’m suffering, but I have my guitar so it could be worse. That’s why we come back to the blues, because we are always
in transition. Riding the
wild rollercoaster of life, and jamming the entire way.
Mama and The Redemption Band (formerly Mama & The Misfits)
***NOTE: I have not had much luck finding any of Del Rae's music (at least not the Del we met). If anyone is able to point me in the right direction to songs either written or recorded by Del, I would be most grateful. We have her picture and an autograph -- but I'd like to hear her sing again. Thanks, NTS.
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