I've posted a couple of coy, mysterious photos of clear blue ocean on my socials this week, but now I'll come clean. For the second year in a row, I was invited to be an official part of Delbert McClinton's Sandy Beaches Cruise, the longest running music cruise in the business and a who's who of Texas/Gulf Coast blues and R&B. My job is to host daytime interview sessions with selected artists, this year Paul Thorn, The McCrary Sisters, Teresa James and the mighty Los Lobos. Last year you might recall, I posted an account of my experience with context about the music cruise business as both a web story and an hour of The String. This is not that. I just wanted to dash off a postcard in hopes that it will send a little warmth and energy back home to a chilly Middle Tennessee.
The 29th Sandy Beaches began with a sundown "Sailaway Party" featuring Austin's wacky and inimitable Shinyribs taking to the remarkable Seaview stage on the aft deck of the Holland Americana cruise ship Nieuw Amsterdam, about ten stories above the water. As the vessel pulled out of a Fort Lauderdale port, Kevin Russell danced and strutted in his mirrored purple sport coat, weaving his own songs like "Red Quasar" with a Hank Williams cover and medleys that quoted Fleetwood Mac, Dolly and more. Few blend substance with goofy fun better than Russell.
I watched a British documentary about Stevie Ray Vaughan just over a week ago, so it was interesting to see his older brother Jimmie booked to play a set on opening night in the impressive World Stage theater. He implicitly paid tribute to the late SRV by offering "Texas Flood" but the highlight was his patiently succulent rendition of Slide Hampton's big band tune "Frame For The Blues." It showcased the band's three horns, which seems to be the favorite format for many of the artists here. Vaughan, now 73, is back after canceling dates in 2024 to deal with cancer, so we wish him well. He's a master of the lonesome "woman-won’t-you-come-back-home" song.
Former Nashvillian Seth Walker (the man behind the guitar on WMOT's homepage banner illustration all these years) is here, and that's a thrill because he delivers the blues with extra doses of harmonic panache and songwriting in the lineage of Willie Dixon and Doc Pomus. He played with a quartet in the Rolling Stone Lounge, spinning his silky tunes and carefully wrought guitar solos for a focused crowd. The vocal harmonies coming from his bass player and drummer were also a huge asset.
On Monday I made a point to see another excellent Seth, whom I somehow missed last year, and that's Texan Seth James. He looks like a cowboy with his wide hat, square jaw and crisp western shirts, and indeed he came up working cattle in King County, TX. But instead of country, out of his mouth comes some of the funkiest and saltiest R&B I've heard. He's a singer in the vein of Delbert himself, a kind of heir apparent as his 2024 album Lessons (full of Delbert covers) suggested. But he's got his own sound for sure and he's a good songwriter as his first two albums demonstrate. He acknowledged Nashville's Kevin McKendree, rocking along on the organ to his right, as his most frequent co-writer and musical partner.
Los Lobos played their first of three sets on Monday evening, leaning into the kind of vintage rock and roll that filled their Grammy-winning album Native Sons, curated from songs they loved growing up in LA in the 1960 and 70s. They played a Johnny Thunder song and “One Way Out” by the Allman Brothers. But they also delivered their own “Dream In Blue” from the mighty 1992 Kiko album and a few Tex Mex songs. I’m hoping for more of that on their next go-round tonight. The three electric guitar front of Cesar Rosas, Louie Perez and David Hidalgo was formidable, and they didn’t skimp on jamming. Mostly I was nervous about our interview before a live audience on Tuesday afternoon. I shouldn’t have been. Rosas, Perez and sax/keys player Steve Berlin traded stories about their formative years and their steady climb with keen memories and humor.
Aboard are Sandy Beaches veterans like Marcia Ball (whom I interviewed here last year), guitarist/songwriter Carolyn Wonderland, R&B belter Jimmy Hall, country blues rocker Lee Roy Parnell, and Cajun country artist Wayne Toups. I’m sure I’ll hear them all before the week is over on Saturday night. Some of my favorite stuff though comes from the old hands who have been given residencies of sorts in the forward bar with a panoramic sea view called the Crow’s Nest. Big Joe Maher, one of the most storied drummers in the blues and a fine singer from his kit, has held down great jam sessions full of deep cuts featuring Anson Funderburgh on guitar. And last year I fell in love with the music of Red Young, a veteran keys player and arranger who at age 76 looks, acts, and sings decades younger. The many horn players aboard line up to play with him, because Red provides gloriously worked out horn charts that bring strong jazz big band ideas to this ship of blues. I’m scheduled to sit down with him for what should be a remarkable String interview.
I have to suffer this hardship assignment for a few more days. See you on shore in Nashville next week.
