Now Playing: "I'll Be Your Fool" by Sonny Boy Terry (2.3 MB sample)
Also visit: The Sonny Boy Terry MySpace web page.
Sonny Boy Terry, a Van Wert, Ohio native who has long been considered the top harmonica player in Houston, Texas, will bring his brand of Gulf Coast blues to the 2008 Riverside Bluesfest in St. Marys, Ohio on Labor Day weekend.
Terry Jerome was playing harp for a local band called “Voyager” and working a second shift job in 1981 when the conflicts in his schedule became too much for his employer and he was “asked to quit.” A friend who had recently relocated to Houston, Texas found Jerome a job and the Texas blues scene was too much for the Ohio musician to resist.
In Houston, he met Johnny Winter's former drummer Uncle John Turner, who became Terry's mentor, introducing Terry into the inner circle of blues artists in the area. In a couple of years, the band Terry had joined was opening for now famous acts like John Hammond Jr., Robert Cray, Los Lobos and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
By 1984 Terry Jerome's blues reputation was established. Introduced with a wink by a local host at a Sunday blues jam session as “Sonny Boy Terry” -- a reference to blues harp legends Sonny Terry and both Sonny Boy Williamsons -- the nickname stuck when the Houston Chronicle music critic used it the next day in his write-up of the evening.
In the late '80s and early '90s, Sonny Boy Terry not only played the Texas circuit but also toured the USA and Europe, first with Kinney Adair and then with Joe “Guitar” Hughes, working over two hundred dates a year. This touring resulted in Sonny Boy Terry's appearance on a couple of Dutch label blues albums that took his music to a wider international audience, and led to work on a Polygram album with Johnny “Clyde” Copeland.
Sonny Boy Terry's dedication to the blues is documented by his founding the Houston Blues Society in 1993, to “promote and preserve Houston's rich blues heritage.” Under his leadership, in three years the organization received national recognition as the winner of the W.C. Handy “Keepin' The Blues Alive” award from the Blues Foundation, based in Memphis, Tenneessee.
After a more than a decade of work as a side-man, Sonny Boy Terry formed his own band in 1995. Their self-produced CD “Breakfast Dance” was recorded in 2000, and has now been re-released on the Austin-based Doc Blues Records. “Breakfast Dance” was followed by “Live At Miss Ann's Playpen,” and a new Sonny Boy Terry CD is due out this year.
With more than 100 blues, zydeco, country, folk and gospel harp players and bands listed as “influences” on his web site, Sonny Boy Terry's music covers a wide range of genres while remaining true to the blues. His traditional up-tempo jump blues style promises good serious fun, and delivers. Don't miss this chance to hear Sonny Boy Terry in a rare Ohio appearance at the Riverside Bluesfest on August 30, 2008.
The Riverside Bluesfest is a celebration of the Blues music genre, held annually during Labor Day weekend at K.C. Geiger Park in St. Marys, Ohio. The celebration includes live music, food, refreshments and related activities in a family-friendly atmosphere. A production of the K.C. Geiger Park Improvement Committee, the Riverside Bluesfest is a not-for-profit event with proceeds going toward the K.C. Geiger Park Improvement Fund.
Sonny Boy Terry will join Stacy Mitchhart and the Jimi Vincent Band on stage, along with two other internationally-known artists yet to be announced. Tickets go on sale Memorial Day on www.ticketweb.com, and will be $15 in advance and $20 the day of the show.
The opening act at the Riverside Bluesfest will be the winners of the 2008 Blues Challenge: Lima, Ohio band "No Right Turn."
Riverside Bluesfest ticket information and the latest Bluesfest news can be found online at www.stmarysblues.com.
