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August 31, 2007
Johnny Rawls at Healdsburg Town Plaza Concert 8/28/07
A California summer evening as perfect as it gets ruffled the hair on my arm in the window as I drove north on Hwy 101. Cruising into downtown Healdsburg I saw that the place was packed and I had the sense to park in the municipal lot a block away from the Square. It was truly packed in the Town Plaza and the lawn chairs were packed in. Picnics were in full sway and folding tables groaned under the weight of food and wine bottles. Healdsburg is a premier wine town and people were drinking wine, a lot of wine. I made a note to be just like them next year and have a picnic party all set up. They sure looked like they were having fun.
Around the outside of the Plaza the Farmer’s Market Booths were still set up though the some were already coming down; they had an hour left. The big new gazebo on the east side of the Plaza is a real winner; it’s big enough for all kinds of musical events. Little kids were having a good time running all around and women young and old had on their summer clothes.
In the Gazebo Johnny Rawls and his band of Mike Rippee on drums, Donny Mederos on bass, and Jerome Engleberts on second guitar were just about ready to go. Waves with the band and Donny’s peppy and lovely manager Lynn were all I could manage. The band was ready to go and went into a good opening shuffle. Right away I could see that the sound was going to be fine, with only a touch too much treble in the bass drum mic. Right out of the box Johnny was sounding good and ready for the show.
Over the course of the show Johnny would do a lot of guitar playing. I’ve seen Johnny a number of times now and he has several different types of shows that he can do. In this large crowd with the sun still shining Johnny did the guitar-playing blues man straight up and did a whole lot of his “Mississippi songs” about growing up in Mississippi and being a country boy. Songs like “My Time To Win” came in early. Song selection was pitched to a mostly middle class Plaza audience that wasn’t up and dancing with the first song. The hardcore blues fans were up and dancing right away, and within a few songs a lot of ladies were bouncing in their seats. Slowly the crowd dancing in front of the stage grew and then some psychological point was reached and the flood gates burst and the place was crammed with dancers and a whole second line of dancers formed in the walkway behind the front section of grass seating.
Johnny was really playing a lot of fine guitar and the band was like a perfectly timed and tuned automobile and right with him. Johnny would give the band those classic signals and the band would lower the volume or hold the groove in perfect synchronization. The sunlight was just right and Johnny was in great voice, and the redwoods and palm trees moved in the late afternoon breeze and the dancers began to sway.
“I’m A Country Boy (and I like my love good and strong)” was a long exercise in both guitar playing and in Johnny doing his talking over the song. “See Baby, I’m just a country boy and I work real hard, let me work real hard for you.” This seemed to go over real well with the ladies. On the sides the women were dancing a lot more and more of them came onto the dance area in front of the stage and it got real packed. Again and again Johnny would do guitar solos. Jerome also played a bunch of solos and showed a different complimentary style to Johnny’s stratocaster attack blues licks, more low-toned and more T-Bone Walker styled. It was a great combination of soloists in a tasty package. Sometimes Johnny put down the guitar and was a soul vocalist in front of the band. The band had ferocious groove and Johnny would just go with his great lines and singing. “You see Baby, I need a woman!”
Break was fun with people restocking their wine glasses and mingling. Lis and I were talking up at the northwest corner out of the crush when the band started up with the signature vamp of “Barefootin’!” Both of us made tracks to the front of the stage and were dancing in seconds. “Hey little girl watch what you do, if I barefoot would you barefoot too?” “Barefootin” gradually changed into a soul vamp and became two or three songs, all with fabulous groove that had everybody dancing. The band was cooking, and the place was jumping. Johnny played a bunch of great guitar and Mo was bouncing up and down. Over the last set Johnny got gradually into some of his more discreetly risqué material (“There’s kids out here”) and was making the women grin a lot. Having seen Johnny in June at the Black Cat on a late Sunday night doing the risqué for a willing audience of consenting adults he did tone it down. The ladies were still grinning at him. He had a front dance contest with a young girl in skintight clothes, a middle aged woman who sure knew how to twine, and an eighty-five year old woman who could shake that thing. The whole crowd was laughing and calling out.
Johnny seemed to feel right at home at the end and the band played a bunch of fine tunes with a ton of soul and groove. I’ve seen Johnny a bunch of times and this was one of his finest performances. An appreciative crowd really helps and this crowd was magnificent. Wine country all the way, it was there to enjoy and have fun and Johnny was there to deliver. Johnny made the miracle of the blues and showed everybody’s alike in the blues. Congratulations to Johnny and the band on one of their finest shows in Northern California. I hope you get to see Johnny during his present tour of Northern California. Don’t miss this veteran blues man and the fine band he has with him.
Posted by Rolfyboy6 at August 31, 2007 03:20 PM