Players of the blues these days are immersed in a tight little world, congregating in such storied venues as the Bleeker Street mainstay Terra Blues, honing their craft in the company of other musicians who are pushing the depth of emotion that defines this genre.
For the second year in a row, a group of talented musicians held together by the thread of Terra Blues are making their way east to Greenport this Saturday, Aug. 15, for an evening they’re hoping will make visitors to the North Fork Arts Center feel like they’re in a blues club in the middle of Greenwich Village.
Pictured Above: SaRon Crenshaw
When you make your way up from the street to the vaulted hall of Terra Blues, the walls fill you with the club’s 36-year history, packed with photographs of what seems like every musician who has ever come through its doors.
Shelter Islander Jonathan Russo, a blues enthusiast and talent agent who spends a lot of time at Terra Blues, first connected former NFAC Executive Director Tony Spiridakis last year with bassist and festival organizer Mike Griot, who has a deep network of downtown players and friends. The pairing clicked, and they produced a sold-out show.
This year, Mr. Griot is again bringing players back to the Greenport stage for what he’s hoping will become an annual Blues Night in the Arts Center’s Sapan Greenport Theater.
“This was Jonathan’s idea — he was always hanging out at Terra Blues and at the couple other blues clubs in the city, and he wanted people in Greenport to feel the same feeling of the beauty and nostalgia of blues,” said Mr. Griot. “There’s a lot of high level blues going on in New York — you just have to go to right place to hear it. I know this year’s performers very well — we’re all colleagues on the New York scene.”
This year’s headline act will be the SaRon Crenshaw Band, led by an accomplished guitarist who has opened for Robert Cray and B.B. King on the big stages and has recorded with a host of fine blues musicians. He’s been building a reputation for his warm voice and his keen sense of how the dynamics of his playing can keep a room hanging on every phrase.
“That way I feel — it’s a little bit more intimate,” he once told Global Rhythms magazine after a show at Terra Blues. “In other words, you grab the people’s attention and pull them to you.”
“He’s been a mainstay for decades all around the country and the world. He has a polished, authentic, soulful style of blues,” said Mr. Griot.
Guitarist Bobby Bryan and vocalist Seydurah Avecmo will kick off the evening.
“Bobby’s been doing this a long time, and Seydurah is emerging on the scene. I think she’s gonna sit in with him,” said Mr. Griot. “The last couple years she’s been at Terra Blues regularly. She has an authentic storytelling, Koko Taylor-sort of style. So we have three different shades of the blues in the show.”
Mr. Griot wasn’t quite sure what to expect when he first took a train out to Greenport to scope out venues for the show with Mr. Russo, who had initially been thinking of holding the concert in the American Legion Hall on Third Street.
“But there was another place around the corner, an arts center that was just getting their sea legs in terms of programming,” said Mr. Griot.
The former movie theater is “not necessarily a concert venue, but with a little work I thought this could work,” he added. “Last year couldn’t have gone any better. First year events can be tricky, but it was a sell-out. The venue was happy. I was happy. It was a great launch.”
This year, he said, he’s even happier because the second story main theater at the North Fork Arts Center now has an elevator, though it is a passenger elevator that is not capable of carrying large pieces of equipment — a freight elevator is part of NFAC’s long-term plans for the space.
“Those stairs going up to performance space, with the tech having to be lifted, by people, is a big thing,” said Mr. Griot. “It’s not necessarily configured for concerts but hopefully they can retrofit it so it’s easier to do live music regularly.”
Mr. Russo is hoping this partnership will help bring younger audiences to the blues, which often goes through phases of popularity.
“Jonathan really believes young people would have a cultural epiphany if they would really commit to coming to this event,” said Mr. Griot.
“When I give advice to young musicians, I tell them not to practice the same things over and over again. A lot of young players practice, but they don’t know what to practice,” he said. “I tell youngsters the best thing you can do is have huge ears and be informed by every style you hear, because you can make it part of your own act. I can hear right away what you don’t do when you’re practicing, by the way you play. Maybe you think you’re doing it, its like everything else in life, everything comes out in the wash.
“The New York story is that you’ve gotta go somewhere to cut your teeth and hone your craft — Terra Blues is still that place where both seasoned pros and upstarts all go and hone their craft,” he added.
As to a third Blues Night in 2027?
“If we get the turnout we had, I’m pretty sure there won’t be any objection to continuing this as an annual event,” he said. “It has gotten beyond proof of concept, which is the most important part.”
“Blues night should be a lot of fun,” agrees North Fork Arts Center Executive Director Alison Omens. “The band and the music are amazing.”
Blues Night at the North Fork Arts Center will be Saturday, Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $75 and are available online here. The venue is at 211 Front Street in Greenport.
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