Photos by Laura Carbone
Notes on a show: Chris Barnes’ comments on Chris Badnews Barnes & Vanessa Collier at Terra Blues
How about I share the thrill of being back on stage, playing live, at Terra Blues, on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village? The stage has been graced by some of the greatest blues performers for the past 30 years: Hubert Sumlin, Little Milton, Magic Slim, the Holmes Brothers and Johnny Clyde Copeland, to name a few. Now that I’m in the rotation, I have to work hard to hold my place on the calendar. For these shows, we focused on the original songs Tom Hambridge and I wrote from my latest Vizztone album, BadNews Rising (October, 2021).
The week started with the official New York City news that Coronavirus restrictions would be eased. With that, Greenwich Village and Bleecker Street was alive with citizens celebrating. European blues aficionados flock to Terra Blues to sit elbow-to-elbow with the Village blues regulars who stay until the final down beat at 2 AM. Slow blues is the Gospel in this temple, with emphasis on the loud silence between the notes.
On stage, Tony Lewis was on drums (Dizzy Gillespie, Sting, Little Richard, Sam Moore). I love drummers who lead from the rear and make active choices. The drummer brings the rhythm and the bassist brings the groove, giving harmonic context to the rhythm, and here, left of the high hat, on bass, was Steve Count (Johnny Copeland, Southside Johnny, Harlem Parlour Music Club). Every note matters to Ann Klein on guitar, (Ani DiFranco, Joan Osborne, Nona Hendryx); I know, I’ve been playing with for seven years and trust her completely. I’ve also performed with Bette Sussman (Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Cindi Lauper) for seven years., and on piano, she’s simply the best. Cue up Whitney Houston’s version of the Dolly Parton classic “I Will Always Love You”— I’m sure you have one, it sold over 17 million copies— that’s Bette on piano. My favorite musician, performer and human being, two-time Blues Music Award Horn Player of The Year Winner, Vanessa Collier is the hardest working woman in show business. Her tenor sax solos bring an overture of sonic bliss. There is no one I enjoy performing with more than Vanessa Collier.
Nothing has been more fulfilling than performing “When Koko Came to Town,” “You Gotta learn the Blues” (John Hahn) and “I Slow Danced with Joni Mitchell,” to a packed house singing the words of our songs. The attentive blues clientele of Terra Blues offers even more magic: guitar gunslingers leaning on the bar with their weapon of choice resting alongside them in a touring case, maybe joining us to rock the Kasbah.
This night would be no different. Arthur Neilson, NYC born and raised “was in da house!” Arthur played on these very streets as a teenager with legends like B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, and Albert King. Neilson’s tone rose to the occasion like only a true Master does, and I’m humbled by the experience.
The joint was packed for all three sets. We worked, we did our job and the audience responded with the appreciation that only comes from a well-groomed blues club in the center of the world, in a historic neighborhood on a legendary street on a cold, cold night.
I can’t wait to do it all again.
—Chris Badnews Barnes
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