On day three of this weeks Lowcountry Blues Bash events, a nice crowd of old and young blues fans showed up at the Pour House on Sun. Feb. 10 for the Memphis-based Daddy Mack Blues Band’s cool set.
Within 20 minutes of the kick-off, lead singer and guitarist “Daddy Mack” Orr, clad in a dapper silver suit and tie and a large-brimmed white fedora hat, started wandering around the club with his vintage Peavey axe and wireless unit. “Turn up the house lights!” he shouted after a few initial moments.
His backing trio — guitarist James Bonner, bassist Harold Bonner, ambidextrous drummer William Faulkner — kept the grooves as Mack soloed, smiled, and strolled slowly from table to table, picking and bending quick phrases with a sharply shrill tone. Back on the stage, he introduced a few numbers off of his two most recent albums — Slow Ride and Bluestones — and graciously greeted the crowd.
Davis Coen, a local guitarist with a half-dozen Blue Bash gigs of his own this week, was on hand. He and I laughed as we agreed that James Bonner played through the smallest Peavey guitar amp ever seen on a Charleston stage. And it sounded awesome.
“Do you like the blues?” he hollered before going into the soulful “It’s Going to Be a Good Day” and the swingin’ reworking of J.J. Cale’s “After Midnight.” Things got loose at a few turns, but every bit of it clicked.
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