A BluePower CD Profile....Kemp Harris', Edenton!

In a world where most people pander their wares to buyers, there occasionally comes someone who just doesn't care about convention and delivers a product so startlingly real, the markets shy away in fear.

Kemp Harris has combined traditional blues and gospel and come up with a most chilling description of the world today.

Edenton shines as a true and authentic blues work. No pretty gloss here, just the raw, crying of a man with a desperate need to be heard. And these songs should be heard. Every radio station in America should play this album, but they won't because the music will scare them and the lyrics will shock them to the core of their mediocre hearts.

This album hearkens back to a time when the blues was a reality; when folks had to say something about the discord and privation in this, the land of the free. Back to the true blues messenger. Back to the truth.

Edenton....It's the real deal!

Here's the music:

1)...."Sometimes"....Kemp Harris
2)...."Tryin' Times"....Kemp Harris
3)...."Mother Earth"....Kemp Harris
4)...."Sweet Weepin' Jesus"....Kemp Harris
5)...."Ruthie's"....Kemp Harris
6)...."Didn't It Rain"....Kemp Harris w/Mabel Marshall & Eleanor Mapp 7)...."Edenton"....Kemp Harris

The musicians are:

Kemp Harris........Vocals & Piano
Jim Lucchese.......Drums
Josh Stoltzfus......Guitar
Brian Verrochi.....Bass

With Special Guests: The Holmes Brothers (backing vocals), Adam Oh (harp) and Lydia Harrell (backing vocals)

Produced by: Kemp Harris, Jim Lucchese and Josh Stoltzfus

Click here to listen to....Kemp Harris', Edenton!

Record company has granted BluePower the right to play the music for promotional purposes!

Meet Dr. Ike....The Man Behind The Ponderosa Stomp!

Meet Dr. Ike. By day he’s a doctor. By night, he’s the indie-est man in the music business.

For the past six years, a New Orleans anesthesiologist named Dr. Ike (née Ira Padnos) has produced the world-renowned annual roots music romp in New Orleans called Ponderosa Stomp — just for the pleasure of seeing his vast vintage record collection come to life onstage.

He uses every waking hour while not in surgery to track down forgotten legends of blues, R&B, rockabilly, garage rock, traditional country and swamp pop whom many of us didn’t even know were still alive. If they can still evoke magic onstage, Dr. Ike brings them to Ponderosa Stomp. Even Katrina couldn’t stop the Stomp — although it did put it in exile for one year to another great roots music city, Memphis. This year it’s it’s back home in New Orleans on Wednesday, May 2 at the House of Blues.

Funded from his paycheck as well as an array of sponsors who “get it,” coordinated by a loose but devoted band of music freaks known as the Mystic Knights of the Mau-Mau (a non-profit foundation), Ponderosa Stomp is easily the “indie”-est music festival in America. No concert conglomerates are involved. In fact, most of the artists aren’t even on labels at this point and have come out of retirement at Dr. Ike’s persuasion, just to play the Stomp — only to surprise themselves that they still have it. You won’t see them anywhere else. And you may never see many of them again.

Among the artists who have played or will play Ponderosa Stomp are Lazy Lester (whose song “Ponderosa Stomp” lent the festival its name) Roky Erickson, Link Wray, Roy Head, Archie Bell, William Bell, Blowfly, Dale Hawkins, the Tennessee Three, Little Jimmy Scott, Rudy Ray Moore, Jean Knight, Dave Bartholomew, Brenton Wood, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Hubert Sumlin, Billy Lee Riley, Bobby Rush, Dan Penn, Augie Meyers, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sam the Sham, Hi Rhythm Section, Syl Johnson, ? & the Mysterians, Eddie Bo, Arch Hall Jr., Sam Carr, Tony Joe White, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Ace Cannon, Howard Tate, the Bad Roads, John Fred, William Bell, DJ Fontana, Scotty Moore, Earl King, Bobby Patterson, Matt Lucas and more. It’s a sick amount of fun.

Truly now, does it get “indie”-er than that?

Anyone crazy enough to invest themselves so fully in such an odd, money-losing but musically gratifying festival year after year should probably have their head examined. There’s a dynamic story to be written about this man. Dr. Ike is available for interviews — if he’s not administering surgery, he’s yours. Let us know at cary@conqueroo.com.

Ponderosa Stomp is May 2 in New Orleans. Once you’ve recovered from SXSW, let’s talk.
And make your airline reservations soon!