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Little
Joe McLerran, "Perhaps the finest Piedmont Blues player
on the face of God's green earth," writes Billy Austin,
editor of Blues News.
No small wonder.
Little Joe has
spent 16 of his 24 years on God's green earth working on his
Piedmont chops. For his first
public
performance Joe sang a Leadbelly song and played another by
Rev. Gary Davis as his 4th grade classmates provided theatrical
support.
Little Joe was
born in Boulder, Colorado in July 1983. By the time he was nine
years old, Joe and his younger brother Jesse had started their
first band, "Buddy Hollywood." With Jesse on drums,
they would set up on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder playing
Beatles, Bob Marley, and all those great old blues songs Joe
was learning. Mall patrons were amazed to hear these young kids
also performing songs by Big Bill Broonzy, Skip James, and Mississippi
John Hurt, followed by "Ob La Dee Ob La Da" or "Redemption
Song." They could make a couple hundred bucks in a couple
of hours. Their hat was always filled with tips whenever they
performed on the mall, much to the dismay of the homeless guys
hanging out playing Eagles songs.
When Joe turned
15, the McLerran family moved to Tulsa where Jesse took up the
washboard and the brothers started playing the old blues songs
again. Jesse patterned his washboard after that of Washboard
Chaz Leary from New Orleans, a long-time family friend and his
godfather.
Joey
changed his name to "Son Piedmont," inspired by the
Piedmont Blues, a style popular in the southeast USA during
the '20s and '30s; his brother became "Washboard Jesse."
But with no street malls in Tulsa, gigs were scarce and, being
16 and 17, bars were out of the question. They finally landed
a steady Sunday afternoon gig at the Rivers Edge Bistro and
caught the attention of many of Tulsa's finest musicians. This
led to other restaurant gigs and private parties. That year
Jimmy Junior Markham encouraged their talent with an invitation
to play the Oklahoma Blues Festival.
Enlisting their
father on bass, they began working on a CD project, inviting
friends to join them: Dexter
Payne, a multi-instrumentalist from Boulder, and Big Mike T.
Travelletti, a harp player from Sapulpa. During the final stages
of mixing the CD, Jesse McLerran was killed in an accident.
Joey was devastated by his brother's sudden death and nearly
a year passed before he could bear to listen to those tracks
again. Playing music, other than in the solitude of his home,
was the last thing on Joey's mind. In a memorial tribute to
Jesse, the "Pearly Gates" CD was released in 2004
by Son Piedmont and the Blues Krewe on the Roots Blues Reborn
label.
Joey
performed as a roving busker during the 2004 Oklahoma Blues
Festival held in Tulsa. Scheduled to appear the final night
was one of Joey's heroes, 93-year-old Homesick James. Homesick's
traveling companion, Johnny Long, a great country blues player
himself, had known Joey since his days in Boulder. When scheduled
travel plans fell apart, Joey volunteered to drive Homesick
and Johnny back to Springfield, Missouri. Joey was in the catbird
seat, with Johnny Long riding shotgun and Homesick James in
the backseat, cussing up a storm. After spending the day together,
Homesick gave Joey the moniker Little Joe, handed him one hundred
dollars, and said, "Go buy a new pair of shoes." Joey
did just that and bought himself a new hat too.
Little Joe booked
himself into the Shades of Brown coffee shop on Brookside in
Tulsa and played every Monday night for nearly a year. He invited
others to join him and jam those great old blues songs he had
collected. These weren't your standard 12-bar blues. Little
Joe's set list included classic rags, delta slide songs on the
National Steel, Piedmont tunes, and swing, a vast repertoire
of music from the greats: Blind Blake, Big Bill, Tampa Red,
Georgia Tom Dorsey, Lightnin' Hopkins, Blind Boy Fuller, Bumble
Bee Slim, Leroy Carr, Lonnie Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt,
Muddy, Robert Johnson, and, of course, Homesick James. Some
spirited music came out of those Monday night jams. His most
faithful sidemen included bassist Robbie Mack, who showed up
every Monday night, Ryan Patterson on snare drum, and trombonist
Chris Tucker.
At a jam session
one Sunday afternoon, Little Joe attracted the attention of
David McKnight, a record producer from
Fayetteville, Arkansas. Guitarist Lloyd Price had suggested
that Little Joe and his style of music might be just what David
needed to fulfill his contract with Hit Records. David went
on to produce the "Hard Way" CD at Cat House Studio
in Fayetteville. Homesick James declined an invitation to appear
on the CD, but Lloyd Price and Canadian harp giant, Ray Bonneville
made notable contributions. Robbie Mack played bass on the CD,
warning Joey of the perils of working with a record label. Sure
as heck, they misspelled his name on the liner notes.
Little Joe started
experimenting with a larger band and using a keyboard player.
When Hurricane Katrina leveled New Orleans, Joey's old friend
Washboard Chaz evacuated to Tulsa and played gigs with Joey
for about a month, including the Dusk Till Dawn and Stillwater
Blues festivals.
In January 2006,
Little Joe represented the Oklahoma Blues Society at the International
Blues Challenge in Memphis. Although he did not win the competition,
he sparked a lot of interest within the blues community and
put on two thrilling performances. Everyone (except the judges)
thought he won the event. Little Joe responded, "There's
always next year."
And so it was.
In 2007 Joe returned
to Memphis with bassist Robbie Mack, this time representing
the Blues Society of Tulsa with a solo/duo
performance at the IBC.
That spring while
on tour in Colorado, Little Joe recorded his third CD, "Live
At Last." With his harp- and clarinet-playing buddy Dexter
Payne, an old friend and contributor on Joe's first CD; the
legendary Damprock, (Joe's webmaster & photographer) aka
R. J. Whetstone on the drums; and Robbie Mack on bass, Joe was
rockin' to a sell-out crowd.. The CD is available, along with
all of Little Joe's CDs, at www.cdbaby.com or Little Joe's Official
Website at www.littlejoeblues.com.
Meanwhile, back in Tulsa,
things started getting interesting. The band was catching on.
In 2008 Little Joe returned for his third consecutive Memphis
IBC with his band, The Big Three Trio. They are booked through
the spring and summer with festivals and club dates...
Comments
from a blues legend & the media
After a road trip
with Homesick
James, Homesick commented on Joey McLerran, "This kid
is providing a service to humanity by carrying on this great
tradition".
A quote from the
Denver Post: "The hottest blues to come down that
dirt road in a long time" (Joey Mclerran, Son Piedmont
at the Red Fish, Boulder, CO)
"The music is from really
deep down in the delta - I dig it." Tulsa World
Jimmy Markham commenting on Joey's performance at the Oklahoma
Blues Festival BluesTent - 2003 and 2004.
Chosen four times as "Editors
Choice" - Urban Tulsa
"Little Joe is the
real deal! We need more young players of his caliber to carry
on the blues tradition..." -
David McIntyre, KGNU Bluesoligist & Mayor of Blues Town
- Oct. 2006
Little
Joe in the news...
2008
International Blues Challenge -
Memphis
2007
photos from the International Blues Challenge -
Memphis
2006
International Blues Challenge photos- Memphis, TN
Photos
from the Colorado appearance - March 30, 2007

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