Blues and Bread

Recently I met a guitar player when I was playing LaCaliente Mexican Restaurant in Central just northeast of Baton Rouge. His name is Kevin Johnson and he is a very good player, so much so that I had the opportunity of doing several gigs with him. We played in Clinton at the Clinton Community Farmers Market, which is directly in front of the Courthouse on Hwy 10 and we also played a gig at Grill Room at Perkins Rowe in Baton Rouge. I really enjoyed playing with Kevin, as I mentioned, he is a very accomplished player in the styles of Delta Blues players like Robert Johnson and the other legendary bluesmen from Mississippi and the South which includes Baton Rouge, La.("The unofficial home of the Blues")

I have always wanted to be able to play in this style but never really had an opportunity to do so until Kevin gave me a chance to play along with him, which allowed me to improvise on some of great songs the bluesmen released upon the world. One of todays most famous players who was intrigued by this sound is Eric Clapton who considers Baton Rouge's "Buddy Guy" as one of the best guitarists he has ever heard.

Besides playing guitar Kevin has also written several books, one of which is "The Art of Sourdough Bread Making" which is available on his website "Blues and Bread" Check it out. He has a wealth of info there along with songs from his latest CD.

He also has started a "Blues and Bread Blog" where he wrote a very nice article about me and the two of us playing together.

We plan on continuing to play together whenever possible.
We will be playing at "Birdman Cafe" in St. Francisville January 25th starting at 6:00 pm

Till next time Baton Rouge, keep playing your guitars


'Scratch'

New Groups I have joined lately

Lately with the urging of Peter Duffield, my partner in Scratch and Sniff, I have been playing with several other musicians around the Baton Rouge Area. For one I am playing with a rebirth of an old group 'The Copas Brothers' that was around the LSU area in the 70's . I had the pleasure of meeting and playing several shows with L.J 'Copas' Damaio who was one of the founding members of that group. He also played in many other groups including Kinfolk and too many to list here, they played many places around LSU including 'The Country Place' way out Nicholson Drive. He has played places around the world like New York City and Glasgow, Scotland. Read more about L.J. in his bio here Also check out his original music.


L.J along with Pat Decuir and Joe 'Boy' Micelli of (John Fred and the Playboys) fame and myself have done several shows downtown at Boudreaux and Thibodeaux's on Third Street. One recent show was on the day of the Spanish Town Mardi Gras, it was a breakfast brunch to a really amped up crowd. We played a variety of Mardi Gras/New Orleans songs along with some Louisiana roots music. To our surprise another one of the original members of the Copas Brothers walked in while we were playing, he is Randy Rhea, who I happened to attend High School with at Glen Oaks. He sang several songs with us to everyones delight. We are scheduled to play several more shows at Boudreaux's out on the balcony. See my schedule here.



Scratch

Team Toyota Commercial I played on

About 3 years ago I recieved a call from Joey Decker of Disk Productions, Inc. he was looking for a harmonica player to do some work on a commercial he was producing for Team Toyota of Baton Rouge. It was a loose remake of 'Low Rider' by the band 'War'along with Tracy 'Tbone' Civello and Ernest Jackson.

Tracy was responsible for recording the rhythm track which he had completed at his own personal studio. When I arrived at Joey's studio he took a little time to give me an idea of what he wanted me to play. He said that we couldn't do the harmonica lick from the original song due to copywright issues. So he sang me a part that he thought would work and I played around until I got it pretty much the way he wanted it. So for the next hour or so I went into the booth where he recorded me playing the part over and over until he was fairly well satisfied. It was a pleasure to have Joey producing me for the first time and having confidence in me to allow me to play on the commercial. It was and still is quite an honor for him to choose me over many other good harmonica players in the Baton Rouge area.

After I finished my part Joey went on to record the vocals with Earnest Jackson who is the famed 'singing waiter' at Pinetta's Restaurant. He has been singing there for over 35 years.
The commercial has been playing continuously on local TV, cable and radio staions here in Baton Rouge. I estimate that it plays on cable every day as many as 100 times or more. So as far as play time goes, I now can boast that I have a recording that has probably played somewhere around 500,000 times making it the closest thing I will probably ever have to a hit record.
Listen to it here.


'Scratch'

See Scratch and Sniff Live!

Hi,
Well things have been going really great for Scratch and Sniff Live!
On Memorial Day we played on False River at Parrots Lounge in Jarreau, La (thats the island side of False River) We had a great time and we were getting a lot of applause from the crowd. The place is very busy with many take out orders, so the turnover of the crowd was continual.
We have been playing a lot of outdoor shows recently at The Roux House, The Walkons at LSU and at Capital City Grill on Sherwood Forest Blvd. We continue to play at some of our regular spots like The Pastime Lounge.

Speaking of The Pastime I was able to do a live recording there which came out very well. You can hear a sample of it at the Official Scratch and Sniff website.

This weekend we will be playing a new spot for us. We will be at Splitz Sports Bar in Hammond, La. It is located off of I-55 at Hwy 51 it used to be a Ramada Inn at 40329 S. Morrison Blvd(Hwy 51) Check out thier Myspace website it looks like a cool place.

I would like to invite everyone to come out and hear us play some of your favorite old tunes. Here is a list of some of our upcoming shows.

06-15 - The Roux House 5-9pm
06-16 - Splitz Sports Bar in Hammond 9pm-1am
06-21 - Capital City Grill 6-9pm

See our Calendar for details about other upcoming shows in the area

Thanks,
Steven Smith aka 'Scratch'

Copyright © 2007 All Rights Reserved.

American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life"

This past weekend I was invited to play guitar with "Three Blind Mice" for the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life" at the Baton Rouge Fairgrounds. We played for 3 hours to a large crowd while all of the relay teams walked around the track directly in front of us. We were well recieved by the crowd who praised us with lots of applause.

The teams were going to walk around this track all night until 6:00am the next morning.

The folks out there really took care of us providing the band with food and drinks.

Also I would like to thank the Master of Ceremonies Kerry Ruiz for his hospitality and encouragement.


Three Blind Mice are:

Peter Duffield - Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar
Steven Smith - Lead Guitar and Harmonica
Scott Randall - Drums and Percussion


Thanks,
Steven Smith aka 'Scratch'

Copyright © 2007 All Rights Reserved.

Johnny and Edgar Winters "Still Alive and Well Homecoming Benefit"

Hi,

On November 17th 2005 I traveled with '3 Blind Mice' to Beaumont, Texas to play as the opening act for Johnny and Edgar Winters "Still Alive and Well Homecoming Benefit" . It was a benefit for the victims of the Hurricane Rita. It was also a presentation to the Winter brothers with a key to the City of Beaumont and a set of 2 stepping stones to be placed in Ford Park commemorating the fact that they were born and raised there.


'3 Blind Mice' performed songs including 'Listen to the Music' 'Get Back" and Don't be Cruel' . The crowds response to the bands performance was very good from the very first song with the applause steadily increasing after each song. Next the band did 'Born on the Bayou' on which I played a Harmonica Solo. The crowd had a very positive reaction, cheering me on as I played the song. All of this is quite an honor to me and the band. To realize that out of all of the bands in the U.S. to be picked for such a historic event is overwhelming to me. I take the liberty for the band to say thanks to everyone involved in making this possible. It certainly goes down as being one of the highlights for me as a musician. Later backstage, several people commented on how good the band was, especially the singers.


The show was absolutely fantastic with Johnny Winter coming out first with his band playing songs off of his new CD. Toward the end of his performance Edgar came out with his saxophone playing along side his brother trading licks on the guitar and sax. After this the presentation was held, both of the brothers were very moved by the honor the City of Beaumont was placing upon them.

Next Edgar came out to finish off the show with a fabulous performance by himself and every member of his band. His guitarist played the most incredible solo I have ever witnessed at a live show. The bassist and the drummer also performed excellent solos. The band ended the show with 'Free Ride' and "Frankenstein" with Edgar playing both keyboards and percussion.

Maybe a video of the performance will become available in the future.

Also thanks to Clear Channel's Joey Armstrong for all of his help.

Steven Smith - Guitar and Harmonica

see backstage pass

see local newspaper articles

3 Blind Mice are:
Peter Duffield - Guitar and Vocals
Armand Kahn - Bass Guitar and Vocals
Ken Herrington - Lead Guitar
Scott Randall - Drums and Percussion

Copyright © 2005 All Rights Reserved.
Websites from Scratch email .....

Elvis and Jesse's Benefit for N.O. Musicians

Hi,

On Oct 16, 2005 I played a benefit for N.O. musicians at Spanky's
in Prairieville, La. There were many B.R. musicians present
including Kirk Holder who put on the the benefit, also present
were Peter Duffield and Scratch(me), Dennis Pennington, Dave
Long and Debbie Landry, Cam Pyle, Damon King band w/Charles
and Bo, New World Funk, and Elvis and Jesse with an All Star Band.


Everyone had a good time and met up with old friends and former
band members.

2 of the standout performances were by New World Funk and
of course, Elvis and Jesse.

Some of my upcoming shows are:

10-18 - The Vineyard
10-20 - Churchills at Bocage
10-27 - Fernando's Restaurant (Denham Springs)


Steven Smith