Baton Rouge Guitar Players Blog

Blues and Bread

2010-01-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-07T12:35:00.000-08:00

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' 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.

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

2008-02-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-06-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

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"

2007-05-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

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"

2005-11-19T09:17:00.000-08:00

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

2005-10-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

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

Recent shows I've played

2005-10-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Been a while since I posted because I have been fairly busy
playing Duets with Peter Duffield from 3 Blind Mice. We
recently played together last Tuesday at the Vineyard.

We will be at Slippery Pete's (225-275-1919)
on Monday Oct. 3rd 2005 and then on
Thursday Oct. 6th 2005 at Fernandos Mexican
Grill & Cantina (225-664-0006 )
in Denham Springs on Range Ave just off of I-12

On another note, last night I sat in with the Baton
Rouge Blues Legend 'Rudy' Richard of
Slim Harpo fame.

When Rudy was very young Slim approached
his father to ask him if Rudy could come to Baton
Rouge from Opelousas to play guitar for him.

Slim went on to write and perform with Rudy
on such hits as 'Rainin in my Heart' and 'I'm a
King Bee'

I got to play harmonica on 3 songs with 'Rudy"
while he was playing his accordian.
The songs were "Jambalaya" , "Don't mess
with my Toot Toot" and "Rainin in my Heart".

It was a pleasure and an honor for him to
allow me to set in with him and his band.
Which by the way were fabulous. His lead
singer 'Floyd Patterson" was wailing out
song after song to a packed dance floor.
He even went out there and danced with a
woman while he was singing a song.
What a great performance by these guys.

It makes me proud to be from Baton Rouge
where such talent has emerged and
is still alive and growing.

For Now,
Steven Smith aka "Scratch"

Welcome Guitar Players from Baton Rouge, Louisiana

2005-05-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

My name is Steven Smith and I am a Guitar Player from Baton Rouge. I have been playing guitar since circa 1967. The way I came about playing the guitar is that one summer I was
walking through my neighborhood in Glen Oaks and overheard someone playing "The House of the Rising Sun" on guitar. The sound was coming from the backyard of a house about 5 down from mine. There in the backyard I saw someone who I had never met, yet we had lived so close to each other for a number of years. His name was Randy Borne who later went on to play in several very successful bands in the Baton Rouge area. Some of the bands are 'Charlie Pappy' 'Opus' 'The Clique" and really too many others to mention at this time.

Any way from this chance meeting I was influenced to start playing guitar. I actually had an old plastic 'Gene Autry" style guitar when I was 5 but it wasn't in the stars yet for me to seriously start playing at this time. At that time I was learning to play the Harmonica after hearing my Grandfather play a few tunes for me at my aunt's house in Cottonport, La.

So after I walked into the backyard of my soon to be new friend I asked Randy where he learned to play that song and if he could teach me also to play the guitar. Well he was all too eager to help me saying that he was taking lessons from someone at Baton Rouge Music Studio. From that day on Randy and I started playing almost everyday. He would attend class and then he would come home and show me the lesson that he was learning. Soon we were playing all kinds of music together and we also sometimes practiced with a drummer from time to time eventually starting our First Band together. Our little band, which I honestly don't know the name of, went on to win Second Place in the Glen Oaks High School Talent Contest back in I think it was 1968. We also played at the End of the Year dance at Glen Oaks Junior High that same year. We were playing music by a lot of popular groups at the time, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Monkees, etal.

In the last 20 years or so I have played in a number of bands either sitting in or as a fulltime member. Some of the bands are The Levee Band, The Jam Brothers Band, Duffield and Company, Three Blind Mice , Rusty Yates , The Randy Davis Group, The Lynn Freeman Band, R.L. Spencer Group featuring Mike Owings (aka R.L. Spencer of the Delta Rockets and Allen Collins Band (Mark II), Bleeker Street and many others.

I have many stories to tell of my experiences of the gigs I have played and the people I have met in the process. There are so many talented musicians in the Baton Rouge area, it is almost unbelievable how many great musicians have come out of this area. I have been fortunate enough to meet a good many of them.

Please bear with me as I continue my quest to start a place where guitarists and other musicians in the Baton Rouge area can get together and tell thier own stories of how they came about playing music here in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Laissez les temp bon rouler (let the good times roll).

Steven Smith (Scratch)

My passion is music and what inspired me to play music.

2005-05-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

When I was 5 years old I went to my aunts house and my grandfather who was 70 years old at the time, was staying out back in her washhouse, because my grandmother had kicked him out for drinking, he was also musician. As I walked out the back door of her house, he said to me in his heavy french accent "Hey boy come here" so I walked over there and he told me to wait right there. He went inside the wash house and came back out. with a "Budweiser long-neck box" which he was using as his suitcase, he reached inside of it and pulled out a harmonica and proceeded to play "Oh Suzanna". At this time I was only 5 years old. (Keep in mind we didn't have a television yet, this was 1956). The only music I had heard up to this point was on the radio or on my moms portable record player. So, I didn't realize people played music I just thought it came out of these "boxes". This left me awe-struck, that people could play music and maybe I could too. A few days later when I went back home I told my mom that paw-paw had played me a song on the harmonica. She then proceeded to go to the bedroom and came back with a harmonica and also played several songs for me. I asked her if I could have one as well. She gave it to me and told me to go out in the back yard and practice. From that point on I was completely hooked on playing and enjoying and entertaining others with music.

Unbeknownst to me, many years later my mother told me that my grandfather was a fiddler in a cajun house band here in Louisiana, so it seems inevitable that music would be in my destiny.

Steven Smith aka 'Scratch'