Sugar in My Bowl: Buffalo Blues Trio Raises the Vibration
By Julie Horner
Santa Cruz Mountains locals Michele Murphy, Diane Bock, and Ramon Marc Butler share a love of the blues. The spark for their group, the Buffalo Blues Trio, was struck in 2018 when Michele and a girlfriend went to see the Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical, A Night With Janis Joplin at the Santa Cruz Civic. “I was on the edge of my seat with tears running down my face at the story of Janis’ life,” Michele recalls. She approached her friend Ramon, an experienced slide guitar player and former bandmate from the band Sleepless Nights, about putting together a group that would pay homage to Janis’ raw, soulful sound and other female singer-songwriters who influenced the blues. Then Michele met jazz vocalist and bass player Diane Bock at open mic night at Michael’s on Main, and the three musicians hit it off, spending the ensuing years coalescing their chops diving deep into the music of notable blues divas from the 1920s through the 1960s.
Ramon grew up with Motown and got turned onto the blues from friends and connections in Black Mountain, North Carolina, where he has his roots. His blues sensibility is bedrock. Diane is an elementary school music theory teacher whose improvisational agility adds to the musical integrity. “Blues is American classical music,” Diane said. “Every musician today, I don’t care if it’s rock n’ roll, The Stones, whoever, it pretty much all goes back to blues. It’s the great grandfather of jazz, rock, hip hop, all of it. It’s the one musical form that was born in this country.” Focusing on women in blues, Ramon said, “It’s kind of an underserved area. “I mean everybody thinks of John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, but there’s all these other great singers.” And as Ramon says, “Everything starts with the singer.”
Originally from Buffalo, New York, Michele chooses from a wide selection of female-forward songs that tell the story of life, things that everyone can relate to. “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues,” recorded in 1924 by singer Ida Cox with Lovie Austin’s Blues Serenaders carries a strong feminist message. “Ain’t Nobody’s Business,” a song about freedom of choice written by Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins in 1922 was covered by many famous singers, including Billie Holiday. “Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl,” a composition by Clarence Williams and Tim Brynn was first released in 1931 on a recording by Bessie Smith. With its suggestive lyrics, Michele can swing her performance of ‘Sugar with a little sass. Also on the setlist, many songs written by Janis Joplin including “One Good Man” and “Mary Jane.”
Michele also writes some of the songs the group performs. “Bird” is about a family member who struggles for freedom. “Sin House” tells the story of addiction and recovery. “A Pot of Soup” was written during darker times with lyrics meant to ‘raise the vibration’.
Buffalo Blues Trio shares a unique chemistry pursuing a mutual curiosity about the history of the blues and is dedicated to the genre as an art form. They have a residency at Davenport Roadhouse every second Saturday of the month from 6 to 9pm. The group also plays Discretion Brewing on Saturday, March 22 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, and they open for China Cats Unplugged at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz on Friday, April 18 at 6:30 pm. A benefit for Soquel Elementary School where bassist Diane Bock teaches music. Tickets: thewheelcompany.com
Follow on Instagram at buffalo_blues_trio
Featured photo: Buffalo Blues Trio, l to r Diane Bock, Michele Murphy, and Ramon Marc Butler | Photo by Karen Butler
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