Main Blues

By Robert Horn 

The J & M in Pioneer Square (Seattle) had The Strange Tones performing last Saturday, March 5th. The J & M has had some good music lately and all the chairs were full that night. This band is no stranger to Seattle. They have been here before. Some of the usual suspects were in the audience (like Blues Boss, Tom Honeywell, and other Washington Blues Society members).

This band has won 11 awards from the Cascade Blues Association and are regulars on stage in the Portland area. I love their on stage presence and how they have their moves down. Oh, they sound good too...

The crowd at the J & M is what a sociologist, or even a casual bar patron, would call diverse. It included "old" blues fans in their 60's to a lot of young people celebrating the fact that they are now 21 years old and can put away shots of Tequila with their college classmates.

When Julie Strange introduced a Paul DeLay song, "Fourteen Dollars in the Bank" and told a little about Paul DeLay, there were people in the audience who knew who he was and some younger people who did not. The first people on the dance floor were the younger folks, which shows how they appreciate a good blues band. So, it was unanimous: all generations there agreed that the band was good. If some think it is strange that all these people would like the same band, I bet bass player Andy Strange and singer/guitar player Julie Strange would disagree. Drummer Andy Gauthier and lead guitar player Suburban Slim were real impressive and I got a chance to tell Suburban Slim how much I appreciate his guitar playing.

There is nothing strange about the tone of the guitars and nothing strange about the fact that they have won so many awards in categories like Best Recording, Best Traditional Blues Act,...etc from the CBA. Anyone who gets a chance to hear them anywhere in the Northwest is in for a treat, that is if you haven't been treating yourself to their music already. It would be pretty damn strange to have a chance to hear and see them but not do it!