Dick Lourie's If the Delta was the Sea, CD Release Party February 24, 2012

Dick ”the Poet” Lourie the veteran sax-man of Juke Joint Five, brings the, audiences of Smoken Joe’s a night of Poetry and Blues. Inspired by his many trips to Clarksdale, Mississippi, his new CD, If the Delta was the Sea, pays tribute to the Mississippi Delta and Lourie’s friend, the late great Big Jack Johnson. It includes select poems from his book (of the same name) featuring some of the finest musicians on the Boston music scene today. Each stanza is a dance between verse and music conveying the raw trueness of the South and the blues. On Friday, February 24, he brings his lyrical ballads to the stage with the help of his harmonic counterparts, the ever-popular Juke Joint Five featuring special guests, Diane Blue on harp, and the smooth guitar riffs of Silvertone Steve. Together, it’s a dynamic combination that brings the Delta to life.

The musical force behind the evenings festivities--The Juke Joint Five-- is an ensemble of performers with a commitment to the sounds that lie at the roots of today’s blues: the voices of Chicago in its heyday; the raw horn-driven jump blues of the forties and fifties; the Sun Studios rockabilly twang; and the kind of Delta blues that still gets people dancing in today’s Mississippi juke joints. This band is high-octane, electric, unapologetic “old school.”

Official Website: http://smokenjoesbbq.com/