Cactus and Stud: Meet Me in the City! Again!

Cactus and Stud playing at Bluesberry Cafe in Clarksdale

By POOR WILLIAM

↓ VIDEO INCLUDED ↓

Clarksdale is all right! Live blues every night of the year, right here, in river city! One never knows what he or she will get when they hit the town of Clarksdale to hear some blues. Each single night at every different venue with a multitude of local and visiting musicians is always unique. No two nights are ever the same.

Bluesberry Cafe in downtown Clarksdale always has blues on Monday nights. This past Monday night showcased a new hill country blues duo—Cactus and Stud. Stud’s given name is Carl White and he is the talented grandson of infamous Blues musician T-Model Ford. Stud used to play drums for Lightnin’ Malcolm, Poor William’s favorite musician. Stud recently headed out on his own and joined up with Jeriah Stcyr, a native-American who goes by the uber-cool name, Cactus.

Cactus is a laid back Johnny Depp looking Dude from Minnesota, who recently returned to the reservation to get a broken hand fixed, but the break (can’t tell you what happened or I would have to kill ya) hasn’t slowed down his budding guitar skills. I first met Cactus outside of Deak Harp’s Blues Emporium on Third Street, where he would play on the sidewalk in the afternoons. I don’t completely buy into the Robert Johnson Crossroad’s lore but Cactus came back from the Reservation with some serious skills.

Stud is a mighty fine drummer. I have watched him numerous times play for hours straight recording with Lightnin’ Malcolm at the Shack Up Inn. Hill country blues drumming is a physical activity and Stud can handle the pace.

Bluesberry Café often serves as a bit of a proving ground for young artists and it was a pleasure to hear the duo work out their kinks the other night. I spoke with Cactus during the break and he said he wasn’t “feeling it” Monday night, which I took to mean that he was overly critical of his performance, but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the young dudes work on their timing and songs in front of a live, friendly, appreciative crowd.

As always, there were other musicians in the crowd on a slow Monday night. Keyboardist Lala Craig, Bongo artist Art Crivaro—owner of Bluesberry Café, Drummer Iceman, and Quapaw Canoe Company guide and musician Braxton Barden were all up in the house. Cactus and Stud were also kind enough to allow a visiting musician from Nashville to play during the break. Amando Crivaro did a little dancing and most of the tourists on this night were from Canada and staying at the Clark House Residential Inn.

Enjoy the short video compilation of this new duo pieced together by Magical Madge.

VIDEO
[youtube width=”600″ height=”350″]http://youtu.be/5A6OrkoFBrw[/youtube]