HUNTINGTON, WV – Two locally-based blues acts who earned a trip to compete in the upcoming International Blues Challenge in Memphis will have their mojo working this weekend.
Smoking guitarist and frontman Jeremy Short is usually suited up as the front man of the big rock band, Downtown King. At 9 p.m. Thursday, at the Black Sheep Burrito & Brews, 1555 3rd Ave, Huntington, West Virginia. Short strips it down to the essence and bones of rock ‘n’ roll – the blues – playing songs off his first solo EP, Songs From the Chicken Shack. There’s no cover but donations are being taken for Short’s upcoming trip to Memphis.
Powerhouse vocalist Kayla Massie and her blues-blasting rock unit, Mojomatic, which placed second place at the Huntington Blues Challenge (won by Short) back in September, will also be heading to Memphis to compete.
Mojomatic will be in action at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17 at the 26th Street Drinkery, 40 26th St, Huntington, in the Highlawn neighborhood. There is no cover but they’ll be donations taken to help the band members pay for their trip to Memphis to represent the Huntington Blues Society.
Now in its 32nd year, the IBC draws in musicians from around the world competing for cash, prizes, and industry recognition. It is set for Jan. 26-30, 2016.
Short, the lead guitarist and lead vocalist for the regionally traveling R&B horn-band Downtown King, rode solo Saturday, Sept. 26, winning the inaugural Huntington Blues Challenge hosted by the Huntington Blues Society.
Short, who sings the blues these days from Morehead, Kentucky, is also the lead guitarist for the Magnolias, Sasha Colette’s backing band.
Next week, Short will be the featured artist at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20 at the Huntington Blues Society’s monthly jam at the V Club, 741 6th Ave., Huntington.Collections will be taken at that event to help pay his trip to Memphis.
For more info about the Huntington Blues Society check out the HBS Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HuntingtonBluesSociety.
The society has a monthly blues jam at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month at the V Club, 741 6th Ave, Huntington.
Chris Sutton, president of the Huntington Blues Society, and who has competed three times in Memphis, and who has played blues around the world from India and Nepal to France, said they are proud of the two acts they are sending to the IBC.
“The nice thing is we are sending two acts that can hang with the people who go down there,” Sutton said. “Not only were we able to send two acts, but two acts that we are proud to be sending and who are representing not only the blues society but the music scene here in the Huntington area.”
