Mr. Satan and the devil's music

Who out there has heard of Sterling Magee? Okay, who has heard of Mr. Satan? Okay then, how about Satan and Adam?

However you identify him, Magee is a 72-year-old guitar player out of Mississippi, raised in St. Pete, Fla., and was an Army paratrooper, songwriter, guitar-player with James Brown, King Curtis and Big Maybelle, among others. He came to the attention of contemporary blues fans when a young white dude named Adam Gussow who played blues harp fell in with Magee (then called "Satan") and they busked together on New York street corners as Satan and Adam. 

The two went on to real concerts, record albums, and Gussow wrote a book in 1998, "Mr. Satan's Apprentice," which told the story of their life together.I had read the book, and a later one, and reviewed the duo's first CD, "Harlem Blues."

Then Magee kind of dropped out of sight for a few years with health issues, but turned up later performing in the South. He and Gussow have worked together occasionally since then, and a documentary film -- "Satan and Adam" -- about their blues life is in the works.

Here's a video of Mr. Satan and Mr. Gussow at work:

But let's make a long story sort of short here. You can read about Magee's past by following some of the links above. It's hard to do justice to the twists and turns of his complex life in a blog post here.The man has had more musical lifetimes than a half-dozen ordinary buesmen.

Let's just say that I was really surprised to see the name Sterling Magee pop up on the weekly list of blues shows published by the Tampa Bay, Fla., blues society -- the Suncoast Blues Society (BlueNotes is on vacation in sunny St. Pete, remember?). Could it possibly be true that Mr. Satan himself had a gig at the classy Peninsula Inn and Spa in funky little Gulfport, Fla.? Indeed it was, and that's Mr. Satan himself, pictured above, wailing a blues last night.

It turns out that he's been showing up and playing his blues history on the inn's fine little tree-shaded deck every Tuesday for past two years with a group called Satan Magee's Harlem Blues Band. You could've knocked me over with a guitar pick. So last night, on a cool and breezy night, under a full moon, BlueNotes got to hear Mr. Satan run through a set of blues standards, including some originals. He's not the one-man band he used to be, but he's not a relic either. He and the band cranked out great blues oldies like "Stagger Lee," "Kansas City" (he played guitar on the original Wilbert  Harrison recording), "C.C. Rider" and "Little Red Rooster."

The band must have been having to much fun last night, because at one point, the owners came out and asked the band to turn down the volume -- seems the local poh-leece had received complaints about the noise. How can anyone possibly complain about a free blues concert?

Anyway, it was a fine discovery and a great night of blues. The blues life just doesn't get much better. The more I see of the St. Pete area blues scene, the better it gets.

The Bossman is back

Some of you probably already know, but in case you didn't, the Bossman, the Daddio of the Raddio, Pork the Tork -- the legendary Craig "Porky" Chedwick -- is back in the Burgh. He left for Florida last year, but returned a few months ago, and is out and about at events in the region. Let's hope his return is permanent. The Burgh and the Bossman go together -- to quote the classic, slow-dancing 1956 Moonglows's tune -- like "two straws in a Coke." Welcome back, Porky.

BlueNotes thanks

A tip of the BlueNotes fedora to those who've been sharing their experiences with Burgh blues shows -- the latest being the Billy Price/Fred Chapellier evening Sunday at the Palisades.