Buffalo Music: Great American Music Showcase, Part 1 will provide some answers

By Elmer Ploetz

When it comes to American music, perhaps nothing has been more influential than the blues. Now if people could only decide what they are.

That’s part of the premise of the Great American Music Showcase, Part 1, set to take the stage at Nietzche’s, 248 Allen Street, on Thursday (May 7).

The lineup will include the Front Porch Project (including Son Henry and Elaine Verstraete), the Muddy Waters Project with Critt & Friends, McCarthyizm doing Steve Earle’s blues and other songs, Tom Makar and Timm Goodrich & Scott Russell. Music starts at 7 p.m.

The show is a collaboration between The Bufalo Hive and the Blues Society of Western New York.

It’s not your typical Chicago blues (although we do love some Elmore James — and Tommy Z, too!). It’s an exploration of the blues from several different viewpoints.

The blues are so expansive that you can approach them from a multitude of approaches and never run out of inspiration. While Son Henry has been known to torch some electric blues, his approach with Verstraete is a quieter version with Verstraete providing vocal harmonies and standup bass.

Eric Crittenden, meanwhile, has been known for some very funky music, particularly with Critt’s Juke Joint. (check out the crazy video below with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra — and is that Zuri Appleby on bass?)

But on this night he’ll be expanding on his role in Buffalo’s Last Waltz shows at Babeville, where he has inhabited the presence of Muddy Waters for “Mannish Boy.” This set will offer more of Critt’s take on one of the key legends of the blues.

Joe McCarthy and a stripped-down McCarthyizm are also taking a turn from their usual material, looking at how people like Steve Earle folded blues into their country and Americana music. Will it be transcendental? Or will it take a Fort Worth bent? You’ll have to check it out Thursday night to find out.

Here’s a bit of McCarthyizm from 2024 at the Sportsmen’s Tavern:

Meanwhile, Tom Makar will be stripping down his sound to a blues base for his set. Perhaps best known as a sound designer for stage plays over past 30-plus years, Makar is also an incredibly versatile musician with a history dating back to the band Cheeks in the 1980s and before. Here’s one of his originals from about five years ago. Makar, by the way, is also a member of The Buffalo Hive Board of directors.

Also on the bill is the duo of Scott Russell and Timm Goodrich, playing their take on country blues. Both are also members of the Blues Society of Western New York.

Video evidence of the duo is hard to come by, but who knows? Perhaps we will take care of that on Thursday night. The only thing we know for certain is the blues will happen,

Elmer Ploetz is editor-in-chief and executive director of The Buffalo Hive.