SAXTONS RIVER — Sunny Lowdown will bring his raw, deep blues to Main Street Arts on Saturday, Feb. 14, for a night of listening and dancing in a blues cafe setting beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Drawing from the music of John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, Jesse Mae Hemphill, and R.L. Burnside, Sunny and his band play music some critics have described as “swamp music,” but Lowdown shuns labels.
“I'm just me - Sunny Lowdown,” he says. “If you want to categorize it, call it 'Sunny Side Up.'”
Lowdown plays guitar and sings, with help from keys, bass and drum, the latter featuring local Ben Carr.
Lowdown started playing professionally at an early age. At 16, he first backed up John Lee Hooker and then went on to work with many of his favorite blues musicians: Howlin' Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin, Muddy Waters pianist Pinetop Perkins, Chicago blues legends Otis Rush and George “Wild Child” Butler, Fat Possum recording artists R.L. Burnside and Cedell Davis, and others.
“I like my music raw, and then I cook it up,” he says. “But I never overcook it."