Live!
Who: Melanie Mason When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Where: Bangkok Blues, Falls Church
Thursday, April 13, 2006; Page VA32
With her stormy mane of red hair and confident, sassy blues-guitar chops, Melanie Mason could be considered the D.C. area's Bonnie Raitt. But, being an independent artist, her albums are available mainly at shows or through online retailer CD Baby.
"I have performed at Bangkok Blues since it first opened," Mason wrote in an e-mail, "so I always feel at home there. The folks there are so supportive of my music. It's a great listening room -- one of the few remaining music venues that offers music seven nights a week. And great Thai food, I might add."
  Melanie Mason performs the blues on acoustic and electric guitar in the Washington area. (By Yvonne Taylor) |
Mason, who was born in Georgia, moved to the Washington area when she was about 3 and, having lived here ever since, said she feels "like a native."
She was about 12, she said, when she caught blues fever, inspired by her mother, who exposed her to tunes such as the Beatles' "Come Together" and Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits."
"I was blown away by the bluesy grooves," she recalled. "Around that same time, my grandfather gave me my father's old Harmony acoustic guitar. I began to search out more 'bluesy' music and play along with the albums. And then I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray play. Man, that really did it for me!"
A mainstay in the District, Maryland and Virginia club scenes, Mason usually brings her solo acoustic show to Bangkok Blues once a month. She also plays regularly with her electric blues-rock band. Each requires its own approach, she said.
"I love doing both solo and band shows, but they are completely different animals. Solo, I perform mostly acoustic-guitar blues with a lot of slide and picking in the traditional Piedmont and Delta styles. With my band, I play a more hard-driving contemporary blues-rock style using single-note leads on the guitar. So I get a chance to jam and improvise, which I love."
Both Mason techniques can be heard by checking out her three CDs -- the band's 2001 debut, "Bendin' the Blues"; a solo acoustic album from 2004, "Lonesome Is I"; and last year's band release, "Live at Blues Alley." All three won the Best Blues Recording award from the Washington Area Music Association.
Samples can be found at http:/
-- MARIANNE MEYER
Bangkok Blues Restaurant is at 926 W. Broad St. (or Route 7 East), Falls Church. For more information, call 703-534-0095 or visithttp:/
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