Lyons Bluesologist, David McIntyre
Iowa Blues Hall of Famer
It was probably about 10 years ago that I first met Joe Price. A couple of touring blues musicians from Iowa ( Hawkeye Herman & Dave Moore, both whom I respect very much), told me I should get a hold of this guy from Iowa they knew. So I did and we have become friends over the last decade.
Joe and his lovely wife Vicki usually grace Oskar Blues’ stage every year. This year they will be in Colorado next week, playing at The Tasty Weasel taproom for the first time on Saturday, September 11, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and then Oskar’s Lyons on Sunday, September 12 ,from 6 to 9 p.m.
Joe and Vicki are very personable and have made many friends in Lyons since their first performance. They usually leave each performance with a batch of new friends. Their performances have a special down-home magic that draws you in and makes you want to get to know this fun-loving, hardworking, musical pair. By the time the show is over, you can’t help but feel like you know so much more about them than when the show started. Their personalities and great musicianship are contagious.
Joe & Vicki have tucked themselves in, a bullfrog’s voice from the Mississippi, just outside the boathouse and lumber-barge town called Lansing, Iowa. Walk in and there’s an old National Steel hanging from the wall, resting. “Grandma” she’s called. “Seen it all,” she says.
Joe Price has shared the stage with countless blues, folk, and roots legends like Muddy Waters, KoKo Taylor, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, John Lee Hooker, Homesick James, Willie Dixon, and Clifton Chenier. But then there’s this story that takes place in Louisiana way before all that, when Joe bought a Stella 12-string at a gas station for nothing. Roadburned and leaning on the counter, inside from the heat of Ascension County’s summer sun, an exchange was made and floodgates were opened. The blues knew about Joe long before the stage did, and this particular day it just decided to reach way down and grab him out loud.
Joe Price is “seriously plugged in.” He’s a one-man steam engine, coal cars full, running and pushing the workboot blues.
The fire to play slide (which Joe does with the best of them) was lit when he saw Earl Hooker perform at the local music store. “He told me to go home and cut the end of a bicycle handlebar off to make a good slide. Joe ran home, grabbed a hacksaw, and went to the neighbor’s house. Joe took the handle grip off the neighbor’s bicycle, proceeded to saw off his first slide, and began his career as a blues musician.
Joe and Vicki’s records have won many awards. Last year’s “Rain or Shine” won an independent music award for best blues CD in 2010 and the IMA Vox Pop People’s Choice Award for best blues CD 2010. The CD has received rave reviews in major publications including Vintage Guitar Magazine, Downbeat Magazine, The American Music Guide, Blues Revue, and the Chicago Sun Times.
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