Moods of St. Mildred

Billyblues is: Mike Norris on harmonica, guitar, & vocals; Mark Lucas on resonator guitar & vocals; Colin Raitiere on guitar, bass, & vocals. The three form an acoustic blues band that takes inspiration from all styles of blues--Piedmont to Delta to Chicago--& also from upper-South traditional music, in which they hear a lot more blues than the people who make categories usually notice. Old songs are an important part of what they do, and tunes by the likes of Mississippi John Hurt, Woody Guthrie, and Muddy Waters are in their setlists. Original songwriting, however, is a hallmark of the band, whose approach is that the best way to honor a tradition is to contribute to it. Their sound is strictly wood & steel. It's not Memphis or Morehead; Highway 61 or 80 East; Jackson, Mississippi or Jackson, Kentucky, but a mythical place that you can sometimes hear & even see, but can't send a postcard to; a place created by geography & inclination, luck & longing: where the river meets the mountains.