Cafe Nine slid into the work week with the help of two men who talk with their pinkies.
The two men perform solo on acoustic guitar. They play the blues. And they play it with a slide on their pinky — which made all the difference Monday night at a show inside the cozy “musician’s living room” at Crown and State streets.
One man, the headliner, was a veteran folk and blues guitarist passing through town from Minnesota en route to New Orleans.
The other man, the opening act, was a local guitarist named “Orb Mellon.” Actually, his real name is Mike Malone. He uses his real name to play in rock bands. He uses Orb as his nom de blues — for his solo act channeling the “whiskey-fueled house party Delta Blues” of 20th Century greats like Bukka White. Especially Bukka White.
Mellon wrote all but one of the percussive songs he performed at Cafe Nine Monday night. He said they all were inspired by Bukka White’s playing. So, as usual, he threw in a Bukka White song, too (“Aberdeen Mississippi Blues”). Indeed, it sounded like the others — driven by an insistent pounding beat, propelled by his foot with the Dobro Resonator guitar he bought on eBay. His Dobro has the aluminum cone dropping into the instrument (rather than shooting out, as with a country-style Dobro) in order to give that percussive sound.
As Mellon performed, his voice provided one more gravelly element to the rhythm section. It was up to the pinky to slide into the poignant notes, and vocalize the full fury of the barred chords up on the neck. Click on the video at the top of the story to watch a sample of Mellon’s performance.
And click on this video to check out how Charlie Parr, the headliner, also used the slide to effect in his set. Parr, whose influences range from Charley Patton and Lightnin’ Hopkins to Woody Guthrie, has played Cafe Nine four times to date. Monday night he switched from banjo to 12-string guitar and back again, and the work week headed for its second day with an infusion of raw roots spirit.