The Wright Stuff

Written by Monte Adkison,
The Blues Stalker for The Twelve Bar Rag, Jan/Feb 2003

How does a golf caddy go form the links to playing riffs? Just ask Suncoast Blues Society Member Ed Wright. He took two years worth of earnings from caddying to purchase his first electric guitar, a '60 Fender Stratocaster, which he still performs with today.

Born in 1950 in Bay Shore, Long Island, Ed started his career in music playing tuba at age 8. He started playing guitar in 1963, learning folksongs from friends. Asa teenager, he got into the British invasion which introduced him to his own nation's blues heritage pioneered by such artists as Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon, and McKinley Morganfield. Ajob at the public library where he had the task of cleaning the vinyl records gave him the chance to listen to those names of artists he had been curious about. After that, he joined various garage bands as a teen and began playing the bar scene as soon as he turned 18, giving him the exposure and opportunity to learn all kinds of music. Ed also began repairing guitars along the way and eventually, after completing a college Art degree in 1972, began earning a living as a guitar repairman. He courrently does repairs at Roydon Music in Brandon and... out of his home.

In 1980 Ed started his first all blues band, "The Almost Brothers Blues Band". According to Ed, "We played up and down Long Island inventing our own blues scene, and spawning some blues band and blues players along the way." One of his fondest memories is opening for Albert Collins, which he considered a real treat and privilege. As he recalls, "I have never heard such a huge, big, beautiful sound from a guitar, nor seen such an entertainer. He had the entire audience in the palm of his hand." ed also enjoyed listent to Buddy Guy, Mike Bloomfield in Paul Butterfield's "East West" Electra, Johnny Winter on his first Columbia release and of course, the Beatles, Stones, all of the Lovin' Spoonful records and "Nachel Blues" by Taj Majal. Since arriving in the Bay area in 1986, Ed has shared the stage with lots of great local players--Kim Harpo, Ben Sudano, Dean Germaine, Sarasota Slim, Mike Chavers, Robert Parker, Henry Burke, Rock Bottom, Sandy Atkinson, T.C.Carr, Ron Gerber, Jeff Corth, Billy Pike, Jaime Richardson, Dwan Martini, Don Cox, Josh Nelms, Tom Bell, Damon and Aaron Fowler, P.W.Fenton and Nirto Bozeman. In addition to writing songs, playing the guitar, and repairing guitars, Ed also finds time to give lessons on guitar, bass, harmonica, and slide guitar at Rodon and at his home. He has also participated in a Blues in the Schools program for second and third grad classes at Essrig School in the Carrolwood area. "It was fabulous, the kids were so lively and funny. I let them play my guitar and they wrote me the most endearing and funny thank you notes." Ed also loves playing at his Church, the First Missionary Baptist Church of Seffner, where he says, "the music is filled with spirit and we rock."

A natural pairing soon occured when Ed hooked up with Tampa's native-son Damon Fowler after Damon heard him play at Albi's. They shared a bill at Skipper's when he was playing with Dee Dee Dunn. Darryl Kruppa, ...former...bartender of the Brewhouse and Brandon's Godfather of the blues, hooked the two up as a duo...Brewhouse is now defunct, but the same duo performs every Monday night at O'Brien's Irish Restaurant & Pub. ....Chuck Riley plays bass. "We do a lot of cool joamming besides the blues tunes. We have recorded about six live CD's there and they are very cool. Whe have developed a great chemistry and intuitive musical understanding among...the musicians. The Monday gig is the musical highlight of my week. We are doing a double bill there with Carolyn Wonderland who will be in town while on national tour."

Willing ness to experiment with new sounds and instruments is evident by his influence from such artists as Memphis' Richard Johnson and Tony Hall, who do solo gigs in Pinellas. Seeing them perform led him to fashion wooden Bolla wine boxes with tambourines inside and rubber feet. When he plays solo he rocks them back and forth to get a rhythm going doing some cool old glues gy kinda stuff--the kind of thing you don't see much any more.

His debut all-acoustic CD, "JUST WRIGHT", was recorded at Media Central Stodios in Brandon. Paul Richardson recorded, mixed and produced it with assistance from Darryl Kruppa. Ed hopes to record with an electric band soon and has purposely recorded songs from his live acts as demos to see what he has learned and where he is going. He recently worked with P.W.Fenton on his "History of Tampa Bay Blues" an audio?visual documentary where he just played off the top and recorded in P.W.'s living room after being instructed to "play slow, ragtime, and old timey" original music for background.

For nascent blues fans as well as veteran blues audiences, Ed Wright is a refressing act with multiple musical talents. As he puts it, "I just love blues music and will play it on bass, or guitar, or harp as long as I am standing, but the sceen is always changing and blues music waxes and wanes in popularity. As some one who survives in part on my earnings as a musician, I just hire out my services, and always try to bring some joy to whoever is listening."