At Darwin’s, the dance floor is small, the stage is in your lap, and the harp-honking blues from a hopping four-piece called the Cazanovas has tables quaking and hip-joints shaking.
“Are you feelin’ it?” hollers drummer Theron Peterson to audience member Shadowhawk Ellis as Peterson comes off stage during a break. Behind him, some volunteers on this jam session night launch into “Flip, Flop and Fly.”
‘I’m feelin’ it!” Ellis echoes back brightly.
“You got to,” Peterson says with a smile. “If you don’t, something’s wrong: You got a hole in your soul.”
Jump blues may be the cure for soul trouble, or anything else that ails you. In Atlanta, the home of such blues founding figures as Blind Willie McTell and the showcase for such contemporary blues masters as Tinsley Ellis and Bill Sheffield, the blues scene has kept a steady beat, never challenging Chicago or Memphis, but nurturing a roster of sterling homegrown monsters.
The kind of place to hear these folks is a club where patrons bump elbows, where the wait staff dodges and weaves like hockey forwards in a power play, where you can see the walls breathe in and out with each crescendo.
In other words, like any of the spots we’ve singled out here. The vest-pocket-sized Darwin’s Burgers and Blues in Marietta epitomizes the live blues scene in the metro area, with the added distinction that it has, in fact, died and come back from the grave. After the building was condemned in 2011, it was rescued by a group of investors, several of whom came from the same office of an Atlanta corporation. All were looking for something new.
“The corporate world gets old after a while,” says Lindsay Wine, 31, head bartender and part owner. The new owners brought the building up to code, put in a kitchen and instituted a nonsmoking policy, which the musicians appreciated. A blues novice who knew more about the White Stripes than Josh White, Wine discovered that the blues was a good time.
“This is a fun genre,” she says.
Located just down the street from the Big Chicken, Darwin’s used to be a drive-thru bait and beer shop. “It’s blues for the burbs,” says patron Jeffrey Baker, relaxing on the back porch and looking stylish in a brown velvet jacket and a waxed mustache. The Thursday night jam at Darwin’s has a five-year history, and it attracts musicians from around the metro area. About 25 or 30 will perform this evening, including Baker on harmonica.
“Willie’s gets all the attention,” Baker says, “but we’re the OTP Willie’s.”
He’s referring to Blind Willie’s, the granddaddy of blues clubs in Atlanta. Darwin’s is newer, but it has its own cachet.
“We have zero TVs,” Wine says. “We are 100 percent focused on the performer.”
And the performers on this evening seem to make up a good bit of the audience. Says bass player Jake Holliday, nodding toward the enthusiasts onstage, “This is their playground.”
WHERE TO GO
Darwin’s Burgers and Blues
1598 Roswell Road, Marietta; 770-509-2664, darwinsburgers.com/
Capacity: 72
On the menu: Hamburgers, pulled pork and chicken wings
House band: The Cazanovas
Nonsmoking
All ages
Open: 8 p.m.-midnight Mondays-Wednesdays; noon-2 a.m. Thursdays-Saturdays
Blind Willie’s
828 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta; 404-873-2583, www.blindwilliesblues.com/
Named for Atlanta blues giant Willie McTell, Blind Willie’s has been purveying houserockin’ music in the heart of Virginia-Highland for 26 years.
Co-owner Eric King has booked national and local acts, with special attention to such seasoned old-timers as Frank Edwards, who died in 2002 at the age of 93.
“A lot of senior performers live in Atlanta, or are from Atlanta, and Blind Willie’s gives them a place to play,” says co-owner Jimmy “Spike” Maynard.
Capacity: 148
On the menu: Fried potato chips with blue cheese dressing; Louisiana jambalaya, Memphis pulled pork; house-made hot sauce
House band: The Shadows, with Alby Scholl
Smoking
Ages: 21 and up
Open: 7 p.m.-2 a.m. Mondays-Saturdays
Fat Matt’s Rib Shack
1811 Piedmont Ave., Atlanta; 404-607-1622, www.fatmattsribshack.com/
This pint-sized rib joint on Piedmont south of Buckhead has been around for 22 years, and in that time has sold “a ton of ribs,” says proprietor Matt Harper. (The description is apt: On July 4, the eponymous Harper sold 500 slabs — or 2,000 pounds of barbecued goodness — in one day!)
He’s also hosted a steady stream of musicians performing in front of a mural depicting the four blues founding fathers (B.B. King, Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters) posed in a Mount Rushmore-style frieze at the back of the stage. When it’s full, the club, housed in what used to be Dunkin’ Donuts, is jelly-tight.
Capacity: 40
On the menu: Ribs, and also the house barbecue sauce, available by the bottle
Nonsmoking
All ages
Open: 11:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 11:30 a.m.-12:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Northside Tavern
1058 Howell Mill Road N.W., Atlanta; 404-874-8745, www.northsidetavern.com/
Smoky, dark, littered with neon signs and heavy on atmosphere, the Northside was described by Insight magazine as “a cross between Harpo’s Juke Joint in ‘The Color Purple’ and the Mos Eisley Tavern in ‘Star Wars.’ ” In the hands of the same family for 40 years, the tavern has been showcasing blues musicians since 1994, including Northside regular Danny “Mudcat” Dudek, who, back then, was one of the youngsters.
When Ellyn Webb took over the Northside from her father in 1989, the Howell Mill pub had few neighbors except for the waterworks. The explosive growth of “West Midtown” in the past 10 years has changed that situation for the better.
Capacity: 120
On the menu: Chips (but you can order food delivered from nearby restaurants)
Smoking
Ages: 21 and up
Open: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 a.m. Mondays-Saturdays; 12:30 p.m.-midnight Sundays
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