Ham hocks, grits and collard greens.
In the earliest days of my learning about the blues.... I was fortunate to learn under the tutelage of Dawna Rae. One day while working in the machine shop in Cambridge Jonny bopped into work and told me that he had been hanging at the SpeakEasy the night before and met a 'chick singer' who he thought was really beautiful. [probably not the words he used] Not too long afterward Johnny and Dawna were hanging out together and as was typical of Dawna that meant hanging out with me, too. Dawna would tell us which shows to see and where to go to see them. When she wasn't gigging then she might join us, and amazingly she seemed to know everybody. Charlie Musselwhite, AC Reed, it seemed to me that everybody that came through town knew who Dawna was. And it was through Dawna that I got to know Eddie Shaw and the Wolfgang. Eddie's son Vaan was especially friendly to Johnny and me, thus cementing my love for the music, leading to my lifelong love f the blues.
Sometime in the early 1990s Dawna blew back into town after having lived in Spain and Paris. We reconnected right away, and enjoyed a few more years or hanging out. She moved to Portsmouth NH with occasional forays to New Orleans. I lost touch with Dawna around the time of Hurricane Katrina and learned in 2015 that Dawna's life ended in 2013.
I've had a lot of big brothers in the blues, but only two big sisters, Dawna and Mai.
Sometime in the early 1990s Dawna blew back into town after having lived in Spain and Paris. We reconnected right away, and enjoyed a few more years or hanging out. She moved to Portsmouth NH with occasional forays to New Orleans. I lost touch with Dawna around the time of Hurricane Katrina and learned in 2015 that Dawna's life ended in 2013.
I've had a lot of big brothers in the blues, but only two big sisters, Dawna and Mai.
copyright unknown: Dawna gave me this image of her.
