Just after Sterlin “Satan” Magee sat down behind his hi-hats and strapped on his guitar, he widened his eyes at the audience in the crowded party barn at Gip’s Place as if to say, “Here we go.”
And go he did.
Satan, along with harmonica virtuoso Adam Gussow and drummer David Laycock, laid into the kind of intense, soulful harp-driven blues that has entranced audiences all across the United States, from the streets of Harlem to Mr. Gip’s, the tiny juke joint in Bessemer where the band played Saturday night.
It was by chance that Satan and Adam ended up at Mr. Gip’s. The band was originally scheduled to play in Birmingham at The Burly Earl. Unfortunately, The Burly Earl shut its doors last week, leaving Birmingham residents without access to deep-fried sandwiches and Satan and Adam without a venue. Luckily, the Magic City Blues Society stepped in and asked the 86-year-old gravedigger and Bessemer bluesman Mr. Gip if he’d host the band at his place. Mr. Gip was happy to oblige, and the show was back on.
Satan and Adam’s story has been affected by chance from the very beginning. It was by chance that Gussow, a graduate student in English at Columbia, first saw Magee busking on a New York street corner in the mid-1980s. Gussow was struck by Magee’s playing, but at that time lacked the chops to play with the seasoned performer. After dropping out of grad school, taking harmonica lessons and doing some busking on his own, Gussow once again encountered Magee playing on a Harlem sidewalk. This time, Gussow sat in with Magee, and Satan and Adam were born.
The duo played together consistently until 1998, when Magee dropped off the radar (he did a similar thing after the death of his wife in the 1970s, before he reemerged in the 1980s demanding to be called “Satan”). Last summer Magee resurfaced and the two began playing some dates across the U.S.
Saturday’s two sets showed off Magee’s deep mournful voice with original tunes and blues standards like “Got My Mojo Working,” “Big Boss Man,” “Stagg-o-Lee,” and an amazing (and unexpected) cover of Peggy Lee’s “Fever.” Gussow’s harmonica shined on the band’s instrumental original “Mr. Cantrell,” and especially on a cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” that had the mixed crowd (in age and in race) on their feet, dancing and cheering.
Before, during set break, and after Satan and Adam’s energetic show, friends of Mr. Gip and the Magic City Blues Society made sure there was always music. “Little” Joe Wells, Leonard Watkins, and the amazing Michael Carpenter, and even Mr. Gip himself guaranteed that feet kept moving throughout the night.
Satan and Adam rolled on to Knoxville, Tenn., where they will be playing Monday. Next Saturday night Mr. Gip will host juke joint duo Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm.
