Fort Myers Florida Weekly

Hurricane BLUES

Hurricane Ruth part of lineup at Bonita Blues Fest



Hurricane Ruth plays Bonita Blues Fest.

Hurricane Ruth plays Bonita Blues Fest.

WE’RE NOT WILD ABOUT hurricanes in Southwest Florida, and for good reason.

But Hurricane Ruth is the one hurricane Floridians will actually enjoy.

She’ll touch down at Riverside Park in Bonita Springs on Saturday, March 10, from 6 to 7:15 p.m., as part of the Bonita Blues Festival, now in its 12th year.

Hurricane Ruth, a force of nature in music, will perform with her band and special guest, blues guitarist Scott Holt.

“He’s played with Buddy Guy for over a decade,” says Ruth LaMaster, who goes by the stage name Hurricane Ruth. “Buddy handpicked him when Scott was 19 years old. That speaks volumes for Scott’s ability.

Hurricane Ruth says that as she grew up, she was able to listen to many and varied genres. COURTESY PHOTO

Hurricane Ruth says that as she grew up, she was able to listen to many and varied genres. COURTESY PHOTO

“I’m told that he and I together on stage is pretty lethal. I know from standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him it’s a pretty dynamic show. We’re looking forward to bringing original music and some tasty cover songs to perform down in Bonita Springs.”

This will be her first time performing in Florida, though she’s visited the area often, as she has transplanted Illinois and Missouri friends and “people from our blues family” scattered from Naples to St. Petersburg.

“I love the area,” she says, “and I’m not just saying that because I’m going to be performing there.”

She has fallen in love with Sanibel, she says, explaining that she has often done the Sanibel Stoop in search of shells. She has also visited the “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

The blues festival raises money for three local charities: Bonita Springs Assistance Office, Music for Minors and the music therapy program at Golisano Children’s Hospital. Over the past 11 years it has raised a total of almost $300,000.

A two-day event, with two after-hours parties and a Sunday bash that’s free to the public, the festival draws 2,500 to 3,000 blues enthusiasts each day. Not only do people come from around the state but from all over the country, from Oregon to Maine, as well as from overseas — from Germany, Portugal, Spain, England, Scotland and Norway.

Like a hurricane

Hurricane Ruth was nicknamed by a writer friend when she started performing professionally.

“She said, ‘Gosh, you’re so little’ — I’m only about 5-foot-4,” and I don’t weigh a whole lot. Back then, I weighed less, she said, ‘How does such a big voice come out of such a little woman? You should call yourself Hurricane Ruth.’”

The singer thought it presumptuous to give herself a nickname.

But then she opened for blues legend Willie Dixon.

“This was back when he was first still drinking,” she recalls. “He was laughing about my name. He told me, ‘You know, kid, keep that name. That name will serve you well. I’ve been in some hurricanes, and you’re the only hurricane I will appreciate.’

“So if it was good enough for Willie Dixon to think it was a good name … “

She kept it.

“I love her energy on stage and the incredible way she gets everybody going,” says

Kevin Barry, who co-founded the festival with his wife Jennifer. (Mike Pfeffer and Terry Pfeffer also co-founded the festival, but have since bowed out.) “Her energy will get your out of your chair, and you’ll wanna dance. She’s a powerhouse. She’s all over the stage, running around. She’s almost like an instrument herself, she’s so active up there. It gets everybody else all wound up. She just fills the room with excitement.

“She’s a hurricane on stage, no doubt about that. You just can’t stop her. She’d be a Cat 5 if you had to put her on the hurricane scale.”

Hurricane Ruth will perform just before headliner Little Freddie King. Mr. King, who was born in Mississippi and lives in New Orleans, is a Delta blues guitarist and singer.

“He’s in his 80s; you would call him a true blues man,” says Mr. Barry, noting that Mr. King can be seen on the opening credits of “NCIS New Orleans.”

“He dresses to the nines, like the old school blues guys do,” he adds. “The cool hat, the sunglasses.”

And, like Hurricane Ruth, he’s never performed in Florida before.

During any show she does, Hurricane Ruth pays homage to Willie Dixon.

“I do a pretty rousing version of ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You’ with a different groove to it,” she says. “Not vampy, but our own take to it. That will get people off their butts! If they’re sitting, they’ll be up dancing.”

Among the other covers she performs is Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination.”

“Some R&B a la Hurricane Ruth,” she says. “We lay down a really great pocket for the song, have some nice nuances to it.”

And then there’s “Whole Lotta Rosie,” that AC/DC cover on her latest album.

She knows some blues traditionalists might complain, because it’s not Big Mama Thornton or Howlin’ Wolf.

But Hurricane Ruth doesn’t like to be boxed in.

Musical educations

Her musical education was wide and eclectic.

Her father, who played drums, piano and trumpet, opened a tavern in Beardstown in central Illinois, a small town on the Illinois River mid-way between Chicago and St. Louis.

They’d have fish fries every Sunday, along with jam sessions.

“As a little girl, I was always around the tavern, especially on Sundays,” she says. “I was exposed to Dixieland, big band, blues, bluegrass, country. All genres. They’d have pickers from all over everywhere, singers, instrumentalists. I heard banjo players, fiddle players, trumpet players, trombonists, pedal steel players, all jamming. It was pretty exciting, especially for a young woman like myself.

“They’d always have the jukebox on too: Ella Fitzgerald to Brenda Lee to Elvis to Ray Charles. You name it. As a young girl, very young, I was always exposed to music. But they never pushed it on me.”

In fact, her father made her take tap dancing lessons from the age of 3 to 16. Hurricane Ruth tolerated it.

“I never understood the reason why, until many years later, when I decided I loved singing and that was what I wanted to do,” she says. She asked her father why he made her take tap dancing lessons for so many years.

“He chuckled and said, ‘Because, daughter, it gave you a great internal clock and a great feel for rhythm. And that is the basis for all music: rhythm.’ I had the epiphany. You think your dad was being mean, making you wear those stupid costumes and be in those shows, but now I get it.”

Hurricane Ruth remembers listening to Janis Joplin, especially her album “I Got Them Old Cosmic Blues Again Mama.”

“I loved her energy and feel,” she says, “and started wondering: who did she listen to?”

And so she started listening to Janis’s influences: Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thornton.

“She’s one of the reasons why I started playing harmonica, which is traditionally a male instrument,” says Hurricane Ruth. Because Big Mama Thornton did.

She’d listen to Led Zeppelin and wonder who influenced them, and began listening to Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker.

“My mom introduced me to the dirty blues, like Howlin’ and Muddy, people like that. I did my homework and developed a love for the blues. And my dad listened to Big Band, so I was exposed to Lena Horne and Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald. And great male singers like Vic Damone. I was able to listen to many and varied genres.”

When she went off to college, she was a vocal performance major and a pre-law major. She was studying opera.

To pay for college, she sang at Le Bistro Lounge, in Springfield, Ill., three or four times a week.

That was a musical education of another kind. She gained experience onstage, singing and learning how to work an audience.

Even though she’d work late, she’d be back in the classroom at 8 a.m. the next day.

She recalls she had to perform a piece every Tuesday. One day, the head of the music department, Sister Annunciata, said to her afterwards, “Ruth dear, I have just one thing to say. You know when a woman has a dress on and they have a little bit of their slip showing underneath? I can always see a little bit of jazz or blues sticking out from your classical pieces.”

In 1979, Hurricane Ruth went on the road to make some money. She joined Dick Garretson’s band. “He gave me my start behind the microphone,” she says. “He’s like a second father.”

One of their first shows was opening up for the Ramsey Lewis Trio.

“Baptism by fire,” she says.

Since then, she has opened for many different artists, including Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Taj Mahal, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Judas Priest, Loverboy, Heart and Steppenwolf.

Ain’t ready for the grave

Hurricane Ruth’s most recent album is “Ain’t Ready for the Grave.” The title is from one of her songs, “Far from the Cradle,” in which she urges, “let’s live it up now,” explaining, “We’re far from the cradle/But we ain’t ready for the grave.” She co-wrote the song with her producer Tom Hambridge and co-writer Richard Fleming.

“It’s telling people to live your life from start to finish, no matter what you’re going through,” she says. “A lot of people as they get older in society are discounted, instead of relishing and being happy of the fact that you’ve made it this far in your life. (It urges you) to experience joy every day, no matter where you are in your life. We’re not young any more — we’re far from the cradle — but we have so much more to give and so much more to experience. We’re not ready for the grave.”

The song could speak to people in various situations, she says, such as if you’re divorced or experiencing an empty nest.

“There is so much more of life to live, so many things to experience,” she says. “Why not continue to be joyful in what you’re doing, and love life. Relish in the fact that you have made it this far. Be joyful and be happy and be proud. A lot of people haven’t made it this far.”

On stage, Hurricane Ruth is exuberant, uninhibited and authentic, baring her soul.

“When the music moves me, there are times when I feel I’m leaving my body, that’s the honest-to-God truth,” she says. “The music takes me sometimes out of my body to the point where I have to reel myself in. That’s what music does for me.

“I sing whatever speaks to me and can come from my heart.”

12th annual Bonita Blues Fest

>> When: 1-9 p.m. Friday, March 9, and 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Saturday, March 10

>> Where: Riverside Park on Old 41, Bonita Springs

>> Cost: $40 Friday only, $45 Saturday only, $60 weekend pass

>> Information: info@bonitablues.com

Bonita Blues Fest 2018 line-up

Friday, March 9

1:30-2:30 p.m. Noah Wotherspoon Band 3-4 p.m. Annika Chambers 4:30-5:30 p.m. Christone “Kingfish” Ingram 6-7:15 p.m. Harlis Sweetwater Band 7:45-9 p.m. Karen Lovely & Friends featuring John Del Toro Richardson and Ben Rice Friday After Hours Jam hosted by Josh Rowland & the Pitbull of Blues Band at Maria’s Restaurant, 27080 Old 41 Road, Bonita Springs (must have wristband for entry)

Saturday, March 10

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Mark Telesca Band 1-2 p.m. Jontavious Willis & Country Royalty 2:30-3:45 p.m. Rae Gordon Band 4:15-5:30 p.m. Altered Five Blues Band 6-7:15 p.m. Hurricane Ruth with Scott Holt 7:45-9 p.m. Little Freddie King Saturday After Hours Jam hosted by the Mark Telesca Band at Maria’s Restaurant, 27080 Old 41 Road, Bonita Springs (must have wristband for entry)

Sunday Blues and Bloodys

Noon Gospel Hour with the Rae Gordon Band 1:30 p.m. Mike Zito 4 p.m. Paul DesLauriers Band at The Center Bar at the Promenade at Bonita Bay, 26811 S. Bay Drive, Bonita Springs (free and open to the public)

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