Karen Kent & the Coffee County Sharecroppers

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I met Karen when I was with Full House. I first remember seein' her at the Burly Earl. She would book these all-night gigs at Marty’s Bar on Southside. Karen was fearless: She’d book a gig not knowing if she would have a band to back her up, yet she had enough material to play all night with or without one, and with anyone who’d show up and sit in. She invited me to back her up on harp, and eventually I added some guitar, do a song of my own, and it escalated from there.  

Karen Kent  – vocals, guitar, band leader

Joe Ledbetter – bass, vocals

Eddie Guest – drums

Tim Elliott – harp, vocals, guitar

By 1996 we had a regular set up, with old friends Joe and Eddie as the rhythm section. I really got my immersion in the B’ham late night music scene, particularly playing at Marty’s from midnight till dawn. There is no better way to learn harp than to play all-night gigs (plenty of evidence in the photo gallery below). Yeah, my mouth would go numb on occasion – ok, that could have been from the Whisperjets – but I’d end up hitting licks I didn’t know were there. I learned a lot of great blues from Karen as well.  She had an extensive knowledge of songs performed by women, historic and current (e.g., "You Can Have My Husband").  And road musicians would drop by and jam with us (leading to some memorable moments). First time I sang “Every Time I Roll the Dice” Delbert McClinton’s road guitarist was sitting in with us (the guy on slide here).  

Karen was also game to step out: We played a LGBT rally at Five Points park when the “coming out” show for Ellen DeGeneres was dropped from the local TV affiliate (in ’97) and college parties (played one at Samford University – one of the more conservative Southern Baptist colleges!).   She was first in line to back up Willie Marble when he’d come into town to host his “Between & Betwixt” holiday gigs in the last week of December at Marty’s.  That was always nothin' but a house party, y'all. 

I moved on when George Griffin was putting his G-Men together, and unfortunately that put her in a bad spot for a while as she looked for a replacement. But when she did Harpstack proved to be a much better sideman for her than I’d been. 

You should know about the Fabulous Willie Marble. That was - and remains -- his stage name. Truly one of the most colorful characters I’ve ever met in my bar-band side hustles. In real-life he goes by John Gerdy. A graduate of Davidson College (where he was the all-time leading b-ball scorer until some dude named Stephen Curry showed up -- maybe you've heard of 'em) and a veteran of the old ABA, John writes often about sports and education policy, and has several charitable causes, including finding ways to support and promote music in our schools. His latest book, "The Alphabone Orchestra Book" is all about the latter. I highly recommend his blog here.