Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
The drummer and guitarist of Leaving Miss Blue met in Athens - just a few hours before their show.
The band, which will play Friday at J.R.'s Baitshack, had only one practice before they played its first show at Tasty World last October.
Will Martin and Travis "Tater" Clark had always played together with no percussionist.
Then drummer Josh Couillard, a junior from Chattanooga, Tenn., said, "They just called me up and said, 'Hey, we have this show at Tasty World. Do you want to play it?'"
A new band was born.
But the music is complicated rather than just thrown together as its history may initially sound.
"Hill country blues rock is about the closest we come" to a type of music, Couillard said. "It's a new experience of the blues."
University junior Ashley Rutledge agreed.
"There's not really anyone else out there that sounds like it," said the Chattanooga native. "They play really interesting instruments."
While Couillard drums, Martin sings and strums the guitar and a cigar-box guitar (made from a cigar box and two broom handles) and Clark plays guitar and electric washboard.
"It's a really great balance between Southern rock and blues," Rutledge said.
The band members' musical influences range from Stevie Ray Vaughn to Eric Clapton.
Although its music has a blues feel, Couillard said its shows are very high-energy.
"It's really interactive and in your face. It's just a fun atmosphere," he said.
Clark, for example, will often jump into the crowd to let an audience member have a turn playing the electric washboard.
"The rest of the band will just play along with the fan," Couillard said.
The young band already has received a lot of attention in Chattanooga. Last year, the band was nominated for Best Country or Bluegrass Band.
"Our first show in Chattanooga was in November, and the award show was in December," Couillard said. "We only had like three shows in Chattanooga and we were already nominated for an award."
Friday is the band's first J.R.'s appearance.
Rutledge said she looks forward to it.
"Where else can you hear an electric washboard?" she said. - Red & Black
Discography
"32/20" single - cover of Robert Johnson's blues classic streaming on HarvestReaper.com
www.myspace.com/Leaving_Miss_Blue
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
www.myspace.com/Leaving_Miss_Blue
Leaving Miss Blue is a blues rock trio that sounds and performs unlike anything on the market today. The band’s diverse influences can be heard in every song it plays. However, in order to comprehend how this band created its unique sound, the band’s story must be told.
During a poorly attended solo acoustic show in a dive bar in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Will Martin was asked by friend and co-worker Travis Clark if he could play an electric washboard on a couple songs. As a last-ditch effort to win over the under-enthusiastic
crowd, Will plugged in and played his cigar-box guitar, a hybrid bass and electric, which he had recently received as a gift. Suddenly, the previously distant crowd was enthralled by such a drastic musical change, and the brainchild that became Leaving Miss Blue was born.
After playing many open-mic sessions around Chattanooga and building a grass roots following, the two came to the realization that they needed a drummer to complete their sound. Josh Couillard was brought on approximately six hours before the first full band performance in Athens, Georgia. Having a repertoire of only six songs, they played for an hour and a half. The crowd wanted more.
While discussing potential band names, the group decided the name should tell their journey of how they came to be; how they had left the Mississippi blues behind them to create their own unique sound. Leaving Miss Blue.
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