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Mr.
Henry Townsend
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On
Sunday, Oct. 26th, a treasured musical moment happened
down at BB's.
The 94th birthday party for Henry
Townsend, the patriarch of St. Louis Blues Music,
brought a SRO crowd! It was great to witness, as
a virtual "Who's Who" of Blues musicians
showed up to pay tribute to this influential Blues
icon!
The doors opened at 4pm sharp, to a line of fans
waiting to grab a front row table. STLBlues arrived
early, joining the Blue
Jazzman - who had already snared a table. Paul
S. (a former St. Louisian and board member of the
St. Louis
Blues Society) made his annual trek from Cincinatti
to perform his 'celebrity doorman' duties for this
event, "I drove 6 hours to be here for Henry's
birthday bash, wouldn't miss this"! Paul informed
STLBlues that Alvin Youngblood Hart had made a heartfelt
stage mention of Henry's party at his recent Cincinnati
performance.
The musical lineup was extensive, here's a look
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Bob Case | Anson Funderburgh | JR Reed | Sonny Robertson
Rondo | Cryin' Shame | Mat Watson | Dave Mackensie
| Henry Townsend
Artist after artist took to the stage to share their
respect for Henry Townsend, a common feeling shared
by everyone in attendance. The highlight of the
evening was naturally the performance by Henry.
Helped to the stage by fellow musicians, once he
settled in at the keyboard, Henry gave one of his
most spirited performances in recent years. BB's
staffer John May began to go up on stage to assist
Henry down, but Henry wasn't quite done - and just
kept on playing. Much to the crowd's delight!!
Following
Henry's act, his birthday cake arrived, and he
proceeded to blow out all his candles. Enjoying
himself tremendously, Henry informed us "I'm
just happy to be here tonight!!" A sentiment
we're sure was shared by all. Here's our image
gallery of one very special evening, the 94th
birthday of Mr. Henry
Townsend. Enjoy!!
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