Rogers And Buffalo Share The Blues Stage

Thu., Oct. 17, 1996

Don Adair Correspondent

Thanks to a quirk of scheduling, blues fans in Spokane and Sandpoint get to see Roy Rogers and Norton Buffalo together on the same stage with their full bands.

The Bay Area bluesmen, who last appeared here as an acoustic duet, will bring their groups to the Panida Theater in Sandpoint tonight and Spokane’s Masonic Temple Friday.

Both bands are a sight to see. Buffalo is a virtuoso harp player whose work with Steve Miller, Bonnie Raitt and Elvin Bishop only hints at the wildness he generates onstage. He’s a born performer who threatens to upstage whomever dares share the stage with him, whether it’s Bishop, Miller or even Buffalo’s good friend Rogers.

Buffalo and his band, the Knockouts, tear through a steamy stew of blues, R&B and rock, with Buffalo up front on harp and vocals. He calls it “mutt music.”

It’s “by no means purebred,” he says, “a mixture of this and that, this and this, a melange of stuff absorbed in my lifetime.”

Rogers, who was named for the movie-star cowboy, is a slide-guitar player with chops so good that he’s been invited to share the stage with Keith Richards, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos and Albert Collins, just for starters.

In 1990, he received a Grammy nomination for his work with Taj Mahal, Miles Davis and John Lee Hooker on the soundtrack to Dennis Hopper’s film, “Hot Spot.”

Rogers also has become an award-winning producer: He’s produced the two records he and Norton Buffalo put together - including the Grammy-nominated “Song For Jessica” from their “R&B” CD - and four Grammy-nominated John Lee Hooker records.

Rogers’ work with Hooker stems from his four-year stint as Hooker’s guitar player.

“John Lee is a very special person,” Rogers says. “We all want to do what John does; he speaks straight from his soul and is instantly in touch with what he’s trying to say.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Roy Rogers and Norton Buffalo play the Panida Theater in Sandpoint today at 7:30 p.m. and Spokane’s Masonic Temple Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12.50 in advance or $15 at the door, available for the Sandpoint show at Java Adagio, next door to the theater; for the Spokane show, at Street Music and G&B Select-a-Seat outlets.

This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Roy Rogers and Norton Buffalo play the Panida Theater in Sandpoint today at 7:30 p.m. and Spokane’s Masonic Temple Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12.50 in advance or $15 at the door, available for the Sandpoint show at Java Adagio, next door to the theater; for the Spokane show, at Street Music and G&B; Select-a-Seat outlets.