Local San Diego band, Mrs. Henry played tribute to The Band’s ”Last Waltz” at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach recently. Mrs. Henry, along with a virtual who’s who of San Diego County musicians performed the entire set from the film to a very rambunctious, sold-out crowd.
Mrs. Henry is Jody Bagley (keys and vocals), Daniel Cervantes (guitar and vocals), Blake Dean (bass and vocals) and Chad Lee (drum).
Mrs. Henry began the show with “Up On Cripple Creek” which immediately had the crowd singing along and set the tone for the entire evening. They followed that up with a beautiful rendition of Georgia On My Mind sung by keyboardist, Jody Bagley.
They then brought out local brass band, Fresh Veggies. Fresh Veggies horn section backed up the band for most of the rest of the evening.
The show was billed as Mrs. Henry and Friends, and do they have some talented friends. Musicians joining the band on stage throughout the night included Marc Ford formerly of The Black Crowes, Zander Schloss the bassist for punk rock band, Circle Jerks, Scarlet Rivera, fiddle player for Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, legendary songwriter for the Eagles, Jack Tempchin, local bluegrass legend, Clinton Davis, instrumentalist, David Tcheng, Isaiah Mitchell guitarist for Earthless and Black Crowes. San Diego folk singer, Mike Pope joined the band on stage for several songs including, Baby Let Me Follow You Down and Forever Young. Also on stage playing harmonica and singing was Ben Hernandez of Malachi Henry and the Lights and former back up singer for the legendary Mavis Staples. Harmonica maestro, Murf McCree jammed for a few songs as well. McCree, Ford, and Mitchell had a little harmonica/guitar duel which was amazing to hear.
The evening saw many of San Diego’s powerhouse vocalists take the stage as well. Leonard Patton did an amazing version of Caledonia, Anna Zinova not only sang with Jack Tempchin, but she also performed a beautiful rendition of Joni Mitchell’s Coyote. Bryan Barbarin really got the crowd going with Tura Lura Lura and then Van Morrison’s Caravan. The Deca Dames (Whitney Shay, Tanya Mackenna, and Cassie Bowerman) performed The Weight. Jason Michael Meyers did his best Dr. John imitation and nailed it. Mike Stax of The Loons, rocked the house with a killer version of “Who Do You Love.” Shane Hall sang “Dry Your Eyes.”
They ended the evening with the entire ensemble onstage for “I Shall Be Released” and “Don’t Do It.”