California Honeydrops Put on Full Court Press at Papa Mojo's

The rankings are in. The best music of the week came from the band deep in the rankings and I am NOT talking about my band. Ok, we wanted the California Honeydrops to win, but they took it with a slam dunk performance in Durham at Papa Mojo’s Thursday January 19. So while Duke was routing Wake Forest, the Honeydrops were dropping some 3 pointers of their own on the rest of the Triangle music scene.

The California Honey Drops had a couple of tall defenses to overcome. First the name. It is too close to an area favorite band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Kind of like the Red Stick Ramblers and the Red Clay Ramblers are too closely named. Second, the Honeydrops are a West Coast band trying to develop a national following. So no one around here knows these Drops.

Like the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the California Honeydrops trace their musical roots back to early Negro music. While the Carolina Chocolate Drops mine the traditional African-American string band music, the CA Honeydrops don't go as far back, but offer the soul of early jazz-blues. The Honeydrops are not only a string band, but include keys, sax, trumpet, drums in addition to acoustic bass and arch topped guitar. They are a band that can play zone or man-to-man as the proved when they came out from behind the microphones and played in the audience.

California Honeydrops from Table Side at Papa Mojo's 

While the Honeydrops “ain’t from ‘round here,” that don't mean they don't have cred. The Honeydrops have been voted the best band in Oakland, CA. Now they are working on becoming the best band from Oakland, CA. Or maybe the best from California.

We saw the Honeydrops bring down the house or better described as bringing down the street at last year's San Francisco Fillmore Street Jazz Festival. We were ready for an upbeat and exciting show. We arrived at Papa Mojo's about 7:00 PM for the 8:00 PM show. We told T.T., our accommodations guide for the evening, that we were here to see the band and that we did not have a reservation. She knew where to set us and we had a great seat without a reservation, although they would have preferred a reservation, and we could have saved a few dollars if we had bought tickets in advance. I need to read the website closer as I missed those details.

The Honeydrops at the Fillmore Street
Jazz Festival in San Francisco

The California Honeydrops did not disappoint. Their MVP, Lech Wierzynski and the guys arrived about 7:45 and Lech stopped by our table with a "hello, I'm Lech." We told him how excited we were to see the band in North Carolina and looked forward to the evening. Lech thought they were starting at 9:00 instead of 8:00, so he also needs to read the website closer. The band set up in a hurry and Lech started things off with some solo guitar at 8:05. The band kicked in at 8:08 and the rout was on. Turns out it was Lech's last day of being 29. And his band mates made a big deal about the fact he would be thirty tomorrow. There was great music, dancing and an all around evening of fun. I believe the California Honeydrops are like my band--better live than recorded. Maybe that is why their next record is a live recording.

It had been a fun week, but the week was not over. We had seen Sarah Jarosz play to over 700 at the Haw River Ball Room and now we enjoyed the California Honeydrops as they played to over 47 (a real crime more people were not there) at Papa Mojo's, two new venues for us and we are people who get out and listen to live music. Next blog up is Red Horse who played Saturday Night at Fletcher Theater in Raleigh.

BTW, the food at Papa Mojo's was as good as the music and and the vibe. Look for a food blog for this week later. Look for a larger crowd for the California Honeydrops the next time they come to town. We hope Lech will still be in his thirties when they do.