Howdy Folks. I write to you from a room inside a mock Tudor hotel whose decor just gives me the willies. Don't get me wrong, I am being a little naughty, it's very nice, very friendly but I feel like I'm sleeping at Hogwarts or maybe that place from the Canterbury ghost story.

Mr Wizard thinks it's awesome. Who books this stuff? Oh. Me. Right.

Moving on.

We had to say goodbye to Lesley and Luis today who looked after us so well none of the boys wanted to leave. Still, we had to press on..

Last night we spent the evening being hosted by Dawayne and the lovely Cathy, sitting around eating Oklahoma Joes KC BBQ and listening to some of the most amazing blues, jazz and country from the 1920's-1950's on old shellac 78 RPM records and I have to say that Dawayne Gilley is the Blues Super Brain of the universe, no fooling.

Dawayne knows stuff. hang on, let me think about it. Nope, he knows EVERYTHING. I have never spent time with anyone as knowledgeable, with such incredible detailed knowledge of how Blues, Roots and Country intertwined in the early 20th century. Dawyne can tell you where they recorded, who played on it, who wrote it, what styles influenced which artist, who they borrowed from (that rat fink willie dixon, he stole from everyone! Jimmy Rogers deserves more credit for hooking up blue musicians! did you know that ____ drove a truck for Chess records...) and so on. I was amazed, enthralled and in awe of Dawaynes depth of knowledge and passion.

I considered myself reasonably well versed in the music, but Dawayne pulled out track after track after track that showed the evolution of the blues. Rosie has been a Kokomo Arnold fan for a a while but we heard some stuff from him that blew our minds, and it just didn't stop.

I knew that journeying over here was coming back to the source, and though i may catch a little heat for saying so, I always thought Kansas City played the pivotal role in the genesis of the Blues, but last nights musical feast was staggering. Dawayne showed us how the different beats emerged, (did you know 4/4 in the blues came out of KC??) introduced us to new terms (gutbucket Blues, Champagne Blues) and corrected our understanding (don't say swamp, them what plays it don't like it, they're from Louisiana and they just have a different take on the Blues, but they don't like to call it swamp).

If I had a hat, I would take it off twice.

Dawayne is the Super Blues Brain of the Universe and I think may be a living treasure in his own right.

We came to be schooled and what a lesson it was. Thank you Dawayne.

(I took more pics but I'll leave the rest until the tour blog at the end of the tour but here's just some of the cuts we looked at)