Saturday, July 24th,
Downtown Dodgeville

608-935-5993

Sponsored by the Dodgeville Revitalization Organization & the Dodgeville Area Chamber of Commerce

2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Blues Fest T-Shirts
are still available at $5 each plus $3.50 s/h.

Henry Gray and the Cats

Henry Gray was born on January 19, 1925 in Kenner, Louisiana, an outskirt of New Orleans. Within a few years his family moved to a small farm in Alsen, Louisiana a few miles north of Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana. It was here that Gray began to demonstrate his talent on the piano at the age of eight. He was exposed to the piano through church, the radio, records, and an elderly woman in his neighborhood, Mrs. White. She recognized Henry's interest and gave him lessons. He began playing piano and organ in the local church. Eventually, Henry's family acquired a piano in their home, but as was the case with so many families, No Blues (Devil's Music) was allowed to be played on it. Henry had to sneak around and play the blues where he could. Fortunately, Mrs. White encouraged Henry to play the blues at her house. At the age of sixteen, Henry was asked to play with a band at a club near his home in Alsen. He gathered the courage to tell his father. To Henry's surprise, his father agreed, but only if he could accompany Henry. Henry played the gig and made some money. As Henry tells it, "When my father saw that I could make money playing the blues, he liked that all right!" It was this event, that gave birth to Henry Gray's remarkable 60 Year career in the history of the Blues.

Henry served several years in the army during World War II in the south Pacific. On a many of occasions, Henry entertained troops with a piano and his singing. He fondly recalls those moments as they were breaks from the stress of being a wartime soldier. Shortly before the war was over, Henry was given a medical discharge from the army. He returned to his family's home in Alsen for a short period before leaving to go to Chicago where he had relatives.

Soon after arriving in Chicago in 1946, Henry began frequenting the clubs and joints checking out other piano players and measuring his skills and talents with theirs. At times, he would sit in and play in some of the places. While doing this, Henry caught the eyes and ears of Big Maceo Merriwether, who is considered one of the best blues and barrel- house piano players in history. Maceo was born in Detroit but had moved to Chicago to make money playing the piano. Merriwether mentored Henry and showed him the ropes in the blues scene in Chicago. It wasn't long before Henry was being sought after for his abilities. For the next twenty-two years, Henry played and/or recorded with many notable players and innovators of the blues.

In 1956, Howlin' Wolf asked Henry to join his band. Henry did and remained Wolf's main piano player until 1968. This is evidenced on many of Wolf's recording during this time. During the fifties and sixties, Chess records employed Henry many times as side- man on their recordings. Also, he can be heard on many of J. D. Miller's Louisiana Excello blues recordings in the fifties and sixties. The following is a list of other blues notables that Henry has worked and/or recorded with in his career: Robert Lockwood Jr., Billy Boy Arnold, Muddy Waters, Johnny Shines, Abbe Locke, Hubert Sumlin, Lazy Lester, "Little" Walter Jacobs, Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), "Homesick" James, Jimmy Reed (including a Carnegie Hall concert), Jimmy Rogers, Elmore James (with him the night he died), "Snooky" Pryor, Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Little Milton, James Cotton, Buddy Guy, Raful Neal, Kenny Neal, Taj Mahal, BB King, Tabby Thomas, Larry Garner, Lucinda Williams, Moses "Whisperin" Smith, Silas Hogan, Guitar Kelly, Washboard Sam, and Guitar Slim. This list in not complete but it gives one the idea of the prolific and vital history of Henry's accomplishments. Henry left Wolf's band and Chicago in 1968 to return to Alsen, due to the death of his father and to assist his mother with the family fish market business.

Since 1968, many have wondered what Henry has been doing. He worked with the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board as roofer for nearly fifteen years before retiring, helped raise a family with his wife Rivers Gray for the last thirty years, and remained active as a musician in a number of ways. During the last thirty years, Henry has been performed in at least fifteen New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festivals, two Chicago Blues Festivals (1987 & (1989), the Montreal Jazz Festival (1988), nearly every Baton Rouge Blues Festival since 1975, the San Francisco Blues Festival, Memphis's W.C. Handy Blues Festival, several Festival Internationals (Lafayette, Louisiana), the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, the King Biscuit Blues Festival (Helena, Arkansas), and many other notable festivals around the United States and the World. Henry travels to Europe regularly to play festivals and concerts. He has also appeared on several European releases with several legendary bands. Henry can be found occasionally playing at Blind Willies in Atlanta, the Rhythm Room in Phoenix, the House of Blues or Rock'n Bowl in New Orleans, as well as Tabby Thomas's Blues Box and Abe's Barbecue in Baton Rouge. In 1988, Blind Pig Records released Henry's first stateside feature LP entitled "Lucky Man."

In 1998, Henry was personally invited to participate in playing Mick Jagger's 55th birthday bash in Paris, France. He remarked with a smile, "Those boys (The Rolling Stones) love to party." In 1999, Henry received a Grammy nomination for his work on TelArc Records' 1998 release "A Tribute to Howlin' Wolf". Also, in '99 Henry Gray & the Cats (Gray's band) released a live CD "Blues Won't Let Me Take My Rest" on their own label Lucky Cat Records has received critical acclaim in through out the blues world. Sonny Landreth and Britain's Martin Simpson appear as special guests on the CD.

During 2001, Gray was the subject of feature articles in the Blues Access Spring Issue, Offbeat (November) and had the honor of being on the cover Living Blues July/ August 2001 # 158 along with the feature article. In addition, The New Orleans Jazz Festival selected one of the tunes performed by Henry Gray & the Cats at the 2001 festival to be included on their 2002 compilation CD. Also, Henry is nominated for four WC Handy Awards here in 2002: Best Traditional Blues Male Artist, Best Blues Pianist, Come-Back Blues Album of the Year, Best Traditional Blues Album.

For Bookings Contact:
JW ENTERTAINMENT
P.O. BOX 78904
ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30357
Phone: (404) 667-9520
Fax: (404) 874-8591
E-Mail: jwblues@attbi.com
Website: http://www.jwblues.com