Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Sonny Wolf: A quick shout out to an old friend


(I'm gonna indulge here for a second... thanks.)

Though many of you haven't heard of him, Sonny Wolf (whose real name I'll withhold) is an old friend of mine. Also a native Montrealer, Sonny and I attended Hebrew school together back in the day. He was always cast as a bit of an outsider, but to those who knew him, he was a gentle, if not a bit eccentric, guy.

Early on, he confided in me that the rigours of academia and scholastic achievement were not for him. Instead, he drew inspiration from a host of musical heroes, namely: Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughn and an array of other blues guitar masters. By the age of 15, he had encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, convinced he could make a career for himself in the blues.

We lost touch shortly after high school, but rumours about his musical journey still managed to reach my ears somehow through that mysterious Jewish grapevine that keeps us all connected.

Recently, on a whim, I Googled him (knowing he'd adopted the stage name Sonny Wolf for some years) and lo and behold, he's living his life as a bona fide blues axe-man. After making a name for himself on the local blues circuit in Montreal for the past decade, Sonny's now headlining the Monday night jam sessions in a bar called Nuno's on Sixth in Austin, TX. If their hype is true, it's one of the premiere blues bars in Texas. I wouldn't know. Frankly, it doesn't matter.

Mazal Tov, Sonny. You're living your dream.

To all of you who may be in Austin on a Monday night over the next little bit, do yourselves a favour and drop into the bar and immerse yourselves in some Texas blues, cooked up Montreal style. Here's a sample.

Sonny Wolf

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

He's very good.

Does he ever tour Mexico?

Anonymous said...

Sonny WOLF IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GREAT TALENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GUITAR FANS YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS GUY ..!!!!!!

HOPE YOU LOVE THE PICS YOU CHOOSE , ITS FROM ME IN MONTREAL SHOW|!!!!!!!

Josh said...

I'm loving this and so happy to know he's still playing after all these years.