[Harp-L] Re:Sonny's drivers

[SONNYTONE@xxxxxxx]

Emma drove Sonny, his wife. A fellow PP, Phil Pelusio, something like that,  
a guitar player, another fellow Steve from the city for a short while. Then  
Mark LaVoie, who makes the combs, he did one song with Sonny, Mean Woman Blues. 
 I think he was with him about a year or so. Then myself from 76 - 78, we 
worked  out 3-4 songs a night, then after nearly 2 years of playing the agent 
thought  that if I stopped doing duets it would help to bring them together, as  
Brownie was not happy with the show. They pulled me, it never worked out 
between  them, no one did duets with Sonny again. After I left, Styve Homnick from 
PA. ,  a drummer and harp player, played drums with them during some shows, 
not harp,  for 5 years after me. Not exactly sure when Sonny stopped performing 
due  to bad health. I did a duet with Sonny when they came to New Haven in 
around  1980, it was great. When we connected in New York and spent a lot of time 
 together, he called me Junior and told me to take it. Used to always call me 
 Gary Boy, which was affectionate terminology from a southern black man. I 
met  Jabo, Sonny's cousin, in Baltimore, I still do that song as Sonny and I did 
it,  Me and Jabo. Mark is a good player and excellent harp craftsman, have 
not heard  him in a long time. Paul Lamb is one of the foremost experts on 
Sonny, he spent  time driving Sonny around when overseas in England. Joe Filisko 
plays his style  well. Since working with Dave Barrett I immersed myself into 
every little breath  he did, having all the live recordings to pool from. Short 
and sweet. As best as  I can remember