By Kathy Sands-Boehmer

Beaucoup Blue is (l.-r.) Adrian and David Mowry

Dave and Adrian Mowry are a rootsy father-son duo who call Philadelphia home. They’ve recorded some powerful songs that cover a broad spectrum of different styles ranging from the blues to soul to jazz. Their latest CD, Free to Fall, charted very high on many Americana and Roots radio charts.

Find out more about Beaucoup Blue on their website.

You have been playing together for quite some time now, are you able to read each other’s musical minds while on stage or do you continue to surprise each other?

Dave: Both happen. Live performance, being in the moment, there are always surprises. However, the surprises become more subtle with time, although no less enjoyable.
Adrian: Yes, the surprises still come. When you play a lot of the same material from night to night you have a choice of whether to go through the motions or reach deeper into the material. We try to spur each other on to reach deeper. Hopefully it comes across.

You earned your musical stripes while doing a three-year residency at a club in Philadelphia. Was that trial by fire? Did you double, triple, or quadruple your set list during that time?

Dave: To some degree yes. More for Adrian than for me, I have been performing professionally since I was 17. I have passed through a few of my trials. However, as a duo, it was a way for me to help Adrian come in strong as a singer-songwriter. In that time our repertoire has easily doubled, tripled.
Adrian: Yes that was my boot camp. We had about five televisions to compete with & a revolving door of drunks in and out of the place, but that was where I learned to sing. If you could hold an audience there, you could do it anywhere. Kind of like busking indoors.

Your style of music is best described as Americana — which is a hybrid genre that combines folk, blues, jazz, soul, and whatever else you want to throw into the mix. Do you have any musical heroes from each of those genres?

David Mowry (Photo by Robert Berkowitz/RSB ImageWorks)

Dave: More numerous than I can almost name. However, in the interest of this interview, I will mention a few. Richie Havens, Dylan, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, it goes on and on. . . . I have left out so many. It is hard to define, Roots Americana, by the very definition, is a non-confining category, and I have influence in all aspects of it.
Adrian: I got a chance to grow up with my father’s record collection and it ran the gamut of American roots artists plus I’ve always been a big rock ‘n roll fan — classic or contemporary, as long as it’s unique.

Do you collaborate on the song writing? Or do you write songs individually and then share them with each other? Or both?

Dave: Generally, it is an individual effort and then we get together and tweak them.
Adrian: Yes, usually the song is pretty well conceived by the time we bring it to each other & then we try and improve it if need be.

What’s the longest road trip you’ve been on thus far? Do you like the traveling part of your life or does the traveling sometimes get to be a drag? How do you amuse yourselves when you’re in a strange city waiting for your gig to begin?

Dave: The longest so far has been two weeks. For the most part, we like it. It is always enjoyable to meet new people and see new places you have never been. If you don’t have a sense of adventure about you, then this is an activity I don’t recommend. Sightseeing is always enjoyable, to find a good restaurant, or if we know people living there, we spend time with them.
Adrian: Traveling can be tough, but it gives you a good perspective of where you come from. You get to see a little more of the bigger picture — maybe more of an appreciation for peoples similarities and differences. Plus there’s nothing like playing to a new audience from one night to the next; it’s just a lot of fun.

What’s up next for Beaucoup Blue? A new recording project in the works perhaps?

Dave: Yes, a new recording. We are getting ready to release an EP, which comprises work left over from our last CD.
Adrian: Then we get cracking on a full-length album. We are writing some cool stuff, and it’s a thrill to see where it goes. Of course, we continue to tour as much as possible and there’s talk of maybe going over to the UK. We’ll see what happens.

Beaucoup Blue was among the artists who performed in a popular AcousticMusicScene.com late-night “MMM Good Blues” song swap during the 2009 Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference. Pictured, from left, are Bob Beach, Adrian Mowry, David Mowry, Danielle Miraglia, Phil Minissale and Angelo M. Michael Kornfeld, right, hosted.

Like many of us, Kathy Sands-Boehmer wears many hats. An editor by profession, she also operates Harbortown Music and books artists for the Me and Thee Coffeehouse in Marblehead, Massachusetts. In her spare time, Kathy can be found at local music haunts all over New England. This and many of her previous Q & A interviews with artists are archived at www.meandthee.org/blog, as well as in the Features section of AcousticMusicScene.com.