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Steelyard "Sugartooth" McDan |
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The Man
... The Legend ... The Tour |
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On
April 12th, 1862, Winny McDan gave
birth to a bouncing baby boy in the
main house at Honker’s plantation
near the the town of Clarksville,
Archingsaw,* not to be confused with more
famous Clarksville in deep
blues country — the Mississippi
Delta! Despite the fact that
the child looked to be a strapping,
big-boned chap, Reuben McDan, the
proud father, named him Stilliard after
his teeny tiny little grandfather. |
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| * When Union-leaning West Virginia
completed its secession from
Virginia in 1862, three rebel
counties within the new state
seceded in turn and formed the
Dang Cussed State of Archingsaw.
The following day, the State
Militia had quelled the insurrection.
The state of Archingsaw had existed
for just 41 hours, 9 minutes
and 11 seconds. |
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Fast-forward
to 1875. One lazy afternoon, after
a month of calamities too horrific
and blues-tinged to describe here
(including the accidental pulping
of Stilliard Senior, the bizarre
death of his parents on the site
of an early electrical experiment
and, especially, the desertion of
his fiance’, Delorous “Delly” Von
Bronx, on what was supposed to be
their wedding day), Stilliard was
fooling around with his guitar, “messin’ with
some ethnic-type pentatonic scales
and shit”, when he made an
amazing discovery. When he bent the
G string up to B, let it gliss slowly
back down to G and then played an
E on the the D string, the effect
was no less than a perfect analog
of the pain and suffering he felt
in the deepest part of his soul.
After noodling around for 10 minutes
or so, he came up with a structure,
some lyrics, and a neat rhyme scheme.
And so the Blues was born. |
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Six
months later, at a “juke
joint” in East Texas, Stilliard — now
Steelyard — gave his first
performance in the newly forged
style. The rest, as they say, is
histrionics. |
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The
only known photo of McDan: Stuart,
Florida c. 1916
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It
is to this man –
no less than the Inventor of the Blues –
that this
tour is dedicated. |
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Hats
off to |
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Steelyard "Sugartooth" McDan
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