Columnist Jerry Fink: Time to get down with Uppity Blues Women

By Jerry Fink

Friday, Oct. 19, 2001 | 9:42 a.m.

Jerry Fink's lounge column appears on Fridays. Reach him at jerry@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4058.

Are Uppity Blues Women for real or are they a pseudo-blues, comic novelty act?

Judge for yourself Thursday at Boulder Station's Railhead, when the Uppity Women perform at 8 p.m. as part of the hotel's free weekly Boulder Blues series.

The bawdy, multifaceted, multitalented ladies seem to be having way too much fun to be blues singers. Perhaps they need another color to define themselves -- aquamarine or sapphire.

Actually, when they started almost 20 years ago, they called themselves the Saffires, but there was a pop singer at the time who called herself Sa-Fire, and so the group officially became Saffires -- the Uppity Blues Women.

A novelty?

"I guess we are a novelty the first time you see us," quipped Andra Faye, who plays fiddle, mandolin, acoustic bass, guitar and sings. "We are different. The band formed with all three women in their 40s. They were not a young act when they started. They all had other careers.

"Early on, they focused on three women, then three middle-aged women and now three women who perform raunchy old blues tunes."

Faye, 42, was not an original member of the group. She joined Gaye Adegbalola, 57, and Ann Rabson, 56, after the group's original bass player left in 1992.

Before Adegbalola (guitar, harmonica and vocals) was bitten by the blues bug, she had careers as a biochemical researcher, a bacteriologist and an eighth grade science teacher.

Rabson (piano, guitar, kazoo and vocals) was a computer analyst by day and a professional musician by night.

At the time Faye joined the group, she was employed as a registered nurse in her hometown of Indianapolis and performed on weekends.

"I started studying classical violin when I was 12," Faye said during an interview from her home in Fredericksburg, Va. "I was pretty expansive from the beginning. I loved Broadway musicals and my parents were into country music and my brother taught me to enjoy rock.

"People had always told me I had a good voice, but I figured they were just being nice to me."

As a teenager she performed at nursing homes and jammed with friends.

"After high school, I kept playing for fun," she said.

In 1984, on a whim, Faye attended a blues camp at Elkins, W.Va., an annual event for aspiring musicians and people interested in learning about the genre.

"I had been dabbling around with blues before the camp," Faye said. "I've been a Bonnie Raitt fan since high school, and B.B. King. I loved the sound, but I couldn't define what it was."

She did so well at the camp she decided to try her hand as a professional, but only part-time.

"It really did inspire me," Faye said. "I had lots of positive feedback from wonderful players who were so supportive.

"I started going to open mikes, getting my feet wet. Pretty soon I was asked to perform with little bands around Indianapolis."

And she became a teacher at the summer blues camp, where she met the Uppity Blues Women in 1987. The group came as students.

"By that time I was a fixture (at the camp)," Faye said.

She formed a friendship with the Uppity women, and when the bass player left, she was asked to join them and has been singing the blues with a grin ever since.

"Once people come to one of our performances, they usually return," Faye said. "We've become fairly well-known all over the country, due to our music being aired on public radio. We've even sold out shows in Montana."

Mixing humor and blues has been a winning formula. Faye doesn't see a conflict between the two.

"Someone said humor is the poor man's psychiatrist," she said. "It makes you feel better, it lets some of your emotions out -- and that's what blues is all about."

Lounging around