Blues trio on farewell tour after 25 years of performing

By Jerry Fink

Monday, Aug. 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.

It was happenstance that the three women from Fredericksburg, Va., met and formed a group that has entertained blues fans for a quarter of a century.

But Saffire — the Uppity Blues Women are finally pulling the plug, by design.

“We’re going out while we’re ahead,” says 64-year-old Ann Rabson, speaking from her Virginia home. “It’s time to move on. Twenty-five years is pretty long for a band. It’s pretty long for anything.”

Saffire is in the middle of its national farewell tour. The sometimes bawdy band plays Boulder Station on Thursday and Texas Station on Friday as part of Station Casinos’ free blues series. The trio’s final performance will be in Fredericksburg on Nov. 7.

The group’s current lineup is Rabson, who plays keyboards, guitar and kazoo; Gaye Adegbalola, who plays guitar and harmonica; and Andra Faye, who plays fiddle, mandolin, upright bass and guitar.

All three are talented instrumentalists, singers and songwriters. And they wear their attitudes on their sleeves, mixing the traditional sass of blues women such as the late Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie with personal statements about topics such as growing old and battling cancer.

They watched as blues fans have changed over the years.

“There was a time when the only ones who came out to hear the blues were bikers,” Rabson says. “When I started out there was no such thing as blues societies. People didn’t have clue about the blues. They would come to my show and ask me to play ‘Country Roads.’ But now people say ‘Do you know any Memphis Minnie?’ Fans are much more educated now, much more into it.”

The breakup is amicable.

“We’re all just interested in different things,” Rabson says. “We all have a lot of irons in the fire.”

• Adegbalola (pronounced ah-deg-bah-lo-la), 65, is a motivational speaker. She plans to lecture, perform, compose and write.

• Faye, 50, the newest member, joined in 1992 after the original bass player left. She plans to continue performing.

• Rabson is teaching and working on an instructional video on how to play barrelhouse piano. She’s getting ready to record a CD. She also plans to focus on a solo career.

Rabson started performing by herself in 1962 and continued as a solo act even after Saffire formed. “Sometimes I’m more solo than with the band,” she says. “The band is almost like a side project for me at times.”

Adegbalola used to attend Rabson’s shows.

“She would come up after the show and ask questions about how to play guitar and I would give her names of people who would instruct her,” Rabson says. “I can’t explain what I do. It’s very personal. But she persisted that she wanted to learn from me. So after three years I started teaching her, and she learned very quickly.”

From time to time they would do local shows together. Eventually they brought a bass player onboard.

Rabson had spent most of her time performing in her hometown until her daughter graduated from college.

“Then in 1988 I told the group I was going back on the road and they were welcome to go with me or find someone to replace me,” she says.

Saffire — the Uppity Blues Women was born.

“The others had careers, but my career was my playing,” Rabson says. “So they took leave of absences from their jobs to keep up the insurance.

“They never looked back.”

When the group started, Rabson played guitar.

“I didn’t play piano until after we got together, and now it’s my main instrument,” she says. “Very few realize now I play guitar.”

Rabson has mixed emotions about pulling the plug on Saffire. She will miss the camaraderie and the music the trio made together.

“But one nice thing is we will always be close,” she says. “I think we will be even closer now.

“I’m a little scared, but I think things will be fine — no pain, no gain.”