By Russ Layne

A beer and a hot-blowing blues band could be the best antidote to … the blues. If you have a hankering for this uniquely American jazz form, think of the Hudson Valley, which is, in fact, a blues hotbed.

So what are the blues? Very briefly, they’re the melancholy music we associate with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, and which originated as an amalgamation of African music and slave spirituals mixed with the purely American 12-bar sound.

It got its start in the Mississippi Delta region and fought its way north, first to St. Louis, then west to Kansas City and finally landed back east in Chicago, its American home.

Such blues luminaries as Billie Holiday, Lester Young and Janis Joplin are long gone, succeeded by performers such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, and B.B. King. Their generation, in turn, paved the way for some younger blues performers, many of whom live and perform here in the valley and have been instrumental in maintaining an interest in the blues.

Developing that interest isn’t difficult. It just takes three or four chords on a guitar and two or three shots of a favored drink and anyone can sing the blues though not necessarily become the next Bill Perry, Ted Horowitz. David Keyes, Slam Allen and others now rooted in the valley.

The late Bill Perry was born in Goshen on Christmas 1957 in Goshen, led his own band and played guitar for Richie Havens. Perry was a big hit in Europe playing for large, enthusiastic audiences. He was 49 when he died in Sugar Loaf in 2007.

Among contemporary players is Ted Horowitz of Monroe, known in jazz and blues clubs as Popa Chubby, a nice – sometimes not so nice – kid from the Bronx. Popa, like Perry before him, records for major blues labels and has a big following in Europe.

Several years ago, after playing a blues assembly program for the students at Warwick Valley High School, Popa was approached by a shy but precocious drum student, Chris Redden. A few years later, after more training, Redden toured with the Popa Chubby Blues Band. Popa’s sometimes tempestuous side doesn’t always make him easy to work for. So from time to time, Chris and his brother John take a break from Popa and perform as the Redden Brothers Band.

David Keyes, a blues piano/vocalist who lives in Sloatsburg, has performed with Gladys Knight, Chuck Berry and the late Bo Diddley and Odetta. He also has appeared in such Broadway fare as “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” “Lennon,” and “Urban Cowboy.” Keyes doesn’t forget his hometown roots, and several times a year, when he’s not on the road, he plays at Rhodes Tavern or Sunnyside’s with no cover and no minimum. He also plays the Turning Point in Piermont for which there’s a small fee.

Then there’s Slam Allen of Sullivan County who spent eight years performing with the great blues harmonica player James Cotton.

Attend a Slam Allen show and you never know when he’ll walk off the stage with his guitar, sit right down next to you, and finish the song. He’ll have you grinning, laughing and wondering what’s so blue about the blues. Recently at Brian’s Backyard BBQ in Middletown, in the middle of a set, he handed his guitar over to a 14-year old kid in the audience. Surprise. The kid was hotter than Brian’s hot sauce.

Here are some Hudson Valley clubs to keep an eye on for blues shows:

–Brian’s Backyard BBQ on Route 211 between Middletown and Montgomery.

–Sunnyside’s on Route 17 in Sloatsburg has been around since 1928, long enough to have fed such people as Bing Crosby, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Jimmy Durante.

–The always packed Rhodes Tavern on Route 17 in Sloatsburg.

–The Turning Point in Piermont occasionally presents such nationally known players as Marcia Ball, the Nighthawks, and the Robert Ross Band.

Russ Layne is executive director of the Sugar Loaf Music Series, which he founded 29 years ago.