King Bee and The Stingers – Live from The Slippery Noodle
Independent
http://www.kingbeestingers.com
15 Songs – 79 minutes
King Bee and The Stingers first formed in 2006 with Mark Menefee as the band leader, guitarist, and vocalist. The band found some regional success around their western Indiana home grounds. The band was elevated when Mark’s daughter, Sarah, took over as lead singer in 2015. The band was selected to represent the Kentuckiana Blues Society in the 2018 and 2019 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, where they were semi-finalists on both occasions.
During this same period, Mark Carnes and Jeff Shew was also selected by the Kentuckiana Blues Society to represent them in solo/duo competition of the IBC. Mark played harmonica and guitar with Jeff on bass and both shared vocals. In 2019, Mark Menefee decided to retire as a musician and instead became the King Bee’s manager. Sarah started reshaping the band first by adding Mark and Jeff to the line-up. The new line-up was completely transformed with new guitarist Matt Boat, Wes Schrimsher on keyboards, and Paul Karaffa on drums joining the band.
That new configuration of the band then competed again in the Kentuckiana Blues Society’s Challenge and won the opportunity to participate in the 2023 IBC, where they were again semi-finalists. In addition, Sarah Menefee gained recognition and was invited to perform in the Women in Blues special show that is part of IBC. She has also since performed in a Women in Blues tour.
On April 12, 2024, the band performed and was recorded in a live performance at Indianapolis’ Slippery Noodle. On September 20, the band returned to The Slippery Noodle for a cd release party. This is the band’s third release with Sarah Menefee at the helm. The band’s previous album, Don’t Move So Fast, received national and international play with the title song and album making the charts on many playlists across the country and world. Six of the songs on this live album are from that album and two new originals are thrown in. The remainder of the songs are covers, but with Sarah in the lead of this very talented band, they deliver classic blues songs with a new vision.
After a brief intro, the band kicks the concert off with Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues”. Mark’s harmonica immediately kicks into the groove and Sarah gets the band rocking with Wes’ organ also standing out. “Where Were You?” is the first song from their previous record and lets Matt’s guitar shine as Sarah says, “you have gone and left me blue”. Danielle Nicole’s “Love My Baby” is next with a bouncy, soulful treatment with Wes mixing some top-notch piano into the song.
Sarah establishes that she “Ain’t That Kind of Woman” on the second previously released song. She notes that “I’ve got a no-good cheatin’ man, he loves to hurt me so bad…but I came to my senses, baby, and kicked him out the door”. “Four Roses” continues the list of previous originals. “First thing she did was order a whiskey” and then asked, “don’t you wanna dance with me”. “Bartender, pour Four Roses…Let’s have a good time”.
Sarah finds all of the emotion in Joe William’s “Please Don’t Go” and Matt burns up the frets. On the title song “Don’t Move So Fast” from the previous album, Sarah tells him to slow down on his courting. She declares that she and all of the players in her band are a “Hoochie Coochie Man”, the famed song from Willie Dixon. Mark’s harmonica again is a standout. “Once Had a Man” is the fifth song from the previous album. Matt plays some smooth guitar and Wes’ piano tinkles along behind as Sarah declares “he laughs when he cheats, smiles when he lies, but you know you ought to know when you look into his eyes… it won’t take you very long to realize that he is a no-good…mess” all in a very deep blues run.
Big Mama Thornton’s “I’m Feelin’ Alright” gets a joyous romp as she declares “I love my baby more than I do myself”. Matt and Wes again have some excellent solo pieces in the song. That is followed by Al Green’s “Take Me to the River” with Wes again tearing it up on the organ and Mark’s harmonica getting the river rolling. Sarah tells him that his “Bad Things” “got to go” in the final previous original.
The two new originals follow. On “Shakin’ to the Bone”, Sarah starts a call and response from the band before asking the doctor “to give me what I need, help me get some sleep as I am scared and all alone”. Mark’s harmonica cries in sympathy. “Late Night Crew” lets loose in an all-out rocking number as they “are going out drinking tonight, totally out of control, never felt so right”. The album concludes with B.B. King’s “Sweet Little Angel”, a fitting calm blues song to wind down the performance.
The originals, mostly composed by Jeff Shew and Sarah in conjunction with the band’s input, all stand up well against the well-known covers. The concert proves the band are not a studio driven and corrected entity like so many of today’s pop music performers. Sarah has continued to develop her powerful vocals, demonstrating an emotional strength that proves she deserves consideration as one of the upper echelon female blues singers on the circuit today. And every band member behind her demonstrates professional and technical expertise that deliver an excellent concert experience. The album certainly deserves further national and international exposure for the group.
