Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

We Used to Play Acoustic Delta Blues on the Corner of Prospect

From Tennessee to San Diego to Northern Calif.

"It's too pleasant here to have any real blues." (Photo from 2013 YouTube video.)
"It's too pleasant here to have any real blues." (Photo from 2013 YouTube video.)

"We used to play acoustic delta blues on the corner of Prospect and Herschel. We would put on really nice suits and shine our shoes and look like we didn't need the money. But we'd make a fortune."

That's how Earl Thomas remembers the late 1980s, singing the blues on a La Jolla street corner with his band the Rumboogies. "But we started drawing too big of a crowd and obstructing traffic. They shut us down."

After his stint in the Navy and graduating from Humboldt State, the Pikeville, Tennessee-born bluesman started singing the blues locally in 1987. Since then he has released eight albums and won four San Diego Music Awards, including Best Album and Best Artist. Three major artists, Etta James, Solomon Burke, and the late Screamin' Jay Hawkins, recorded six of his songs. "When Etta recorded [my song] 'I Sing the Blues' in '91, my life changed. Her version was used on [TV's] ER. I still receive royalties."

Sponsored
Sponsored

Thomas has played Street Scene and locally opened for B.B. King and Taj Mahal. "Etta James has asked me to be her permanent opener when she goes on tour [in 2005]." In April, Memphis International Records (Carla Thomas, Tracy Nelson) will release Thomas's ninth album, Intersection. The album was recorded in Memphis, not Thomas's favorite town. "I hated Memphis. There is a huge statue of Jefferson Davis downtown. To me that's like putting up a statue of Adolf Hitler in Berlin."

He prefers San Diego to Memphis. He admits, "It's too pleasant here to have any real blues," but he says, "this is conservative, white, old-ass San Diego, and they let me be me.... Where in the world could a gay black man work steady and just be free and be himself?"

And with that statement, he has quietly moved somewhere else.

"I hope I have made San Diego proud. But I need to go and have some solitude now. I love San Diego, I just don't want the desert. I need rain. I need green trees."

So Thomas, 44, has moved to a small seaside town in Northern California. "I like the fact that redwood trees go all the way to the beach."

He says opening for Etta James has let him experience the finer things.

"I'm not interested anymore in doing three sets a night from 9:30 to 1:30 and some club owner saying, 'You're late.' Thanks to Miss Etta James, I have a taste of what real artists have."

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why Unified® Review: What To Expect Dropshipping (Positive & Negative)

"It's too pleasant here to have any real blues." (Photo from 2013 YouTube video.)
"It's too pleasant here to have any real blues." (Photo from 2013 YouTube video.)

"We used to play acoustic delta blues on the corner of Prospect and Herschel. We would put on really nice suits and shine our shoes and look like we didn't need the money. But we'd make a fortune."

That's how Earl Thomas remembers the late 1980s, singing the blues on a La Jolla street corner with his band the Rumboogies. "But we started drawing too big of a crowd and obstructing traffic. They shut us down."

After his stint in the Navy and graduating from Humboldt State, the Pikeville, Tennessee-born bluesman started singing the blues locally in 1987. Since then he has released eight albums and won four San Diego Music Awards, including Best Album and Best Artist. Three major artists, Etta James, Solomon Burke, and the late Screamin' Jay Hawkins, recorded six of his songs. "When Etta recorded [my song] 'I Sing the Blues' in '91, my life changed. Her version was used on [TV's] ER. I still receive royalties."

Sponsored
Sponsored

Thomas has played Street Scene and locally opened for B.B. King and Taj Mahal. "Etta James has asked me to be her permanent opener when she goes on tour [in 2005]." In April, Memphis International Records (Carla Thomas, Tracy Nelson) will release Thomas's ninth album, Intersection. The album was recorded in Memphis, not Thomas's favorite town. "I hated Memphis. There is a huge statue of Jefferson Davis downtown. To me that's like putting up a statue of Adolf Hitler in Berlin."

He prefers San Diego to Memphis. He admits, "It's too pleasant here to have any real blues," but he says, "this is conservative, white, old-ass San Diego, and they let me be me.... Where in the world could a gay black man work steady and just be free and be himself?"

And with that statement, he has quietly moved somewhere else.

"I hope I have made San Diego proud. But I need to go and have some solitude now. I love San Diego, I just don't want the desert. I need rain. I need green trees."

So Thomas, 44, has moved to a small seaside town in Northern California. "I like the fact that redwood trees go all the way to the beach."

He says opening for Etta James has let him experience the finer things.

"I'm not interested anymore in doing three sets a night from 9:30 to 1:30 and some club owner saying, 'You're late.' Thanks to Miss Etta James, I have a taste of what real artists have."

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Next Article

Why Unified® Review: What To Expect Dropshipping (Positive & Negative)

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.