Mrs. Henry, Jack Daniels, and Dr. Feelgood

“It was sponsored by Jack Daniels, who put up money and booze so we could do this thing, and as you can imagine that night was a whiskey-soaked endeavor,” says singer-guitarist Daniel Cervantes of Mrs. Henry, who recently performed at a New York City screening of their documentary film Mrs. Henry Presents: The Last Waltz. “The band played a two-hour-plus set and was up until around six in the morning, since bars are open until four.”

The all-night drinkathon had essentially begun the morning of the screening, when bassist Blake Dean arrived in NYC and took an Uber directly to the venue to load their huge Hammond B3 organ and two Leslie speaker cabinets downstairs into the basement performance space. When the band found itself still awake and hungover at six the next morning, “We had to get up at ten to get back to the venue at eleven to have the organ and cabinets up on the sidewalk by noon. This all lead to the nightmare of our drummer Chad pulling his back while loading the organ out.”

“Then came a three-hour desolation, sprawled on the basement floor, questioning life, calling all the Dr. Feelgoods in town we know. When the pill man came out of thin air, [he] produced the goods at just the right time to pop some muscle relaxers into the system of a broken back Henry boy to get us out of the basement, into an Uber, and back to the hotel.”

Formed in 2012, Mrs. Henry began as a newly evolved version of Dick Justice and the Happy Smoke featuring singer/guitarist Cervantes (Whiskey Circle, Creature and the Woods), currently accompanied by drummer Chad Lee (the Silent Comedy, Elijah Ford), keyboardist Jody Bagley (Blue Moonies, Cathouse Thursday), and bassist Blake Dean (Happy Ron Hill, Boss Run).

Their whirlwind 48 hours in New York City was a lesson in contrasts. "The notable difference of this experience compared to our San Diego experiences is a band like us couldn’t have done what we’ve done here in NYC...the nightlife and adrenaline in the city was super fitting, the fact that we could play two-plus hours into 2am and still be playing was crazy. I was just going through some live recordings at the Pourhouse when we did three and half hour sets. I hear Will from Strawberry Moons, who works there, say 'They can’t play any longer we’ve hit our curfew!' If that was in New York, we might have gone for another couple hours. Seemed the like the town is build for a artists or bands that go the extra mile."

While in NYC, “We got to do a very cool intimate performance with Relix magazine, in the headquarters of the place, so it was a trip to be in this tiny little room playing as quietly as we could. We were told if they got a complaint, we had to shut it down, but after our first song the whole office applauded, so I guess it went well. Blake hadn’t slept. Chad, Jody, and I got two hours of sleep.”

Now that he’s caught up on rest, Cervantes is making plans to expand his Blind Owl record label and publishing project. “Creature and the Woods, Drug Hunt, Mrs. Henry, Taken by Canadians, and Noah C. Lekas all put out great works this year. Two vinyl EPs, three vinyl 45 singles, Mrs. Henry’s Last Waltz, four vinyl collector’s set and double disc CD, and our first book, Saturday Night Sage. Something for everyone, music for all ears, and the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll runs deep in everything we create.”

On January 11, Mrs. Henry will debut their new album, Live at the Casbah, at — where else? — the Casbah, for a bill that includes the Bassics, Burden Feathers, and Puerto.