Delta Sun is Thomas Beltzer and Joshua T. Hickerson, here performing their “neoprimitive rough blues” at a recent gig. The duo has released their first CD “Slow Lightning,” which is available at Hill Country Music. Photo by Phil Houseal

Details:
Delta Sun performs regularly at the Choo Choo and frequently at Lincoln Street in Fredericksburg. The CD “Slow Lightning” is available at Hill Country Music and the Choo Choo. You can contact Thomas Beltzer at 990-1607, or thomasbelc@juno.com.

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Delta Sun: “Slow Lightning”

by Phil Houseal
Apr 12, 2006

“If ugly was a suitcase, you’d be traveling from town to town.”

Ah... the subtle language of the blues.

“If Ugly Was A Suitcase” is one of the original songs you’ll find on the new CD “Slow Lightning” just released by the Fredericksburg blues duo Delta Sun.

Delta Sun is Thomas Beltzer and Joshua T. Hickerson. Both hail from Tennessee, where they met at a poetry reading in a college bookstore.

“I was working in Jackson, Tennessee, teaching English and creative writing at Lane College,” Beltzer recalled, adding that like many a writer, he turned to teaching to make a living.

At the reading, Beltzer handed Hickerson some music and asked him if he wanted to play. The young guitar player took it home and learned it.

Hickerson recalls what happened next with a smirk.

“Our first gig was at a library poetry reading,” he said. “My payment was having $40 in overdue library fines erased.”

But even at that impromptu early stage, the two recognized they had a shared musical vision that was worth pursuing.

So when Beltzer decided to come to Fredericksburg to reunite with some friends, Hickerson soon followed to stay and play.

The name Delta Sun reflects the two major influences on the group’s music: the combination of Sun Records and delta-style blues.

“Since I grew up around Memphis, the stuff I write is very much influenced by the Memphis blues sound,” Beltzer explained.

That style is along way from where he started at age 10.

“I took one guitar lesson and quit because my teacher was trying to teach me classical style,” he said. “What did it for me was when I heard the Johnny Cash ‘Live at Folsom Prison’ album. I bought a guitar book, learned three chords, and took it from there.”

Hickerson had a similar early musical epiphany. He began on classical violin at age 10. But when his brother played him a Jimi Hendrix record at age 15, that’s all it took for him to pick up the guitar.

Hickerson’s family provided a diverse musical heritage. His grandfather played piano, harp, and slide guitar “using a lead pipe.” His father was a guitar playing one-man-band who introduced him to the blues. His mom was a singer who turned him on to soul. By age 18 he was playing with the Crescent Street Gang, who Hickerson calls “a west Tennessee blues institution.”

Their first CD together is titled “Slow Lightning.”

“Musical lightning has struck Memphis four times,” Beltzer explained. “First was Beale Street with the blues, then Sun Studio with rock and roll. The third strike was Stax Records and the start of soul, and now Fat Possum Records, which I describe as ‘neoprimitive rough blues.’ That fourth strike - we are part of that style. But you realize how slow the lighting strikes. It takes a while for people to recognize a new style is happening. You can be actively in the middle of a trend and it takes years for people to realize it.”

The pair perform live sparingly, usually at venues such as Choo Choo, Lincoln Street, and August Es.

“We don’t play as much as we would like,” explained Beltzer, who battles Addison’s disease, whose primary symptom is fatigue. Because of that, he doesn’t have the energy to book and market the band. But he still has the energy to play. “Music gives me energy to play. No matter how bad I feel, I always play the gig because it makes me feel better.”

And isn’t that the point of the blues?

XXX