Saffire the Uppity Blues Women prepare for final shows

Saffire the Uppity Blues Women prepare for final shows
October 22, 2009
BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH

little more than two weeks, Saffire the Uppity Blues Women will be a musical footnote -- albeit one with a lasting imprint.

In its almost 20-year career, the trio of frank and funny ladies with a serious talent for smokin' boogie-woogie blues released seven albums and played for tens of thousands at the Chicago Blues Festival and handfuls of music fans in smoky bars in Spain and South Africa.

But that chapter in the lives of Gaye Adegbalola, 65, (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Andra Faye, 50, (fiddle, mandolin, acoustic bass, guitar, vocals) and Ann Rabson, 64, (vocals, piano, guitar, kazoo) will conclude Nov. 7 in Fredericksburg -- the birthplace and home base of Saffire, and a fitting locale for their finale.

First, however, come a final Richmond show Saturday and a couple of nights at the intimate Barns of Wolf Trap next week.

It's a wind down that is, as might be expected, bittersweet, according to Faye.

"I'm exhausted," she said last week from a tour stop in Reading,Pa., "but I know that with the camaraderie that we have -- musical and otherwise -- that we'll now have time to have lunch as friends instead of lunch on the road."

Though Faye isn't a Saffire original -- she joined in 1992 after the departure of Earlene Lewis and relocated to Fredericksburg in 1997 after growing tired of meeting up with her bandmates in airports she's experienced the worldwide success of Saffire and the outpouring of fan love.

Still, the decision to call it a wrap was a mutual one.

"The three of us wanted to go out while we were still really strong and the music was at its peak. We didn't want to wither on the vine and just keep hanging on," Faye said.

Saffire fans would snicker at the thought of any of these bold women withering in any capacity. But by splitting, Faye said, it will also allow the three to pursue their own desires.

Their last album, "Havin' the Last Word," arrived in January, stuffed with salty Saffire tunes, such as "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," and the life-affirming, funny-in-the-right-spots cancer anthem, "Bald Headed Blues," which was inspired by a close friend of the group who battled ovarian cancer.

Adegbalola is also a cancer survivor, and Rabson is in the recovery stage of breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with in December 2007.

The trio recently filmed the first video of its career for "Bald Headed Blues," which has nabbed a few thousand hits on YouTube.

As for the future, Faye expects to keep performing with The Mighty Good Men, an acoustic trio that includes husband Chris on harmonica and Piedmont finger-style guitar and Ken Phillips on lead guitar, and give music lessons in the Fredericksburg area.

Rabson, she said, will likely continue with her established solo career, while Adegbalola is expected to dedicate more time to speaking engagements about her two main causes: civil rights and gay rights.

"Saffire really did take priority in our lives. It will be nice to reclaim that part of our lives and be able to say yes or no to things," Faye said. "A couple of months into [band retirement], I'll probably start to miss it. We're calling it retirement, but who knows? What would happen if the video blew up? I think we would leave the future open-ended."