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Boogie woogie blues player's gotta look good

Kenny Blues Boss Wayne will be beboppin' his way to the Legion Friday and Saturday night.
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Kenny Blues Boss Wayne will be beboppin' his way to the Legion Friday and Saturday night.

Blues boss Kenny Wayne doesn't want to be mistaken for a mechanic, so you won't catch him in ratty jeans and a T-shirt when he entertains at the Legion Friday and Saturday night.

"I think it's good to dress up for a show," said the dapper-dresser and boogie woogie Juno-award winning artist.

Along with his beboppin' groovin'-to-the-music beat, Wayne is also known for his one-of-a-kind suits and snazzy hats.

"I will probably be wearing my bright red flame jacket," said Wayne, whose show is being presented by Blues Underground. "And I have a blue flame one and the other one will be a surprise. I love that kind of stuff. I get into a certain character and it just makes me feel good to dress up like that. It looks like a show and that I care about entertaining, which I do and it just lifts me up a few notches. People say, can't you just play in a T-shirt and jeans, and I say yeah, but I'd feel like a mechanic. I just don't feel like entertaining. And I mean if I were overly handsome it probably wouldn't make a difference, but I gotta do everything possible to look good because there's a lot of competition out there, you know."

Wayne recently signed with Stony Plain record company in Edmonton and is now recording his latest - as yet untitled - CD in Rhode Island with Duke Robillard, which will be released in the spring.

"We all picked the songs that we liked - the management, the producer, the label - they're the strongest songs I've got and we're all really happy about it."

There's no such thing as hibernating in the recording studio for months at a time for Wayne, it's a four-day blues blitz to complete the CD.

"I map out the songs and I e-mail it to the guys. They're really good musicians so it works out," said Wayne.

On the flip side, Wayne said they will work spontaneously on the last song recorded.

"Let's just do this song and let it roll," he added.

When Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne leads a dance, you know it's going to be high energy.

"There's going to be a lot of dance, a lot of jump, boogie music," said Wayne. He said the musicians he's bringing along are people he's played with for years. Loren Etkin on drums and Lindsay Mitchell on guitar. The bass player is local musician Curtis Abriel.

"It's going to be good swing, jump, funk, ballads - all of the above and a good time," laughed Wayne.