Abe Reid back for rare West Asheville show

• The blues crackle to life in Abe Reid’s capable hands. The former Blue Rags frontman now lives in Walnut Cove and will play a gig at Westville Pub.

The blues crackle to life in Abe Reid’s capable hands.

At a recent show, those hands cupped around metal and reeds with short, sharp staccato notes blasting through a noisy furnace on his guitar and harmonica. His thrift-store leather shoes kept time on a hunk of plywood and Reid reared his head back to shout and sing.

The singer and picker, now living in Walnut Cove, was once a member of Asheville’s rag ‘n roll group The Blue Rags. He plays April 5 at the Westville Pub on Haywood Road in West Asheville.

“I had a man in my life when I was a little boy,” Reid recalled in an interview. “He was my mom’s boyfriend; he bought me a guitar and made me learn how to play it. I probably wouldn’t have learned it if he hadn’t made me,” he laughs. A chance meeting with Tim Duffy (of the Music Maker Relief Foundation) at a festival in Greensboro sparked Reid’s interest in blues music and more specifically, blues men.

“I thought all the blues men were dead and it was over,” he said of his formative years as a musician.

Yet Duffy linked a young Abe Reid and his friend and future bandmate Scott Sharpe with recording artist Guitar Gabriel. “We all packed in the car and went down to Winston-Salem to see him,” Reid remembers. “I would carry his guitar case, sit beside the stage and bring him whatever he needed. I learned a lot from watching and listening to him.”

Reid is well-known in Asheville’s music circles for having been the early frontman for The Blue Rags (a band he formed with Scott Sharpe and piano player Jake Hollifield). After having earned love and loyalty from fans in the region, the band inked a recording contract with Subpop records in 1997. Not long after, Reid and the Blue Rags parted ways.

Reid continued to etch his mark, however, entering and winning (the only solo act out of 34 contenders) the International Blues Talent Competition in Memphis in 1998, and later forming rock and boogie trio The Spikedrivers.

“When I quit playing music for awhile, I realized ‘hey I’m not good at anything else,’” Reid laughed. “I been doing this for 20 years now; it’s my little thing that I do.”

These days Reid plays fewer shows and devotes a significant amount of time to “just being a good dad.” There have been impromptu live appearances with Sharpe and Hollifield, and casual rumblings suggesting that the three of them might someday embark on a recording adventure together.

No matter the configuration, a chance to hear Reid do his thing live is a rare treat. The show at Westville Saturday features Reid sitting in with the local Jamboogie Band. “I’ll be playing with them the whole night. They’re really great musicians,” he said. “I’m always writing songs in my head,” Reid admits. “Everything is a song, every single moment.”

Email Scene music writer Laura Blackley at laurablackleyband@yahoo.com.

IF YOU GOWho: Abe Reid, with the Jamboogie Band.When: 10 p.m. April 5.Where: Westville Pub, 777 Haywood Road in West Asheville.Tickets: www.westvillepub.com.