“Blues harp man “Sonny Boy” Terry Jerome earned his moniker gigging and recording the past 29 years with Houston icons Johnny Copeland, Joe Guitar Hughes, Grady Gaines, Roy Head and Calvin Owens. IN 1993, inspired by his band leader Joe Guitar Hughes and his best friend Johnny Clyde Copeland, both whose dream was to see a blues society get started in Houston, Terry founded the Houston Blues Society, serving as president for three years, providing the seed money and organizing their first membership drive at Joe Hughes’ blues jam Terry ran for Joe at Club Matinee in Houston’s Third Ward/Southpark area. “Sometimes folks have a hard time with the genuine truth. They want to spin a yarn that is barely plausible,” says Terry “HBS was inspired by Johnny Copeland and Joe Guitar Hughes. We took great pride it came from musicians to promote musicians. From those extremely modest beginnings in the heart of Houston’s legacy of blues, the whole blues community chipped in to build one of America’s strongest blues societies. Sonny Boy Terry has recorded on over twenty-six albums as a session player for rock, country, folk as well as blues styles. His two solo albums released on the Doc Blues label received great reviews putting Terry on the international blues stage. In 2010, he won the regional International Blues Competition representing Houston in Memphis which provided him with extensive airplay on SiriusXM satellite radio. He produces the bi-annual Texas Harmonica Festival in Houston inviting several of the world’s most prominent and innovative blues harp players to perform and share their knowledge of the nuances of blues harmonica. He is well known for teaching blues harmonica and how to express themselves musically at various public schools (some considered high risk students), corporate retreats and harmonica camps in the U.S. “I’ve build all my life’s goals and dreams playing this little tin sandwich for people,” Sonny Boy says, “If there were any wisdom I could share with a young person or someone needs a boost in life, it would find your passion, dream big and turn it into your occupation. You can transform your life.”
Sonny Boy Terry appears Friday, July 22nd.