leroy justice

I only met Leroy Justice once.  It was the last show of a small tour in support of our first record Revolution’s Son and we were at his son’s bar Tequila Mockingbird in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Leroy sat at the end of the bar when we got there, playing a video game having something to do with monkeys.  Now, we hadn’t named the band after him for any good reason, we just liked his name more than any other we could come up with at the time.  But the mystique of the poker machine-owning, telecaster-shredding old guy from South Cackalacky had grown enough to make this a meeting to remember.  As we approached and introduced ourselves as his namesake from up north, he just sat there, tapping on the screen, eventually turning halfway to say a quick hello, shake my hand, and then back to the monkeys.  Later, when his son Adam asked if his dad could sit in with the band on some blues tunes, we were skeptical but obliged.  He strapped on my acoustic guitar with ease and took the stage.  I leaned in and suggested some twelve bar blues in E, and he promptly started playing “Before You Accuse Me.”  In A.  Leroy was a natural front man and didn’t miss a lick or a word.  Three songs later he finally let up and left the stage to a round of applause, marking the one and only time Leroy Justice sat in with Leroy Justice.

Leroy Justice, the man, went on to his great reward last week.  The band will play some blues for him.  In A.