THE BLUE HENRYS: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S HIGH DESERT BLUES FIXTURES FOR OVER A DECADE, & THEY’RE STILL GOING STRONG
The Blue Henrys were formed in 2003 by guitarist-vocalist, Henry Merenda. Known for putting their own spin on Chicago-style blues, they’ve been a fixture on the High Desert blues scene, performing at numerous festivals including the New Blues Festival in both Long Beach and Adelanto. The long list of greats The Blue Henrys have shared the stage with include Rod Piazza And The Mighty Fliers; Junior Watson, Rick Holmstrom, Philip Sayce, Canned Heat, Taj Mahal, and countless others.
“The Blue Henrys were a big hit with their combination of traditional blues songs plus some stunning original tunes,” wrote Ed Simon from the Los Angeles Beat, reviewing the group’s performance at the Adelanto New Blues Festival. The band has previously released two well-received albums: Hired And Fired Up and Waiting On The Rain. A third Blue Henrys album is in the works.
“My love for music is ever-reaching and is beyond even more than I myself can comprehend,” confesses Merenda, who also performs solo acoustically. “To say I’m a this- or that-type of musician would be a pigeonholed label. Truth is, I’m a broad-minded thinker and creator. I pull from everywhere. I write blues, country, blue grass, folk, Americana and rock music. My love for blues goes back to the late 60’s when British rock bands helped keep it alive. It was the late 80’s when i started to look into the Real Blues that I love today: Chicago-style blues that was created when Mississippi bluesmen, and other deep Southern blues, migrated to Chicago and got amplified.”
“The fans that come out to (Blue Henrys) shows nowdays are big supporters of our original songs, and that speaks volumes to me when I sometimes ask myself why I do this, adds Merenda. “I’ve been lucky enough to stand onstage with alot of great players over the years and was once offered a tour as a guitarist and vocalist for (legendary group) Redbone a few years ago” (Merenda turned the gig down due to scheduling conflicts).
“One of the best pieces of advice I received was from the late Surf Rock guitar legend, Dick Dale. We were back stage talking one day and he said, “Henry, I’ve heard some of your songs and my advice to you is, ‘never give up ownership of your material, because someone will get rich off of that and, it better be you'”.