David "Honeyboy" Edwards at the Colony Theater, Miami Beach, 2010 - Jacob Katel |
I was lucky enough to interview him over the phone for the Miami New Times to hype a show at the Colony Theater in Miami Beach in February 2010. Honeyboy said , "I don't know nothing else to do
David "Honeyboy" Edwards
but play the blues and play my guitar, so if I hang around the house I figure I won't wanna do nothing and just keel over. Ya know what I mean? So I keep a doin' what I gotta do."
I shot the above picture of him a few days later while he was signing autographs after the gig.
After the show, Honeyboy sat a table in the lobby, signed autographs, and took photos with fans, and girls on his lap, as Michael Frank and Steve Arvey sold merch. When the crowd thinned out, I said, "Dude, that was fuckin' awesome." Honeyboy told me "I been doin this a long time. Some nights it's good, some nights it's not. Sometimes it sound good, sometimes it don't. The music....It's a feeling....it's a feeling."
Honeyboy was a protege of Big Joe Williams, and used to do shows with Mr. deal-with-the-devil himself, Robert Johnson.
In 2010 Honeyboy was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Grammys. He died August 29, 2011 at the age of 96. He was the last original Delta bluesman on planet earth.