Barbershop is gone, but the music continues
Blues still draws a crowd at a former Riverdale bookstore
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Just about every Saturday afternoon, a weathered former bookstore comes to life on a sleepy street in Riverdale.
About 20 musicians of varying sizes, colors and ages gather for a jam session. Seated on fuchsia chairs arranged in a large circle, they play instruments such as guitars, harmonicas and a piano. They say their goal is to preserve the Piedmont blues, a unique style of music from the region that took root in a barbershop.
Foundation President Michael Baytop is one of the former.
"Archie was a champion in wanting to preserve that genre of music," said Baytop, sitting in a chair next to the piano.
"If you had a question about the music, he had an answer," Baytop said.
Piedmont blues is a style of music comparable to ragtime piano and is characterized by a rhythmically unusual guitar technique. According to the foundation, it began in the Piedmont region, a hilly land that spans from central Virginia to central Georgia.
"They were like, ‘Close the blinds, get the liquor out and play the music,'" said David Jackson, a guitar player who still meets friends to play at the group's present meeting place. "It was all about having fun."
What started as a barbershop jam session for a handful of men grew as family and friends came to watch or play, Baytop said. Still, most of the attention was turned toward the blues veterans.
"The only people that got Archie's attention were guys his age," Baytop said. "When you were younger than him, you just had to shut up and listen."
Paul Kennedy, a photographer who documented the barbershop jam sessions, said the unifying factor was that all of the older men had served in the military — and the music, of course.
"You could watch the years just melt away as they played," Baytop said.
After Edwards died in 1998, musicians like Baytop and Jackson continued to meet at the shop. But when the building went up for sale, the foundation could not afford to buy it. The foundation runs on donations and the odd grant; a collection box sits across from the door. The foundation also sells CDs and baseball caps in order to raise money.
"The barbershop building sold at the peak of the boom," Kennedy said.
That's when the musicians moved to the old Riverdale bookstore on Queensbury Road instead. Today, the foundation's new home is in a one-story building with big windows and a tin ceiling. A buck's head is mounted on one wall, and a large picture of a harmonica hangs on another.
Many of Edward's possessions — the barbershop chair, cash register and even the cardboard sign — are on display in a small museum area set aside in the room. Several black-and-white photographs taken by Kennedy of the influential musicians who played at Edwards' barbershop — men who went by names like Mr. Bones and Mr. O'Neil — hang on the wall. All of the men have since died.
Today, the few who attended Edward's barbershop jams remember him as a gifted musician.
Shortly before singer-guitarist Eleanor Ellis played "Diving Duck Blues," Ellis recounted being on tour in Europe with Edwards.
Ellis, Edwards and singer-guitarist Flora Molton had been booked by a German agent for a two-month tour of Europe. Ellis said it was a great experience, but that as older musicians, they struggled to travel on their own with three guitars, all of their suitcases and a backpack.
"Flora had a huge amount of stuff," Ellis recalled. "She had 20 odd dresses with individual shoes to match.
Edwards ended up returning to the U.S. before the tour was complete — shocking his friends with his unexpected reappearance — while the two women went on to visit England.
"He said he missed his grandson," Ellis said.
"He said, ‘They used me like a pack mule,'" Baytop replied, laughing.
Edwards was most at home in his barbershop.
"He'd sit back in his chair and dictate what would happen," Jackson said.
Today, the musicians said they continue to get a considerable amount of visitors stopping by, including musicians from France, Israel, England, Japan and Thailand. Kennedy said it was nice to have a place where people could come and not immediately be asked what they did as a profession, as is often the case in the District.
"There's no formal hierarchy here," Kennedy said. "What you do for a job doesn't matter. People come to talk about music."
IF YOU GO
Saturday Jams
When: 12:30 p.m. most Saturdays
Where: 4701 Queensbury Road, Riverdale
Admission: Free, but donations accepted
Phone: 301-396-3054
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