Blues Legends at The New Penelope

Blues music was a huge influence on many of the bands that played at The New Penelope. Groups such as the Linn County Blues Band integrated elements of blues music into a new style of rock music popular with young people.

A horizontal black and white photograph showing psychedelic circular light patterns over a guitarist and a saxophone player for the Linn County Blues Band playing live at The New Penelope concert venue.

Linn County Blues Band at The New Penelope, October 1968

Listen to Linn County Blues Band recorded live at The New Penelope by Ivan Gardos in 1968:

Listen to the audio clip with description: “Linn County live at The New Penelope!”.

While nightclubs, such as Rockhead’s Paradise and the Esquire, had been bringing jazz and blues legends to Montreal for decades, Gary’s all-ages policy at The New Penelope meant that many young Montrealers could now discover original blues music themselves.

Montreal artist Susan Shulman began a lifelong love affair with blues music while going to Gary’s concerts as a teenager:

New Penelope, I have to say, the thing that stands out most to me was Muddy Waters. I saw him, Sonny Terry, Paul Butterfield, all those people. But I had never heard the blues until I saw him, “Got my Mojo Workin’”, and that, to this day, was the big “ah ha!” moment. I had never heard anything like that. I was like “what is that?”

― Susan Shulman (interview with ARCMTL, June 17, 2015)

A square black and white newspaper advertisement for a Muddy Waters concert at the New Penelope featuring a small picture of Waters playing guitar.

Ad for Muddy Waters at The New Penelope, 1967

A small vertical rectangular black and white advertisement featuring an image of the musical group The Enchanted Forest's four members standing in front of trees.

Ad for Sonny Greenwich Quartet at The New Penelope, 1967

Advertisement for a Young Ones concert at The New Penelope printed in pink ink on white paper, featuring image of the band members seated and praying, one standing in the background with arms outstretched. Text at the bottom.

Ad for The Young Ones at The New Penelope in Logos magazine, 1968

Innovative young jazz combos, such as Duke Edwards and The Young Ones, The Sonny Greenwich Quartet and Brian Barley Trio, also played at The New Penelope. Most of them continued to play gigs at the city’s jazz clubs such as The Black Bottom, but it was at The New Penelope that they would reach the open-minded students and young people just starting to be interested in these musical styles.

James Cotton and Junior Wells were among the Chicago-based bluesmen who played at The New Penelope more than once, including while a young Suzanne McCarrey was working there.

Junior Wells asked me to marry him. Can you believe that? “I will give you diamonds. If you marry me, I will give you diamonds and you’ll never have to work again.” You know, here I am, 16! Yeah. Right. (Laughs.)

― Suzanne McCarrey (interview with ARCMTL, March 2021)

A black and white photograph showing blues singer Junior Wells wearing a blazer with a flared collar and belbottom black pants, standing next to his guitar player, with part of a bass drum in the background. They are performing at The New Penelope concert venue.

Junior Wells (left) at The New Penelope, 1968

Allan Youster remembers working the door, during the very popular Muddy Waters shows:

I remember Muddy Waters, three sets for Muddy, and it was crowded, I mean 526 people there for his first set, those were the tickets sold – not including the band and their people, and the two cops who got in for free. I remember the cops drove up, they parked their car after the opening act, and I was at the door and they came in just to watch Muddy. Two cops standing in the back. I mean our capacity for the place, officially, was 155.

― Allan Youster (interview with ARCMTL, July 17, 2015)

A black and white photograph showing blues singer Muddy Waters and his guitar seated in the centre of the stage wearing a suit and tie with his harmonica player to his left and his piano player to his right, performing at The New Penelope concert venue.

Muddy Waters at The New Penelope, 1968

Michael Nerenberg proposed that Muddy and his band record a casual “stoop session,” at an apartment a few blocks from The New Penelope, during the day before one of his shows. The band agreed, on the condition that Nerenberg provide them with marijuana.

Listen to the audio clip with transcript: “Muddy wants some too”.

Many of these performers returned to play concerts in Montreal, in the years that followed, but they would play at large venues like Place des Arts. Those who were able to see them in the intimate confines of The New Penelope for only two dollars were lucky indeed!

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