"They were all a little older than me and it was clear their approach to what they were doing was way different from any I'd ever been around. They were no-nonsense; they exchanged very little banter with the crowd or anyone else, and they were in no way interested in putting on any kind of show. They were there to play and they took it way seriously. Professional musicians in the most literal sense imaginable.
"The linchpin of this, the guy who set the tone for it, was Bugs. He was the drawing card. He was the guy people came to see. He had the big reputation. But if you thought that when you went to see The Dream you were going to see a Hendrix knock-off or even a guitar-intensive bluesy-jammy thing, you couldn't have been more wrong.
Scogin Mayo
Bugs Henderson, circa 1996: "There was never a bad time to see Bugs."
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"It required a certain amount of restraint and nuance, and that was the great thing about Bugs — he didn't try to stand out. Yet, by not standing out, he came off as greater than any other guitar player around.
"The Cellar was an unusual place. Just as there will never be another Bugs, there won't be another Cellar, and if you didn't watch yourself there, you could fall under the influence of some serious vices. Time passed; the place went away and Bugs set out on the course he would follow the rest of the way. The one most associate him with. His role changed. His greatness and his approach did not. If you never saw him at The Cellar, you will recall him in a particular way, in which he surrounded himself with a few great players, sang and carried the night, unfailingly sending his fans home satiated by the blues. That was the course he chose.
"But if you did see him at The Cellar, you know that when it came to his mastery of the guitar, the latter-day fans saw just the tip of a massive iceberg. There was never a bad time to see Bugs. There was never a better time to see him than then."
