By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@thecitizennews.com

If you've ventured by the Cruse Coffee Co. in Peachtree City on a Friday night, chances are you probably saw the local blues act, Vida Blue.

The band is a three-piece made up of Fayette County residents Stacie Hatcher, Tom Watts and Thor Hanes, and they are building a sizable following.

The band was formed almost four years ago by Hanes, who was a drama teacher at Sandy Creek High School for several years before deciding to just teach classes that help students prepare for the SAT. He met Hatcher almost seven years ago, when as a substitute he gave her a detention for making fun of his name. Watts has been playing with the band for over a year and has a daughter that was a student under Hanes.

Playing a variety of classic rock and blues, Vida Blue keeps the mood light and clearly has fun.

Hanes first got into blues when he attended Northwestern University in Illinois. He was a member of several different heavy metal bands for a few years, before deciding to rest his weather-destroyed voice for nearly a decade.

Four years ago, Hanes made an important random purchase that led to the birth of Vida Blue. He purchased a book and a harmonica and began to learn to play. Soon he was playing extremely well and in April of last year he won a regional harmonica competition at Blind Willie's in Atlanta.

The band has played all over the Southeast in bars, coffeehouses and festivals. Recently, while performing at a Starbucks in Atlanta, the band enjoyed having Governor Roy Barnes in the audience.

The trio like playing at Cruse Coffee a lot more than playing at bars, where the crowd can be very noisy, disintersted and surly. Their set list covers everything from the Rolling Stones and The Beatles to Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters.

“We really appreciate classic rock,” said Hanes. “It's a real crowd pleaser and we like the Rolling Stones, who have been heavily influenced by the blues, as well as songs by David Bowie or Simon and Garfunkel.”

Vida Blue gives its audiences a good appreciation of the blues, though, debunking many myths a long the way.

“A lot of people say they don”t know a blues song,” explains Hanes, “but the theme from `Batman' is a blues song. Other people think that the blues are sad. `I Feel Good' by James Brown is a blues song and that's not sad.”

Though the band has recorded before, it does not currently have a CD. The performers hope to go into a studio and record this spring. There a few originals that they sprinkle in with their voluminous number of covers, but for the most part they do not have enough time to write original material. Hanes works seven days a week on the SAT classes and Hatcher is currently attending Georgia State University.

Vida Blue should enjoy a long run in Fayette County. It is a talented group of musicians that get along incredibly well with each other.

There is no designated leader in the group and members' tastes are similar enough that few disagreements ever arise.

They will appear at Cruse Coffee Co. on the next two Fridays from 8:30-11:30 p.m. There is a $2 cover charge.

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