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Tommy Lee Cook is the owner of the Buckingham Blues Bar which attracts well-known blues artists from around the country.
\nED ZUMAR<\/p>\n
What began as a general store and local hangout in the 1950s, eventually transforming into a biker bar in the \u201970s, is now considered one of the premiere destinations for live Blues in Florida. <\/p>\n
And it\u2019s located right in Lee County, Buckingham to be exact.<\/p>\n
The list of performers who have appeared at the Buckingham Blues Bar reads like a who\u2019s who of blues. It includes four-time Grammy winner Delbert McClinton, two-time Grammy nominee guitarist Lee Roy Parnell and rising Blues star Selwyn Birchwood.<\/p>\n
The bar is the fulfillment of a lifetime of the love of music, and particularly the blues, of local builder and avid Blues fan Tommy Lee Cook who purchased it in 2002. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been a builder my whole life which gives me the ability to do this. We started 24 years ago and we\u2019ve done over 4,000 shows. I called it the World Famous Buckingham Blues Bar,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n
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Judy and Scott Miller speak with bartender Cami Padilla. The Millers have listened to the Blues at Buckingham Blues Bar since they moved here from Orlando.
\nED ZUMAR<\/p>\n
Cook began playing at the bar along with other local acts. But it was a call from a blues legend that put the Buckingham Blues Bar on the map.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I opened it and was playing a little bit, I got a phone call from a guy named Pat Ramsey, who is a world-renowned harmonica player. He had played with Johnny Winter on his \u2018White Hot & Blue\u2019 album and also the Allman Brothers. At the time he was living in Tallahassee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramsey heard about the new blues joint and wondered what Cook was playing at the bar.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked, \u2018What are you all doing down there with that blues sound, playing ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughn?’\u201d Cook recalled. \u201cI told him I played a lot of original music. He said if you ever want a lesson, pay me what I want, and I\u2019ll come show you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook agreed and Ramsey kept his word. <\/p>\n
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The Buckingham Blues Bar has attracted Blues greats like Selwyn Birchwood since the early 2000s.
\nED ZUMAR<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came down here and blew the roof off this place. He was a great harmonica player, singer, and a great man. Within a couple weeks Albert Castiglia, a great blues guitarist, called. He said \u2018I\u2019m an original act on the east coast and can\u2019t get nobody to book me. He said will you book me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook, of course, booked Castiglia and quickly learned a lesson about the blues legend from Castiglia\u2019s aunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlbert has these shirts that say \u2018It\u2019s Ka-Steel-Ya Dammit!\u2019 Cause when I introduced him that night I introduced him as Albert CaSTIGlia. And his aunt was here and she goes \u2018It\u2019s KA-Steel-Ya Dammit\u2019 And I said you ought to put that on a shirt. You still see \u2019em all over the world and that was 24 years ago! He still sells \u2019em!\u201d <\/p>\n
Word quickly spread about the little blues establishment in Buckingham that was now attracting a growing list of prominent blues artists. This also meant it was beginning to build a loyal clientele such as Scott and Judy Miller. They\u2019ve been regulars since the late \u201990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe moved down here in 1995 and began looking for live music,\u201d said Judy. \u201cThis was the place we found. It\u2019s just great music. Even the house band is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Blues aficionados listen to Selwyn Birchwood at a recent performance at the Buckingham Blues Bar.
\nED ZUMAR<\/p>\n
That house band is the Buckingham Blues Band, headlined by none other than Cook himself.<\/p>\n
The Buckingham Blues Band are regular performers, often opening for the major acts he books and sometimes includes guest performers such as Bobby Capps, keyboardist for 38 Special. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe came in one night and played with us and I said \u2018You\u2019re pretty good.\u2019 He said \u2018Well, I\u2019ve been practicing.\u2019 Then they told me who he was. We laughed and have become great friends.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cook says he has been playing music ever since The Beatles first invaded the U.S. He was 9 at the time. He recounted how hearing The Beatles began to spark his interest in music.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen The Beatles came that\u2019s when you begged your momma to buy you a cheap guitar, a $39 guitar and a piss-ant amp and you got electric!\u201d Cook said. \u201cI played talent shows in ninth grade, played a bassoon in a concert band. That was kinda crazy. I had to teach myself to play. \u201c<\/p>\n
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Renowned blues guitarist Selwyn Birchwood readies for a recent performance at the Buckingham Blues Bar. His band\u2019s debut album in 2014, \u201cDon\u2019t Call No Ambulance,\u201d won the Living Blues Award and the Blues Music Award for Best New Artist Debut. Two more albums followed; in 2016 they released \u201cPick Your Poison\u201d and in 2021 \u201cLiving In A Burning House.\u201d The single from that album \u201cI\u2019d Climb Mountains\u201d won the BMA Song of the Year Award.
\nED ZUMAR<\/p>\n
His interest in the blues began in the \u201980s when a guy he grew up with was playing the harp and singing the blues. Cook had begun recording music in his make-shift studio he built in his house which led to recording a country vinyl album at a recording studio in his town. It got some play on the radio in the mid \u201980s. But Cook\u2019s love of the blues continued to grow so he formed the Buckingham Blues Band in \u201986. By then he had moved to Lee County. Six CDs later the band is now as popular as many of the acts Cook books.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played around the area in different clubs and I had different guys playing with me that were blues guys. They turned me onto Albert Collins, all these different blues guys I never knew or listened to,\u201d said Cook. \u201cWhen I discovered Delbert McClinton, that was like meeting St. Peter you know? That was a whole world change for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The band has opened twice for 38 Special among others and often does gigs around Lee County in addition to regular shows at his Blues Bar in Buckingham, which took some hard work before it became the go to blues establishment it is today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had been coming here for years. I drank here, I lived here. The beer wasn\u2019t very cold, the bathrooms sometimes worked. It just wasn\u2019t a place you wanted to take anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was all about to change when Cook heard it was for sale. <\/p>\n
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Blues artist Selwyn Birchwood is center stage at a recent performance at the Buckingham Blues Bar.
\nED ZUMAR<\/p>\n
He bought the bar. Being a builder Cook knew exactly what needed to be done. They gutted the entire structure. In just over three months they built a new roof, put new floor boards in, rebuilt the bathrooms, added a new septic system and opened with a whole new image.<\/p>\n
To begin attracting customers Cook used marketing ploys that would make anyone on Madison Avenue envious. As an avid crossword puzzle solver he knew the perfect place to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI advertised right next to the \u2018New York Times\u2019 crossword puzzle,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted smart people that get the blues.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the bar itself Cook has added an outdoor concert venue behind the bar itself which includes a sound stage. Beginning in October, acts perform live.The highlight is the Sunday Blues Fests that include the Buckingham Blues Band. If you\u2019re lucky you\u2019ll get to meet Bucky, Cook\u2019s mule he purchased in 2002.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in rural Virginia around horses and cows and stuff and I always wanted a mule,\u201d Cook explained. \u201cA painter who worked for me\u2026 told me about a friend of his that had a year-old mule he had to get rid of. So I asked if it was tame and he said yeah and I said go get it. I built a shack out back for him. Right now he\u2019s running with the cows next door. When we do the Blues Fest I\u2019ll bring him back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook believes people are attracted to the Blues because it offers something for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the momma and daddy of all music,\u201d said Cook. \u201cThe Blues is so broad a spectrum, it\u2019s fast, it\u2019s slow, it\u2019s happy it\u2019s sad. The lyrics have meaning, it\u2019s just great beats. People are blown away by it. If people get subjected to it, they like it\u201d<\/p>\n