Formerly The Annex<\/strong>, and then the short-lived Mad Hatter<\/strong>, The Old Henry still maintains the same sort of \u201cAlice in Wonderland, pub-themed vibe,\u201d that many patrons enjoyed about the Mad Hatter, said General Manager Blake Dougherty<\/strong>. While rebranding to The Old Henry, Dougherty said \u201cThe new owners wanted to go in a similar direction,\u201d and still maintain the elevated food and drink offerings, as well as its persona as the area\u2019s only dueling piano bar (since the closing of Frank & Marlee\u2019s<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was identified as something that didn\u2019t exist in Oxford,\u201d said Dougherty. \u201cThe concept is to have a live piano show every Friday and Saturday, and we\u2019ve seen a lot of success with that. We have some talented piano players get up there every weekend.\u201d Shows also have free admission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dougherty remarked that the term \u201cdueling pianos\u201d can be a little misleading, because for the most part, the musicians play off of each other as a team. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting to see, because the chemistry of the players changes as they rotate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the mainstays since dueling pianos began early in 2024, is Oxford musician Daniel Roebuck<\/strong>, a.k.a. \u201cDoc Sinclair.\u201d<\/strong> Roebuck is one of five talented players who regularly perform on Fridays and Saturdays, from 8 pm to midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although he has been playing piano and singing at local venues for several years\u2014and also playing and teaching trumpet professionally\u2014Roebuck was completely new to dueling pianos, and quickly became drawn in by its appeal. \u201cIt\u2019s not like just listening to one person play the piano,\u201d said Roebuck. \u201cIt\u2019s a very live, interactive, crowd-oriented show\u2014which I love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although he was new to it all, he jumped in with both feet and began reading online forums, trying to draw from the experiences of other dueling pianists. Also, being a lover of comedy and stand-up comedians, Roebuck began thinking of more ways to incorporate comedic timing into his set. \u201cI studied how they structure bits, and how they engage a crowd,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also learned the common-sense importance of knowing his audience. \u201cIf you have a bunch of older folks, you may play some 70s or 80s rock, and when you have a younger crowd you\u2019re looking more towards the 90s and 2000s,\u201d said Roebuck. He described dueling pianos as \u201cLess creative in the musicality, but more creative in the showmanship aspect of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also appealing to Roebuck is the improvisational part, which can involve joking with the crowd, giving toasts, as well as catering lyrics to the situation at hand, which can involve making the songs funny or, in some cases, bawdy or raunchy. \u201cThat\u2019s the creative side that I really like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The unpredictability can have great appeal as well. \u201cYou never know what songs you\u2019re gonna play,\u201d said Roebuck. \u201cSomebody could come up and ask for Merle Haggard, then the next request you get could be Frank Sinatra.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n For Roebuck there\u2019s always more to learn, as he finds himself at Silky O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s every time he visits Memphis, as well as Pat O\u2019Brien\u2019s piano bar when in New Orleans. \u201cEven though I play it, I still enjoy going to do it. Maybe because it\u2019s so new I\u2019m not tired of it yet,\u201d he joked. \u201cBut I don\u2019t see myself becoming that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another local pianist in the mix is Bill Perry, Jr.<\/strong> from Abbeville, Mississippi<\/strong>, who has been known for fusing jazz and hip-hop in his live performances since the 90s, and often collaborates with his sister Shy Perry<\/strong>. Both are the children of legendary bluesman Bill \u201cHowl-N-Madd\u201d Perry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similar to Roebuck, Perry has been part of the new dueling pianos scene right from the get-go, but also plays with his trio at The Old Henry\u2019s weekly Thursday jazz nights, which run from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s the first time in a while us piano players got a bar that\u2019s beguiling to us, because up until recently it\u2019s been about guitars,\u201d said Perry. He said that when it comes to acoustic, or one-man shows, most local venues will lean towards guitarists, often because of space restrictions not allowing for large pianos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a venue around here that catered to that energy, and now we literally have a piano bar,\u201d Perry said. He said that while some of the other players, which include Joe \u201cBoogie\u201d Simmons<\/strong>, Adam Levin a.k.a. \u201cAdam Heart,\u201d<\/strong> and Michael \u201cMac\u201d McIntire<\/strong>, may be more skilled at the popular favorites, he will bring some lesser-known jazz, blues, funk, and soul to the table, but improvise the lyrics to suit the moment, and complement his fellow piano player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One improvisation in particular Perry enjoys playing, he calls \u201cZulu King Gumbo,\u201d which works off of an old New Orleans second line standard tune. \u201cI read the room,\u201d said Perry. Also, his goal is to continue developing his own style while still fulfilling the tastes of the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also remarked that while The Old Henry leans towards an older crowd, which tends to include parents of students, folks from out of town, and local townies, he\u2019s noticed a growing interest for \u201corganic\u201d music from younger people. \u201cBeen seeing more live bands around town, and the kids are going crazy about them. It\u2019s not just about the DJ stuff anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Old Henry is open Wednesdays through Fridays from 5 pm until, at noon Saturdays, and for brunch on Sundays from 11 am with live music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oxford\u2019s only dueling piano destination features live music every weekend The Old Henry, live music venue, bar, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123909,"featured_media":145202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[30768,6853,4,30766],"class_list":["post-145196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-business","tag-cofield","tag-cofields-studio","tag-oxford","tag-the-old-henry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Old-Henry-10-scaled.jpg?fit=2060%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145203,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145196\/revisions\/145203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/465921443_122199115682197288_8067220862856585830_n-683x1024.jpg?resize=640%2C960&ssl=1\")
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Much like Roebuck, Perry, who calls himself \u201ca jazz guy,\u201d has been on a learning curve since becoming part of the dueling pianos community, but feels he brings something different to the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Old-Henry-1-1024x768.jpg?resize=640%2C480&ssl=1\")
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