Cleveland’s Afi Scruggs To Debut New Blues Songs at Upcoming Beachland Concert

Last year, local musician Afi Scruggs won a Room In the House residency from Karamu House.  She used the $5,000 grant to write several blues songs inspired by social and cultural events.

Afi Scruggs will debut those songs and perform other originals and covers on Sunday, July 24, at the Beachland Tavern.

Collaborators Ali Jamal Boyd and Heather Clayton-Terry helped Scruggs write the tunes.

One highlight, “My Father’s Blues,” pays homage to the jazz blues that Scruggs heard Nashville’s Black radio station. 

“This song evokes Afi’s father, unwinding in the afternoon, with his cigarettes and a shot, getting emotionally and mentally prepared for Monday and work,” reads a press release about the new tunes and the upcoming concert.

 Bonnie Raitt’s interpretation of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s compositions inspired “I Ain’t Ready for Heaven (But Life Down Here Is Hell),” and “Send Me That Picture” comes off as a “whiskey drinking blues/soul ballad in the vein of Otis Redding’s classics ‘I’ve Got Dreams To Remember’ and ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.’”

Tickets to the concert cost $10. 

This article appears in Jun 15-28, 2022.