Blues Player Paul Brasch At Street Music Thursday

Concert preview

Paul Brasch could have been a bricklayer like all the men in his family or an electric guitar whiz like his rock- and jazz-playing cousin Joe Brasch.

But early on, Brasch discovered traditional blues, and the young player turned to the acoustic guitar and the great songs of the Mississippi Delta.

Brasch, who will appear in a store concert at Street Music on Thursday night, is considered by blues fans to be one of the finest pure blues players to come out of Spokane.

In a roundabout way, Joe Brasch, best-known as the lead guitar player for All Fall Down, turned his younger cousin in the direction of traditional music.

“I started playing guitar and taking lessons from my cousin Joe Brasch,” Paul Brasch told Inland Empire Blues Society writer Neil Elwell last winter. “He asked me who I liked, and I said the Beatles.

“He said, ‘No, who do you really like?’ I said the only name that came to mind, Jimi Hendrix. From there, I went straight to Robert Johnson.”

Brasch has been a regular fixture at Birkebeiner Brewery, where he has been playing Wednesday evenings for the past several months.

He’ll appear at Street Music Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 in advance, $9 at the door. Street Music is located at 117 N. Howard. For more information, call 624-7722.