INTERVIEW: Rick Estrin of Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
08/03 @ Music Haven, Schenectady
Photo by Steve Jennings
“People that come to our shows do not leave sad. It’s a pretty uplifting, and extremely entertaining affair, and if you leave one of our gigs without feeling something, then there’s probably something wrong with you, they got medication for that now anyway, so talk to your physician.”
The Capital Region has a long history of celebrating blues music, from the Blues Fest at Empire State Plaza, to the Northeast Blues Society bringing countless artists to the area (CRBN is carrying on that torch), and of course seeing the late, great Ernie Williams around town. That makes events like the Blues BBQ night at Music Haven this Sunday night in Schenectady that much more important – helping to preserve this special genre that has helped to create and inspire countless artists, from B.B. King and Gary Clark, Jr., to Jimi Hendrix and John Mayer. I had a chance to chat with vocalist and harmonicist Rick Estrin, of the highly acclaimed Rick Estrin & the Nightcats who are headlining the Blues BBQ, along with Selwyn Birchwood, and Annie and The Hedonists.
Estrin discovered the blues when he received a copy of Ray Charles’ The Genius Sings The Blues for his 12th birthday from his sister. Little did his sister know, she would open his world beyond that when he began raiding her record collection, discovering Jimmy Reed’s first two records, which first introduced him to the harmonica. “Those records got me thinking about playing the harmonica, or at least gave me an idea of what the role of the harmonica was,” he explains. By the age of 18 he was playing harmonica professionally and hanging out with Roger Collins, who had written a hit record for Wilson Pickett (one of the founding artists of Soul music) around that time. Estrin then moved from Bay Area, California to Chicago at age 19, where he got to sit in with one of the giants of the genre, Muddy Waters.
“He dug my playing, and it made sense in a way because at that time, it was the way I wanted to play,” he reminisces. “That was my primary goal, to play in that way. He was a cool man, he was really smart –guarded a little bit– but he gave me great compliments that really inspired me and kept me going. He said things to me that I treasure in my heart to this day.”
Those sentiments helped propel Estrin, who then pursued music as his career with the formation of Little Charley & The Nightcats, a band he co-founded with the late Charlie Baty. After ten years of plugging away, they would start touring the world in 1987 up until Baty retired from music in 2008. At that time, Estrin and some of the other members formed Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, who have continued to tour all over the world to this day.
He reflects on this decades-long journey of touring, saying, “I’ve been going at it since 1987, never letting up, and it’s still exciting for me to go to different places. There are places I’ve been to before that I look forward to coming back to, there are people who have been coming to see us for years and you get to know them a little bit, and sometimes it's new people that you start building those relationships with. I’ve been all over this world, man, all over South America, North America, Europe, Australia – there’s no other way I'd be able to do it if not for music.”
While Estrin would tell you himself that he has not reached the status of someone like Muddy Waters, he has had a successful career within the genre. He and the band have built an impressive resume, with the accolades only continuing to grow, which is evidenced by their 2024 successes. The band won band of the year at both the Blues Music Awards in Memphis and by Blues Blast. Their latest album, The Hits Keep Coming was number one on the Living Blues Magazine charts for the entirety of 2024, as well as making it to number one on Billboard’s Blues charts. This is recognition Estrin didn’t expect to get at this point in his career -
“It’s a strange feeling really, at this point, to be getting this kind of recognition, but I'll take it. Especially over the last ten to twenty years, it’s been more about who’s the next young artist, but there’s evidently still a certain respect for those of us who have been doing it for a long time.”
That speaks to the Blues. People typically picture someone old and melancholy singing sad songs. Estrin said that's a common misnomer. For him, the Blues can be more than that. It’s music that people can identify with, and feel better in any situation, maybe even uplifting spirits with a happy tune - something you will probably find at a Nightcats show.
“People that come to our shows do not leave sad. It’s a pretty uplifting and extremely entertaining affair. If you leave one of our gigs without feeling something, then there’s probably something wrong with you! They got medication for that now, anyway, so talk to your physician,” he jokes.
Speaking of the show, Estrin credits not only the recent successes to the band, but also how good the shows are to the band. He said the band’s chemistry, exceptional musicianship, and professionalism had gotten them to where they are and will continue to propel them – “The whole thing is just tight, tighter than it’s ever been, and I couldn’t ask for anything better, I'm just really fortunate to have them.”
The act before Estrin’s Nightcats is Selwyn Birchwood, a Tampa Bay-based Blues guitarist and vocalist; he brings a different element to the show. Mixing traditional blues with elements of funk, rock, and soul, his high energy shows are off the charts. Mixing power and grit, with intention behind every note, these attributes earned him the title of the best band of the International Blues Challenge and Albert King guitarist of the year awards by the Blues Foundation in 2013. Featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, and The Washington Post, Music Haven is in for a real treat. Opening the event is Schenectady-local, Annie and the Hedonists. The winners of Capital Region’s Best Blues Band at the Thomas Edison Awards in 2020 and 2025, they continue to make waves with their mix of acoustic blues, vintage jazz & swing, and roots Americana.
For more information on the bands and Blues BBQ, check out Music Haven’s website!