This month saw another gathering at RJ’s Sports Grill & Bar for the final 2024 monthly installment of the Blues by Budweiser Concert Series.
The program, sponsored by MK Distributors and hosted by the Port City Blues Society, featured Little Rock based Ben Brenner and his band Fonky Donkey. The group are fixtures of the Arkansas music scene and no strangers to Pine Bluff.
Brenner chose RJ’s to debut a single release from his upcoming long-play recording “The Snake & The Apple.”
The original song penned by Brenner and guitarist Gil Franklin is titled “Down in the Bluff.” It reflects a love of returning to perform for friends and fans in Pine Bluff. The lyrics give a nod to a town steeped in the cultural and music history of its Delta roots.
The song’s upbeat tempo matches Brenner’s lively delivery, mentioning several Jefferson County musical mainstays like Jerry McCoy, who contributed lead guitar on the record. Other local legends in the roll call are Port City Blues Players, Elmore James, Bobby Rush and a lesser known Pine Bluff group called Sweet Magnolia.
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The Dec. 7 lineup consisted of Ben “Swamp Donkey” Brenner — lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar, telecaster; Eric Strothers — lead guitar; Gil Franklin — vocals, slide and rhythm guitars; Lynn Fitzgerald — bass; Lance “Bug Tussle Slim” Womack — vocals and drums; and Kevin Lewis — saxophone. The band’s regular keyboard player, Curtis “J.J.” Adams, wasn’t on hand for the show.
In regard to “Down in the Bluff,” Brenner said, “It’s a collaborative effort between Gil and me. It started out as an old poem he wrote years ago called, ‘Barraque Street.’ He showed up with a coffee-stained sheet of paper with some words on it. We kicked it back and forth then I edited and added my own flavor and put it to music. If you know our writing styles, you can tell which lines are his and which came from me.
“We’re both very lucky to be able to work together. We each write our own stuff but I think the ones we pen together are better.”
Brenner commissioned local artist Robert Bean to draw the cover art for “Down in the Bluff.” A commemorative poster of the artwork was offered to patrons of the show. He said, “The imagery is an important part of the Fonky Donkey brand.”
The singer/songwriter explained his musical journey and path to Arkansas.
“I was born in Tujunga, Calif. It’s a funky little town on the northwest outskirts of L.A. full of Vietnam vets and old hippies,” Brenner said.
He graduated law school from the University of California, Davis, and then he followed a woman back to Arkansas in 2004.
“I had played some in California, so I was looking for a gig in Little Rock,” he said.
He lobbied the owner of Ferneau Restaurant in Hillcrest for months to play there to no avail. Six months after he gave up, he got a call from Ferneau asking, “Is this Ben ‘Swamp Donkey’ Brenner?” Brenner answered yes, got the long-awaited gig and the new name stuck.
“I began going to the Arkansas River Blues Society Jams on Wednesdays at Thirst & Howl in 2018. The house band there was Gil Franklin, Lynn Fitzgerald, Lance Womack and James Harris. I sat in with them and that was the first time I tried to play my original music with a band,” Brenner siad.
“Lance said, ‘Why don’t you hire Lynn and me as your rhythm section and start a band.’ I did and we called ourselves, The Swamp Donkey Trio.
“Our first gig was for a big party at the Railyard in Little Rock,” Brenner said. “The Gil Franklin Project was on the same bill with us and Lance ended up suggesting, ‘Why don’t you hire Gil to play guitar,’ so I followed his advice again.”
Brenner further explained where the “Fonky” came from. “I was reading Dr. John’s autobiography and he used a word to describe his sound as ‘fonky.’ That’s different from funky. It’s got its own unique New Orleans influence and flavor.” That’s when the group adopted the name, “Fonky Donkey.”
He said, “It’s fun and memorable. I often tell the band, ‘You’re the ‘Fonky’ and I’m the ‘Donkey.’ We aren’t averse to playing certain covers but our band was designed from the start to play original music.”
Brenner plans to release a second single from the new album before the end of 2024, fittingly titled, “End of the Road.”
The full long-play record drop is scheduled for some time in the early spring. In addition to regular Donkey players, “The Snake & the Apple” contains contributions by Rachel Fields, E.J. Ladyfingaz, Brenner’s dad Barry Brenner and son Barlow Brenner, Susan Prowse, Jason Wilmon, Bryan Nahlan, Jerry McCoy and Nick Devlin on guitar and co-production.
Brenner said of the 11-song album recorded at Jason Tedford’s Wolfman Studio, “I gathered up all my friends and got them on the record.”
Brenner launched the evening with, “Down in the Bluff,” followed by an assortment of originals while filling out the program with the occasional cover such as “New Minglewood Blues” and “Eyesight for the Blind.”
In reference to the combined guitar stylings of Brenner, Franklin and Strothers, one audience member commented, “That’s some high-level pickership.”
During interims between sets, the group signed limited edition posters for fans.