A keyboard player sustaining a church-like chord underneath him, guitarist Delaney McQuaig tenderly plucked a sultry, bluesy string of notes.
Then, McQuaig asked the crowd on this Wednesday night in Durham whether they know anything about Al Green, the famed soul singer.
When the crowd failed to respond with sufficient attention and enthusiasm, McQauig said: "Now, I know I ain't talking to myself."
The crowd now perked up a bit, McQauig asked again: "Y'all know anything about Al Green??"
With the cadence of a preacher, McQauig informed the increasingly rapt audience that Green wrote songs that "made people have babies." And with that, he and the rest of the backing band launched into Green's "Love and Happiness" warming up the primed crowd for another installment of Brett Chambers' Open Mic at the Blue Note Grill.
Going to the open mic is 'like being around family'
On this particular Wednesday, the event was marking its 28th Anniversary, which fortuitously coincided with one of its "third Wednesday" theme nights.
This Wednesday's theme was "represent your school," which explained the ubiquity of t-shirts and hats bearing the colors and logos of institutions like N.C. Central University, East Carolina, Duke, UNC, and even Hillside High School. A large contingent of Hillside alumni, Class of '74—wearing t-shirts marking this year's 50th anniversary of their graduation—included regulars who come to the open mic just about every week.
"When you come to Brett's Open Mic, it's like being around family," said Kenneth Chavious, who was wearing the blue and white of his alma mater, Fayetteville State University.
Chavious, 71, has been attending the open mic since its start 28 years ago at a place called Talk of the Town, a bar on Main Street, in Durham, long before the city's downtown revitalization.
Since then, it has migrated from Talk of the Town to an assortment of venues before resettling at the Blue Note in 2019.
But the warmth of the crowd at the open mic, and the quality of the music, have been constants, according to Chavious and many other attendees.
"It's really, really good clean fun, it always has been," said Chavious, before digging into a plate of the Blue Note's fine food, which includes ribs and barbecue. "And it's some of the best talent you will ever see."
The talent is 'ridiculous'
"The open mic has created a sense of community with people from all walks of life," said Constance Prince, who discovered the event back in 2016, when it resided at Durham's Beyu Caffe.
After a 21-year career in finance at Morgan Stanley, Prince, 73, said she was looking for a place to get back to singing, a lifelong love of hers.
"From directing choirs at church to singing around with different small groups and that sort of thing," said Prince, sporting a maroon college t-shirt from NCCU, the historically Black university from which she graduated in 1981.
Prince performs frequently at the open mic—and when she does, she commands the audience.
On this night, with her crown of gray curls and big glasses, Prince raised the roof with her rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Something He Can Feel."
"Hey," she sang with a soulful rasp, "feel me, baby."
"The talent here is ridiculous," said Robert Zoldos II, Durham's Fire Chief, a regular at the open mic since 2018. Zoldos often can be seen among the throng of people in front of the stage expertly doing what one participant told me is a "Black line dance."
Zoldos said that when he first moved to town in 2018, his wife had to stay behind in northern Virginia for her teaching job. So, he went looking for date-night opportunities for when she came to town and that is when he discovered the open mic.
Zoldos said he got hooked on the dancing and the friendly vibe at the open mic.
"There's enough regulars," he said, likening the scene at the open mic to the setting of a popular sitcom set in a Boston bar. "You know everyone, it's sort of that 'Cheers' atmosphere."
"It's like Saturday night on Wednesdays, and it's perfect," said Blue Note Owner Bill Whittington, who seemed quite pleased overlooking a packed room midweek with customers who pay a $5 cover.
But by "perfect," it was clear to me he was referring to the communal joy pervading the room.
"It's just one big family get-together every week, it seems," Whittington said.
Among the talented performers to hit the stage was Acisse Jay, 37, a clinical research associate by day.
Wearing a gray t-shirt accented with the purple and gold of East Carolina University, Jay proudly identified herself as an ECU Pirate. Jay said she first found the open mic in 2018 and became a regular after the pandemic.
"Just getting out playing music and dancing, that's what I'm here for," Jay said.
On stage, a guitar strapped around her shoulders, Jay delivered a rousing rendition of Proud Mary a la Tina Turner, barreling into the chorus: "Big wheel keep on turnin', Proud Mary keep on burnin', Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river."
'I was nervous, but it was cool'
The night's performers included newcomer Joanne Osewe, 23, who told me her stage name is Pynk Moscato. Osewe came to the open mic from neighboring Wake County.
"Honestly," she said, with a saxophone playing The Spinners' "I'll Be Around" in the background, "it's definitely an older crowd." But Osewe definitely did not mean that as a dig.
"It's classic," she added. "It's beautiful, I love it. I mean, I love it."
For the two songs she performed, Osewe did "Just Friends," by Musiq Soulchild, and Etta James's "I'd Rather Go Blind."
After her debut onstage, Osewe told me she would definitely be back.
"I was inspired, I was nervous, but it was cool, like it was cool," she said.
That kind of response to the open mic experience has got to be music to the ears of the event's namesake and creator.
When Brett Chambers started the open mic 28 years ago, he told me, he was looking for a musical outlet for himself and to create a safe space for others.
"I just wanted a platform where people could come and not be booed offstage and have a chance to grow and have the courage to step up to a mic, because that's daunting" he said.
At 28 years old and counting, Brett Chambers' Open Mic is thriving with newbies and veterans gamely stepping up to the mic and audiences warmly cheering them on.
