Reviews

"He's one of the best I ever heard."

  -- Dickey Betts

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" That's almost a lost art the way he plays. He's bad!"

  -- Bruce Hornsby

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"He's one of the most versatile, amazing harp blowers I've seen in a long, long time. That's not all----- the man's a fine songwriter and singer, besides. The band is most responsive and intuitive and places accents in all the right places. Their touring schedule has been expanded, and I sure do hope you all get the chance to see him."

-- Sharon Schneider, BLUES BEAT

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"When Carr steps out front himself, the results can be glorious.  Carr was in control; blowing a mournful bellow, sucking a high-pitched squeal or spitting a staccato rhythm so fast he might hyperventilate.  It was  a masterful mixing of metal and wind; like a tornado ripping through a corrugated tin shed."

-- St. Petersburg Times

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"The music was beyond all my hopes and expectations.   The crowd would scream adulation's and he's just smile and shake his head. His singing was amazing, and to think I'd come to hear him blow his harp. Yeah, he blew it ,and blew it, and kept blowing me away. The music was beyond all my hopes and expectations. The crowd would scream adulation's and he's just smile and shake his head."

-- Jim McLaughin, International Harmonica Champion

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"If this guy isn't the best harmonica player in the Tampa Bay area, I don't know who is.  Unlike the honking, wheezing wail that characterized some blues-harp players.  Carr casts a gentler breeze, finessing the instrument with a subtle whirlwind of lung power."

-- Tampa Tribune

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"T.C. is strutting his harp down harmonica main street with some of the funkiest, richest licks I've ever heard.  He has that harp talking the way the second Sonny Boy Williamson used to in his King Biscuit days, and the story it's telling would break your heart."

-- Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

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"I've heard alotta harp players but I never heard nobody play like that!"

-- Jack Johnson on the "Living the Blues Cruise"

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Only two acts have received true encores from the main stage of the Florida Folk Festival in the 30 years I have been attending the event (When I say true encores, I am not talking about the emcee saying "You want to hear more?" I am talking about the emcee saying, "People, people, we have to shut down here. We can't go any longer. The show is over." and the crowd stomping and yelling and chanting for more, refusing to give up until the act reappears or the police get the pepper spray out.)

The legendary T.C. Carr, was climbing in his truck to leave when they ran to get him back on stage at the 1999 FFF, with his belt of harmonicas to do an encore.
Father Bill Monroe was the other encore. Awesome as well. Only two in 30 years. If I recall correctly, T.C. came back onstage to finally slay the audience with his patented "Harpoon Man" signature song. They finally had to shut the lights off the hillside covered with exhausted fans who had witnessed a demonstration of interplanetary harmonica power from one of this world's premier harp players.

T.C.'s forte and main impact on the Tampa Bay music scene has always been a signature blend of roots rock and blues, a special mix that goes beyond the rules of traditional blues. He and his former band -- T.C. and the Catch -- they just broke up a few months ago -- were known across the state, having played every jook joint, festival, bar, living room and club in the state. People may not realize, however, that he has done the Charlie McCoy thing with bluegrass music, jamming with bands such as the Green Grass Revival as well as spending a few years dedicated to country rock with Tom Gribbon's Saltwater Cowboys and the island rock world with the legendary Mad Beach Band. He also served his time backing up the beloved Diamond Teeth Mary, the wild Eddie Kirkland and the rockin' Blind Willie James. There just isn't room on the Internet to go into T.C. Carr's entire musical legacy! Suffice to say he is listed in every anthology of harmonica players written since 1970 and, like Rock Bottom, is a world recognized musical symbol of the Tampa Bay area.

T.C. Carr's muse has always been the Gulf Coast, where he maintains a captain's license and a love of the sea -- inspirations for several of this fine songwriter's absolutely Florida songs -- most notably his well known "Salty Dog Cracker Man" hit. A former member of the St. Pete Boy's Choir, he also wields one of the best singing voices this side of the Three Mo' Tenors, mixing taut, tough blues shouting with soulful crooning. He has shared the stage with Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Bo Diddley, Sam and Dave, Vassar Clements, Steve Cropper, Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill, Bruce Hornsby, Big Jack Johnson, Marshall Tucker, Melanie, John McEuen, Orleans, Lucky Peterson. Mike Pinera, Susan Tedeschi, Steve Tyler, Chick Wills and Kim Wilson among many, many others. He has put out two signature CDs: "Blooz-It" and "Black Shoes",

-- Pete Gallagher