The blues came calling, and Miss Marcy answered. The big bad mama of Miss Marcy and Her Texas Sugar Daddies is Marcy Rodsky, a Lakewood resident who gave up her fulltime teaching gig to sing the blues for a living. She hustles to get her name on as many marquis, handbills and music listings as possible. “In December of 2008, I left my job and started booking gigs like a mad woman,” she says. “I canvassed the area. There isn’t a club from here to Oklahoma that hasn’t heard from my band. I’m shameless.” She already had a regular Monday night gig during Pearl at Commerce’s 6:30-8 p.m. happy hour, which she has held down for two years now. She regularly books two or three other shows a week, and she often sits in with the band at the Balcony Club on Sunday nights. Her self-titled debut CD is almost finished, and Pearl at Commerce is hosting her release party June 11. The band has a “classy, sexy” sound that she describes as “the devil’s music. It’s not Texas blues, not classic blues,” but like an updated version of the Big Mama Thornton and Bessie Smith sounds. So how about those Texas Sugar Daddies anyway? “There’s nothing sexier than a man with a paycheck,” Rodsky quips. She often plays without a drummer because, she says, lots of all-male blues bands skip hiring vocalists. That way, each guy in the trio gets more money at the end of the night. Miss Marcy’s not going to cut herself, honey. So she learned to play without a drummer; otherwise she tries to negotiate a higher rate. Rodsky still teaches ESL classes at two community colleges to supplement her income. But once her CD comes out, she’ll keep hustling to deliver it to as many ears as possible — honkytonks, casinos, festival circuits, European tours, TV shows, movie soundtracks. Whoever calls, Miss Marcy’s going to answer.
