By Brett Ratner

M ost people have aspirations of rock stardom before they learn to play an instrument.

In other words, fame isn't a perk of mastering an instrument you love to play. The guitar serves merely as a tool to achieve notoriety for some people. Guitarist/vocals/songwriter Sonny Moorman does not fit into this category.

Strangely enough, the seasoned veteran of blues guitar grew up in an environment that would certainly inspire most to aspire to perform.

"When I was a kid, my parents ran nightclubs in the Cincinnati area," Moorman said. "I used to see Lonnie Mack all the time. Lonnie played at Dad's places, and Cal Collins. In fact, I had lessons from Collins from the time I was eight years old up until my middle teens. Those guys got me interested in guitar. At one point in time, I though everybody could play guitar as well as Lonnie Mack or Cal Collins. I thought that's just what you could do if you played guitar."

While Moorman learned to love guitar early on, he didn't get the bug to play out for a long time. Instead, he went on to college to study engineering.

"I did not play in bands until I was a junior in college," Moorman said. "I was going to Michigan State. It never occurred to me to be a professional musician. I never thought that would be my career at all. I was the classic 'bedroom' guitar player. I played along with my records. That's what I did. Finally, I ended up getting into a band and 20 years later I'm still doing it."

This major change of direction in Sonny's life took place after a routine visit to a music store.

"I saw an ad for a band needing a guitar player and a singer," Moorman said. "I was just buying a pack of strings when I saw it. I called them up, and I found out that from years of lessons and years of playing along to records, I was a pretty darn good player. But I had never played with a band. I didn't understand the aesthetics of playing with other musicians. Playing with records is pretty easy because it comes out the same way every time, there's no interaction. It took me a while to figure out how to play with people. I also figured out that this is what I'm about and that this is what I should be doing."

Once Moorman decided to "go for it," he went all out and immersed himself in the highly-competitive L.A. scene, as well as attended the Guitar Institute of Technology. Moorman said the experience improved his confidence.

"To tell you the truth, GIT verified a lot of the ideas that I had going already," Moorman said. "It put me in with world-class players and sort of convinced me that I could do this. I had this idea that I was going to go to Los Angeles, it was going to be some great big world. I was wondering if I was going to be able to keep up. Shoot! I went out there and got jobs and played and made money. Everything worked out fine. It was like the big acid test."

Moorman cut his teeth with a gig in Z Deluxe, Warren Zevon's tour band. Moorman also had a stint in a band called The Tomcats, a successful regional act featuring members of Sly and the Family Stone. Despite success with these organizations, Moorman always knew that his proper place was fronting the classic three-piece.

"The bands that I always liked have been trio bands," Moorman said. "Jimi Hendrix, for example. I consider Led Zeppelen a trio, it's a trio with a singer. Trios have always intrigued me. Clapton with Cream is the classic power trio. It was always the stuff that I dug."

In the '80s when Moorman was forging his career, forming a guitar-based trio was just not a good idea.

"Commercially, there was a time when you couldn't get arrested being in a trio, especially playing bars," Moorman said. "You told the bar owner you had a trio and he wanted to know where the girl singer and keyboard player was. You just couldn't work that way."

Fortunately, it's the '90s, taste has changed and the guitar-based trio is back. Moorman has taken full advantage of this and is tearing up the Cincinnati music scene fronting Sonny Moorman & The Dogs. Moorman, bassist Bob Logsdon and drummer Jim McNeely have been voted "Favorite Local Blues Artist" by the Greater Cincinnati Blues Society and named by several local papers as one of the area's best blues outfits. Riding the wave of this success, Morrman took his blues nationwide and has garnered acclaim, primarily in the blues capital of Memphis, Tennessee. Following a searing set at Memphis' "Crossroads Fest" in 1994, the band was offered and accepted a contract on Sun Records' "706" label. Since then, the band has released L.I.V.E. and more recently Telegraph Road. Another release is planned for the near future.

Also look out for Sonny and company on a planned "Memphis Rocks" tour with legendary artists like Rufus Thomas, Billy Lee Riley and others.

As I was writing this article, I received a package in the mail. It contained a videotape of a Moorman performance personally recorded for me via hand-held camcorder by the band's manager. It seems, according to their manager, that you really have to see the man live to appreciate him.

Judging from the tape, Moorman combines the bluesey authenticity of John Lee Hooker with the reckless, boyish showmanship of Eddie Van Halen. His band is tight, his licks are clean and his voice is strong.

If you dig the blues, and the dogs are in town, drop by and throw them a bone. You'll be glad you did.

For more info, visit the Sun Studios web site at http://www.sunstudio.com