By Tine Roycroft

You can’t keep a good woman down and songstress Keri Anderson is living proof.  When last Pulse spoke with Anderson, the 31-year old talent was filling venues with her deep, soulful voice as she jammed with the band Whalebone Farmhouse.  Never one to rest on her musical laurels, Anderson is now the “sweetness” in her new project, Sugar and The Cane Breakers.

Anderson’s latest band is a big one ~ an 8-piece extravaganza fronted by Anderson and Craig Rawding and featuring Charlie O’Neal on guitar, Rick O’Neal on bass, Jeff Armstrong on drums, Brooks Milgate tickling the keyboards, John Donahoe wailing on the sax, and John Frazee blowing on the trumpet.  If these names sound familiar, they should.  They’re also members of Delta Generators, Beg Scream & Shout, The Big Lonesome, Heavy Metal Horns, Barrence Whitfield Band, and Johnny A. Band.

And wherever this traveling band of funksters goes, grooves are guaranteed.

“We play songs from all over the world, even if they never were that popular.  People know them and love them.  We take songs from New Orleans to West Africa.  From Jamaica.  From Belize,” Anderson says.  “I’d been looking for a band that focused on funk and with Sugar and the Cane Breakers, the stars just aligned.”

In her search for the perfect soul/funk project, Anderson had to stay determined in the face of adversity.  She’s a single mother who is currently finishing up school to become an art teacher and, sadly, the economy is never generous to musicians.  But her search led her to see the band Beg, Scream and Shout at the Lucky Dog one night and she was blown away by lead singer Craig Rawding.

“I just had to meet him,” she remembers.

Eventually the two started singing together and went on to create”Sugar and the Cane Breakers.  And somewhere in the midst of the music, romance bloomed, according to Anderson, and she and Rawding became a dynamic duo on and off stage.

But the fun is just beginning for Anderson.  She’s got a CD coming out, Keri Anderson and The Big Lonesome Live at Nick’s, with a release party on March 3 at Nick’s Bar and Restaurant in Worcester.  Pulse can’t wait to see what amazing sounds come out of Sugar and the Cane Breakers. Stay tuned!

For more info, go to www.sugarandthecanebreakers.com.