Musician Delanie Pickering

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The blues blaze from Delanie Pickering’s soul. She is a consummate performer, as anyone who has seen her can attest.

Born in Concord, N.H., Pickering’s parents supported her and her siblings’ interest in the arts. The blues instantly became part of Pickering’s heart when she heard her father’s records at just 16. “My dad had a box of records in the basement with some blues. It just knocked me out, and I became obsessed with it. I was playing the guitar all the time in the living room, any chance I could.” Pickering found that music lessons weren’t for her — she is self-taught: “I was learning songs and figuring them out. You learn a lot, too, seeing other musicians. Everybody has a different style, different tricks, and different ways of playing solos or rhythm, which I like.”

Despite her tender age, Pickering saw other musicians at bars just a year or so after she began to play. “I started playing solo gigs by about 17 in my town and surrounding ones in New Hampshire. It was fun. They paid you, and you got to be in bars around adults. My folks would bring me to gigs before I had my license, and that was cool — one-on-one time with them. You meet such different people at those places at night than you would as a regular teenager.”

After high school, Pickering lived with her parents, and worked as a musician for a while. “Then I got bored with it, bought a van, and stopped doing music.” She traveled along the East Coast, enjoying herself. Eventually, having known about the Vineyard from family vacations on the Cape as a child, Pickering decided to try life out here. “I thought living on an island sounded pretty fun, and this was the closest Island. I came on a whim in my van.”

Pickering eventually got a summer job, working for UPS during the day and an overnight one stocking shelves at Stop & Shop. Then a position at Mocha Mott’s fell into her lap. Although she would go to hear plenty of music, Pickering wasn’t performing at the time: “I was seeing Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, and all the other musicians on the other nights. About seven or eight years ago, somebody found out I played music, and talked me into sitting in with the band as part of a long night out. I just kept doing it. Everyone was very welcoming to a new outsider. Everybody’s talented and nice. It was the summertime, and the bars were full; everybody was merry.”

Playing with other musicians was new for Pickering: “I hadn’t been in bands before, because none of the other young people I knew were into doing music. But now it was natural. A gift that was given to me. I loved it.”

Pickering performed with Rose Guerin and her band every Saturday night, and also with the Black-Eyed Susans. When Johnny Hoy’s guitarist moved on from the band, she received the call, and she has been with them ever since. When Pickering isn’t playing with the Bluefish, she performs with others, ensuring her nights are always busy: “Whenever someone needs a guitar, upright blues bass, or drummer, I like to say yes,” she notes.

Pickering has also traveled recently, playing in Europe, and will be appearing at festivals in Iowa and Texas: “I’m trying to say yes to some things without ruining the nice life I have here.”

While she is out virtually every night, Pickering’s days are busy too. She remains at Mocha Mott’s, rising at the crack of dawn, and then spends her afternoons on construction jobs: “I work hard, stay busy all day, and play gigs at night.” Pickering continues, “One of the beautiful things about the Vineyard is if you didn’t need to sleep, you could work 24 hours a day. It’s a good way to live. I feel lucky to be here.” Of course, she adds, “I think I could have fun in any circumstances.”

For more information about Delanie Pickering, visit facebook.com/delanie.pickering.