Local musician gives annual presentation

Blues musician Terry Bellamy has partnered with Olean’s African American Center for Cultural Development for his third annual blues presentation in the city’s Trinity United Methodist Church.
“There were enough people interested in the history of the blues and I was able to make a presentation,” said Bellamy, who offers private music lessons and occasionally teaches at St. Bonaventure University.
This is his seventh year teaching the small ensemble blues course. He has also taught basic and intermediate level guitar; however, this semester, there weren’t enough students signed up for the course to take place.
“I would be very much interested in having that course again in the fall,” Bellamy said.
Riley Eike, a graduate student in the Integrated Marketing Communications Program, took Bellamy’s guitar class.
“I’ve always wanted to learn the guitar and was excited to have the opportunity,” Eike said. “I think it’s something you can take more than once to keep developing skills.”
The presentation on March 25 at 3 p.m. will have a particular area of focus.
“This year, I’m going to be a little more specific,” he said.
Bellamy will focus on the history of how the guitar developed through the blues genre and into a solo instrument.
Bellamy will address how blues transformed from the 1920s to modern day, while also tying in some of his own experiences with music.
Bellamy’s first introduction to music started off with keyboard lessons at age 8, along with learning how to play the piano and Hammond organ. He later moved to guitar when he was about 13 years old, in addition to the dobro, lap steel, mandolin and banjo, which are relatives to the guitar.
In 1979, he started his first band called “West,” which he still plays with today and “is going strong.”
His second group, “Two Guys Drinking Beer,” is an acoustic band with the same members as “West,” and it generally gets a chuckle and reaction out of those who hear the name, Bellamy said with a laugh. They often play at Four Mile Brewing in Olean.
Then, in 2005, he started a Tuesday open mic night at the Hickey Tavern in Allegany with Frank Campanella. Bellamy also started the band, “C.B.S. Band,” a blues band he plays with at the Hickey Tavern.
When discussing his motive for teaching others both music history and how to play, he spoke about the desire he felt to give back to the community and others.
“I just felt that I wanted to share what I learned: the challenges, the breakthroughs, the successes, the things that held me back that (at the time) I didn’t realize were doing so,” he said. “And the desire to give back. I wanted to do something more.”
As a member of three different bands, Bellamy is an active member of the community and strives to give back, whether it’s entertaining people at restaurants, weddings, parties or nightclubs.
Bellamy especially enjoys giving back to the African American Center for Cultural Development and Della Moore, the center’s director.
“Della Moore has been a huge inspiration to me in everything she does,” Bellamy said. “She’s an amazing, fantastic person. She’s studied with me, taken lessons from me, been part of the blues ensemble…I do whatever I can for the African American Center.”