2/16/07, 5:55 pm EST

Week Five Finalist: Matthew Tuthill on Harmonica Player Bob Stannard

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Note: This is not an official Rolling Stone article. What follows is a submission to the “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing competition.

by Matthew Tuthill
Age: 25

With all due respect to the late Lou Gehrig, Bob Stannard might just be the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

The 55-year-old blues vocalist has performed with one of the most absurd A-lists a self-taught harmonica player could ever dream of: Buddy Guy, Isaac Hayes, Jerry Portnoy, David “Honey Boy” Edwards, B.B. King – heck, Stannard even played a set with Stephen King.

But while Stannard earned the respect of the aforementioned legends without taking a single lesson, his road to local celebrity began quite formally, with his mother practically forcing him to learn the piano.

“She thought it would be a great idea to have her little pansy boy
play the piano,” Stannard said. “I literally grew to hate it.”

Stannard then picked up the harmonica and performed for 35 years before taking another lesson – this time from Portnoy, whose work appeared on Eric Clapton’s “From the Cradle.”

“I realized I barely comprehended the instrument,” Stannard said of their first meeting. “It was a real ego-crushing moment for me.”

Such moments don’t happen often.

Stannard may be talented, but he knows his impressive resume is just as much a product of his world-class schmoozing ability.

“I’m not lacking in self confidence,” said Stannard, whose full-time job is promoting business in downtown Bennington, Vermont. “I’m lacking everywhere else, however. Now think about that for a minute. That’s a dangerous combination.”

Nowhere is that dangerous combination more apparent than in Stannard’s choice of style, which could be confused as Michael Irvin impersonation. The outrageous getup changes from day to day, but Stannard never leaves home without one accessory - a fluorescent white smile seen when he’s laughing his head off, which is most of the time.

“I really am the luckiest man alive,” he said.