Southern Soul Paradise: Miss Mini at Lamont's in Pomonkey

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Miss Mini at Lamont's in Pomonkey - Interview/Part I

While at the Lamont's Entertainment Complex in Pomonkey, I had the pleasure of interviewing Miss Mini (not Minnie) and I LOVE her! She is friendly and has a beautiful girl-next-door type of personality which makes it easy to talk to her. She’s the type of person you could call a friend. It was a joy to talk with her and to listen to her sing. She started the show with her cover of “Rocking Chair.” She sang an absolutely beautiful duet with J. Red, the Nephew, and also performed her southern soul hit, “That ActRight!”

Miss Mini, whose real name is Catrese West (isn’t that pretty), is from Sharpsburg, North Carolina, which is located near Rocky Mount. Both of her parents were singers and she started to sing with her father’s band when she was about 15 years old. She said that she’s really been singing all of her life and her mother used to take her around to different places to have her perform. I used to play a clarinet and her story reminded me of the time when my mom would have me perform everywhere – whether I wanted to or not! Lol I guess the saying is true - if it won’t kill you, it’ll make you grow stronger. Lol

I asked her who were the people who influenced her musical career. Miss Mini said that her grandfather ran a juke joint called The Crossroads and she would go there and listen a wide variety of the blues. It was there where she would hear Johnnie Taylor, Tyrone Davis, Peggy Scott Adams, and so many more artists. She fell in love with the music and was inspired to use her voice.

Future plans? Miss Mini loves to sing and plans to continue to sing and work as much as she can. Her goal is to focus on her music and allow it to develop into all she knows it can be. She's not just a singer, Miss Mini is an artist who writes most of her music. She has been traveling throughout South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, and plans to broaden her scope of experiences and performances throughout the rest of the world.

I'm looking forward to many more years of watching Miss Mini perform and listening to her music. She has a new album coming out in June – be on the lookout for it!

You can find more details of her bio at

http://www.artisttrove.com/artist/336330380658/Miss+Mini.