Date: Friday, July 15, 1988 Section: CURRENT Page: 2

 By DRU CURD, New River Valley Bureau

 BLACKSBURG

 Anyone who lived through the musical era of the Woodstock days or who admires the music of those times should be in the room when the Electric Woodshed breaks into their show tonight at South Main Cafe.

Craig Counts, a mere child of 21 whose guitar style was heavily influenced by B.B. King before he discovered "ZZ Topp’s First Album" and Jimi Hendrix, grew up in rural Lebanon jamming on his electric guitar with his best friend in a woodshed in the friend’s backyard.

 When he put together a blues-oriented band during his second year at Virginia Tech, he thought back to the energy that rocked that woodshed and remembered a long-ago chance comment someone made about their "electric woodshed."

 He used the same style to form the Electric Woodshed that the group uses nightly to set their stage show -- casual and impromtu.

 Stu Salmon’s rhythm and blues orientation on the bass caught Count’s attention the first time they jammed together and the 22-year-old was a natural choice.

 Counts and Salmon played as the Electric Woodshed at several engagements that summer of 1987, with musicians coming and going.

 By the following winter, Counts had found the other two artists who would help the "Woodshed" solidify into a bluesy rock band capable of reintroducing the music of the ‘60’s with feeling.

 Dan Dunlap, 25, formerly of After Midnight and Run Amok, has a particular style on the guitar that Counts admired from the first.

 When Run Amok split, Dunlap had one gig left at the Iroguois, so he asked Counts to step in. Later, Counts returned the favor by inviting Dunlap to sit in with his band at a party. Playing one or two songs with the group from time to time gradually evolved in Dunlap being on stage all night.

 Billy Jackson, in his early 30s and the oldest member, is a native of Montgomery County and a drummer since his high school days.

When a former drummer couldn’t make a show, someone thought of Jackson, gave him a call and "He just came in, sat down, played drums and fit right in," Counts said.

 The four thrive musically on spontaneity. The show constantly changes and the way they present a song may not be the same twice in a row.

 "It’s the intensity of the blues. We’ll practice a song just to see what we know. The beat is always the same, but we never play it the same on any two nights. You know, you ‘feel’ different on different nights."