Danny “Mudcat” Dudeck has been playing at Northside Tavern weekly for the last 21 years. Which is not a short amount of time. We caught up with him recently to chat about the blues, his incredible name and the occasional ghost sighting...

UD: Mud, you’re a staple at Northside Tavern. How’d it all begin?
M: I started by playing on the streets, but then got some gigs around town. A lady that owned the place saw us at Fat Matt’s and asked us to come play. And then we just kept playing.

UD: Who’s your favorite artist to cover?
M: Depends on my mood, but Bob Dylan... Cootie Stark... Frank Edwards.

UD: We’re not as familiar with Cootie and Frank.
M: [He just laughs.]

UD: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen happen during a set?
M: I was playing at this festival in the woods in Alabama and somebody got shot.

UD: What’d you do?
M: I kept playing.

UD: How did you get the name “Mudcat”?
M: When I was a kid, I used to play on the banks of the Mississippi River. One day I was down there and saw a catfish stuck in the mud, so I rescued it. And it granted me three wishes.

UD: Have any come true?
M: Yep. Just one: to live a happy life. I’m doing that right now.

UD: You ever seen any ghosts?
M: Oh yeah. A few.

UD: Go on...
M: When I was a kid, I walked by this old abandoned house on Tybee Island and saw a woman all lit up and floating in the window.

UD: And then?
M: And then I got out of there.