I hung around B.B. King’s for most of the competition seeing that it is Memphis’s premier Blues spot. I ran into a band that, although they didn’t make it to the finals, stood out to me nonetheless. This band was none other than the Mandolin Brothers.

When the lead singer, Jimmy Ragazzon (pictured) , introduced the band, I could barely make out a word he said. Where were these people from? Well, turns out they came all the way from Milan, Italy. The most surprising part was that all of their lyrics were in clear English. I spoke with the lead singer Ragazzon - who also plays a mean harmonica, guitar, and rubboard - and he said that this is how they sing their songs in Italy too.

"We sing in English and we play basically american music but with the mandolin and the accordion. We try to put some kind of Italian flavor in it." Well, it tasted delicious to me . . with a dash of Johnny Cash’s prison drum beat, a slice of Bob Dylans vocals, and a splash of Blues Traveler front man, John Popper’s, harmonica playing. I told this to my friend as we sat and soaked in the soulful, yet vibrant tunes, and after the show I learned that Bob Dylan is indeed one of the band’s idols. Even more impressive, the band (who spoke broken English) knew more about Memphis and the blues than I - a born and bred resident - did.

The band’s collection of songs consisted of their original work along with revisited and tweaked cover songs that had a personal touch. Or, tocco unico if you will.

After speaking with the band for several hours, I left with a free CD and an invitation to Italy. Not bad for a Friday night in Memphis at B.B. King’s. To learn more about the Mandolin’ Brothers visit MandolinBrothersBand.com