Barry Cuda began playing piano in Pensacola , Florida in the 1950’s with his father, a surgeon, teaching him “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and Joseph Haydn’s “Surprise Symphony” at the age of six. At the age of  twelve he was suspended from junior high school for trading in stag playing cards and 45 rpm vinyl recordings of Doug Clark’s “Hot Nuts”. His university studies in art and theatre took him to London, Florence, San Francisco, and St. Petersburg.

After graduation he chased after his blues heroes both in the USA (Little Brother Montgomery, James Booker, Cousin Joe, Roosevelt Sykes, among others) and in Europe (Jack Dupree, Sunnyland Slim, Memphis Slim) learning at their feet while making a living playing the festival and club scene. His influences range from Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton through Jimmy Yancey to Professor Longhair and Otis Spann.

His 1980’s acoustic harmonica/washboard/piano band, the Silver Kings with Flo Mingo and the late Rock Bottom, used several seconds of their fifteen seconds of fame when their renditions of two ribald songs on Scandinavian Television led to a minor international scandal resulting in apologies from both the Prime Minister of Norway and the president of NRK Television to President  and First Lady Reagan in 1983.

In 1985, tired of the road, he moved to Key West to fish, raise a family, and work the local club scene as a solo artist as well as with his band, Barry Cuda and the Sharks. A robust live entertainer, he has been described as a walking, talking encyclopedia of blues piano history as well as “Professor Longhair meets the Three Stooges” and has been employed continuously at world famous Sloppy Joe’s Bar, the Green Parrot, the Hog’s Breath Saloon, B.O.’s Fish Wagon and other Key West clubs. He has quietly become both a Key’s icon and a treasured resource on obscure yet vital barrelhouse and early blues piano styles. His insistence on a real acoustic piano limits his performance schedule both locally and abroad. That aside, he loves to cook, read, teach, and fish as well as continue researching and transcribing obscure Deep South piano blues. In addition to his CDs with the Sharks and the Silver Kings, two solo CDs have recently been issued. “Lonesome Mama” a collection of rare barrelhouse piano instrumentals should not be missed. Neither should this unique live piano player and folk artist.