The Tallahassee musician known simply as “Big Daddy” was remembered Thursday night at The Moon. Friends, fans, and fellow musicians packed the venue to bid farewell to the big man whose voice and heart were even larger.
Randall Webster had a soft, gentle voice. That is until he opened his mouth to sing.
Webster absorbed the essence of the blues in his home state of Illinois and then moved to Tallahassee after college. The band he formed there, called “Red Hot Java,” often played for free, donating their services to organizations like Legal Services of North Florida, where Connie Davis works.
“Anywhere, anyplace Big Daddy was there, bringing down the house,” she recalled.
That generosity also extended to Second Harvest of the Big Bend. Jasmine Vickers is the corporate giving manager there.
“What he brought to the table was something we’ll never be able to forget: a good heart,” she said.
After the accolades, scores of area musicians who either played with or admired Big Daddy over the years gathered for a blues jam, just the way the honoree would have liked it. Webster most recently served as executive director of the Franklin County Community Development and Land Trust. Before that, he headed the Tallahassee Community Chorus and Irish Society.
Randall Webster died in late September after a long illness at the age of 62.
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