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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Hey, hey - the blues is all right
By MARIANN MARTIN
[email protected]
May 26 2005
Blues is the history, foundation of modern music, but what's its future?
So you didn't know juicy sirloin steaks and the sound of soulful blues music had anything in common. Think again.
''When you want to listen to something real, you turn to blues because it's good, honest music,'' said Michael Baker, a historian and local blues expert. ''It's just like eating. You can enjoy Big Macs for a while, but eventually you have to have real food - like a steak.''
Jackson and West Tennessee have always been important to blues music, the home of great names who helped influence the genre: Mabel Louise ''Big Maybelle'' Smith of Jackson gave such soulful renditions on the New York stage that Billie Holiday refused to follow her act. Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes left their mark as they toured throughout the South. And 57 years after his death, blues fans still come to Jackson to visit the gravesite of John Lee ''Sonny Boy'' Williamson, one of the greatest blues singers and harmonica players of all time. He changed the landscape of blues music forever. But with the passing of all those great names, is singing the blues vanishing as well?
Not according to local fans and musicians. It may be a fight to keep it in the forefront sometimes, but enough people enjoy singing and listening to the blues to ensure that it will be around for the next generation.
''Blues are something that are not going to die out,'' said Baker, who helped organize the Shannon Street Blues and Heritage Festival and has booked the musicians for 14 years. ''Blues music has always had its ups and downs. It's a bit down right now, but it will pop back up. There are certainly a lot more blues fans and local musicians now than when we started the Bluesfest 14 years ago.''
The festival runs June 3-4 in downtown Jackson. Thomas Curry, a local musician whose band Total Reaction will play there this year, agreed that blues is still holding its own.
''I grew up listening to blues music on Shannon Street, and it has always been in my heart,'' said Curry, who began playing blues almost 20 years ago. ''Now I am trying to make an impact and keep it going by playing myself.''
The blues genre, which has been around for generations, was probably born in the North Mississippi Delta and borrowed from the music of African songs, ballads, church music and field tunes. Although the music evolved over the years, it has remained music of the land and of the country.
''Blues have always been rural music, and Jackson is a rural area,'' Baker said, explaining why so many great blues singers came from the region.
According to Baker, who first became interested in blues after listening to his brother's albums when he was 14, West Tennessee blues is slightly different from music in other places.
''You have Mississippi Delta blues, hillbilly blues and even Piedmont blues,'' he said. ''But Jackson musicians merged country and blues to create a very unique sound.''
No matter what flavor, the blues have always been an important part of the music scene. From Elvis to the Beatles to the Rolling Stones to Rod Stewart to Eric Clapton to Led Zeppelin - almost every musician in the last century, dead or alive, owes at least part of his or her music style to the blues genre.
''It is the foundation of so much music today,'' Baker said. ''Sometimes it gets a little weaker when you get away from the source, but most of those guys went back to the originals and learned from them.''
''The blues have been the biggest influence of any music,'' agreed David Kearney, otherwise known as Guitar Shorty, a widely known blues singer playing at Bluesfest this year. ''When you get right down to the bottom of it, any kind of music out there is a take off the blues. It can be rhythm, soul, rock or anything - the foundation is blues.''
Despite its importance, Shorty is not very hopeful that it will become more popular. However, he knows it will always be a part of his life.
''Blues music is not going to go anywhere because of the politics,'' he said. ''I have a lot of kids following me and some outstanding young students. But all the issues with money hurt it, and you can't fight the politics.''
Shorty, who has been playing music almost since he could walk, said blues is much more popular overseas than in the United States.
''Americans act like it's the last thing on earth, but it's huge over there,'' he said. ''I've been to Norway, Germany, Russia, Poland, Japan - they all appreciate it, really love it.''
And why shouldn't they? Blues, whether in Jackson or Moscow or Tokyo, comes straight from real life.
''The blues are about life - losing money or losing you keys or just having a bad day,'' Shorty explained. ''It doesn't matter if you are a doctor or lawyer, you can still have the blues. The songs don't necessarily have to be sad. They're just an expression of everyday living.''
''Blues music builds on a feeling,'' Curry added. ''And it's all about life.''
Get Out! inside
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| wakofako |
That Guitar Shorty is a crazy mofo. |
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