Back from the Blues

January 17, 2006

The Sickness has returned to land, in one piece, from the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise (bluescruise.com). I had a lot of apprehension stepping onto a boat with 1700 Blues Fanatics with 70-plus shows scheduled in a single week. I thought I’d step off this boat and never want to hear the 12-bar blues again, what might be called a Blues Hangover.

Instead I emerged from the boat invigorated and charmed by the blues. I had no idea that I would learn so much, but as always, there is still learning to be done. I can’t talk about every show I saw, or even every artist I got to check out. You probably wouldn’t get it anyway, unless names like Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins and James Cotton mean anything to you.

Blues is an art form. You can debate until the sun rises about what is “authentic” blues. There are tons of “blues purists,” as they’re called, who don’t want to love anything that came after Robert Johnson or Blind Willie Dixon. Some aren’t even interested in the electric blues like Muddy Waters or Lightin’ Hopkins. Then there are those who scoff at any blues that was recorded after 1969. It should be noted that most of these people are probably white …

I hate to seem asinine, but anyone would’ve been shocked initially at the amount of white people on this boat. Or perhaps more shocking would be the astounding lack of black people. This is their music, but the white people are the ones buying their music and setting up the shows, it is now the white man’s music. Bob Margolin and John Hammond have more knowledge of the blues than anyone, and they’re as white as the MS Westerdam (the ship) is long.

There were plenty of black performers, the above mentioned legends, Zac Harmon, Ronnie Baker Brooks, and even the new-age guy like Corey Harris. But the fact remains that the black people no longer have the blues. There aren’t anymore plantations or slavery or segregation to write about, but the blues hasn’t died. In some people’s minds, it died along with all that prejudice.

Now the blues is, contemporarily at least, the white man’s music. I can’t tell you why, except that maybe these whities have found a music that turns them on and they can’t get enough of it. They’ve supported it while the black musicians went on to make soul, disco, rap and eventually hip-hop. I wonder if Mike Jones knows about Muddy Waters or Robert Johnson. I want to know if Paul Wall has ever had the blues. I know Muddy never had no 20 inch rims to brag about … that’s the blues folks.

There’s a kid out there now, called Slick Ballinger, who will one day be the great white hope amongst blues musicians. I see him filling Jon Hammond’s shoes as blues historian and scholar in the next 40 years. The kid is 21 years old and has been researching the blues ever since he saw the movie “Crossroads.” He took it upon himself to study the blues in its own house, the Missippi Delta and the rest of the Deep South. He sat and gazed at Hammonds fingers and listened intently as Hammond preached about Mose Allison.

The truth is that it doesn’t matter, black or white. A line in one of Slick’s song’s says “My Soul Ain’t Black/ My Soul Ain’t White” and that’s the truth. It doesn’t matter what color you are on the inside because the blues comes from inside, where color doesn’t matter. That’s why Muddy told a reporter all those years ago “There’s some white boys playin’ this blues guitar pretty good now …”

And that remains true today. For evidence, check out Tab Benoit, John Hammond, Slick Ballinger, Joe Bonamassa and Jimmy Thackery. They’ve got the blues ladies and gentlemen. I can guarantee you one thing: If you ever should step foot on the Rhythm & Blues Cruise, you too, will have the blues.

My computer is down for now folks, so my updates may be sporadic, but I wanted to say a bit about the cruise. My “From the ship” updates are available here . You have to sign up to get back issues, but it's worth it to get tons of great blues in your inbox every week.

There’ll be more about some of the artists on the boat in the coming weeks, but go get a taste of these guys and see if they’re playing in your neck of the woods.

Here are some links to keep you occupied (at work preferably)

www.TabBenoit.com (LA guitarist that I’ll never be able to repay)

www.ronniebakerbrooks.com (Now this, my good friends, is an entertainer)

http://www.slickballinger.com/home.html (The 21 year old filled with diligence and curiosity)

www.bluescruise.com

www.josepharosen.com (our Blues Wax photographer, great shots of the Chicago Legends)