“That’s what I like about books . . .”

"there's no noise in it"- Bob Dylan Rolling Stone interview, RS 1008

Looks like Bob Dylan's affection for books lies in the exact same reason I can't, for the life of me, finish a book. There's NO NOISE!

In the last two years I've started several books. In fact they're still under the "books" portion of "About Dr. Sickness." Technically I'm "reading" about Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, the onset of Rockabilly and Tori Amos (I gave up on that one a long time ago, it makes me seem super sensitive and uber-hip to have it on my profile though).

I like magazines and anyone who knows me is privy to my six magazine subscriptions. While I don't like to have my intelligence insulted (no matter how deservingly so) by magazines like MAXIM that print meaningless methods to chill a six-pack or imbecilic comparisons of picking up girls to football strategy, I also like my information in small doses.

Like this mildly expansive Dylan interview that will probably take me at least another two weeks to finish. But Dylan is effortlessly inspiring and it's interesting to hear the author's history with Dylan: "Eighties Dylan was my Dylan. . ."

So, I thought I'd share my initial exposure to Dylan for two reasons- 1) Nineties/Aught Dylan is my Dylan and 2) that's what blogging is for (I know you were wondering what I was thinking just now. Now you know.)

I'll admit; I thought Peter, Paul & Mary were the first to do "Blowin' In the Wind." This isn't my fault. I saw a live performance by PP&M on PBS as a kid. "Blowin' in the Wind" was overwrought with gaudy strings and choir, but the emotion level was high as I remember, probably due to the first Iraq war ensuing at the time.

I looked over at my dad just as he wiped a tear from his eye. That was probably when I realized the power of a song, though I was oblivious to who had actually written the song. It was years later before I was informed, and subsequently ridiculed, that it was indeed his Bobness who penned the song. And it was written long before any Bush took office yet carried as much weight then, and still today, as it did at inception.


My first knowing exposure to Dylan was in 10th grade home-room when my friend Jesse (who would go on to become lead singer in our band, Mr. Beauchamps, by 12th grade) said "Have you heard the new Bob Dylan CD?"

I hadn't, at that time, heard any Dylan CD, much less his newest album which was at the time 1997's "Time Out of Mind."

"It's not dark yet," Jesse sang in a deep Dylan-esque voice, "But iiiiiiiiiiiiiiits gettin' they-ah." ("Not Dark Yet"-great song)

The song was included in the soundtrack to "Wonder Boys" (great movie) but was NOT sung by Garth Brooks, like "To Make You Feel My Love" from the same album ("Hope Floats"-haven't seen it).

Jesse let me borrow his copy of "Time Out of Mind," which would later be called his return to grace after some questionable mid-eighties material (that's according to said RS article, not my opinion, I don't have any of those records).

The music was pretty far over my head, but I look back on that CD as a maturing period for my musical tastes. I knew Dylan was a SONGWRITER, not a singer or a guitarist or a dancer, but first and foremost a songwriter.

It gave me great perspective to differentiate between a "Song" as a form and a "song" as a three minute ditty played on the radio between commercials. A great song can have an impact even when delivered by a terrible singer, Dylan being the most prolific example of this.

The most profound things Dylan wrote were, indeed, his early to mid-sixties stuff, of which my exposure to was due completely to my college guitar teacher, Dr. Robert Trent.

After wasting away an entire hour-long guitar lesson waxing on war and government (two things I’m mostly uninformed about, two things which Dr. Trent vehemently questioned), Dr. Trent handed me his copy of “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and told me to listen to “With God On Our Side,” a song that, while forty-some years old, perhaps rings truer under modern administration than ever.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

This might as well be posted on the main entrance to the White House. In yesterday’s UN discussions, and elsewhere, the phrase “Peaceful Nuclear Program” was uttered in defending Iran’s current source of dissention with the United States. I’d like you to ponder that phrase . . . “Peaceful Nuclear Program.”

How the hell can someone develop nuclear weapons with peace in mind? I guess if “Fire them we’re forced to/ Then Fire them we must,” is becoming more and more likely then, rest assured, if Bush pushes the button, it will be lobbied as a weapon used with massive intentions of peace. If you believe that, then you probably believe you can get an actual date with one of those girls in MAXIM magazine.

CURRENT LISTENING: Chris Thile- "How To Grow A Woman From The Ground"- Sugar Hill Records

In the Last Month or So

"You can't count the miles until you feel them"-Townes Van Vandt Be Here to Love Me (DVD)

It seems like I've been going somewhere the entire last month. It's fun, but as the wise songwriter quoted above said, once you start feeling the miles, you feel urged to reflect on them and ultimately realize just how much you've gone through and how many roads you've traveled.

Of course Townes was a troubled addict to alcohol and at one time heroin and he lived his life on the road never really knowing where home was. I'm just a young'n trying to catch as much cool music as I can, while I still love it.

The weekend of June 24-26 was FestivALL in Charleston, for which I wrote the blog on Charleston's The Gazz. As you'll see in some of the photos, I took in some early evening Blues, Brews & BBQ at the University of Charleston campus. Nothing fancy, we were drinking Coors Light. Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas did everything Buckwheat Zydeco seems to do except obviously for less money.

Alvin "Youngblood" Hart was quite depressing because his set exhausted me so much that I couldn't enjoy the said Zydeco. An event like this needs more enthusiastic dancing.

On Sunday's Mountain Stage Bruce Hornsby came and did a "Special Solo Extended Set" for Mountain Stage. The highlights were a ragin' hot set by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (Dirty Doz for hip-sakes) and the finger-fireworks of Tommy Emmanuel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZNJf-h7F8s&search=tommy emmanuel over the rainbow) who did four songs and got three standing ovations.

Crys of "You can't do that. . ." rang out from astounded guitarists in the audience. Now go watch that video. It's for real.

So I had some great conversations last night with some guys from Yonder Mountain String Band, a well-received jam-grass band. They were all swell individuals and hometown hero Tim O'Brien produced one of their records. YMSB and Tim were both guest on Mountain Stage this weekend, part of our historic commemeration of the RCA-Victor recording sessions of 1927 in Bristol TN/VA.

The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance was our host ( www.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org)

We taped two shows for tv and radio and I had the chance to witness some of the most magical and humbling things I guess I'll ever see. Mainly, Odetta. She is a legend in the world of folk music, Dylan and Janis both drew inspiration from her, and she has the most radiant prescence.

She must be 75 years old and we wheel her in for her soundcheck and she says cheerfully "Hello everybody!" And she's the first person I've ever heard tell our guitar player Mike Lipton she wanted a solo that was more "angry."

She did the "Rich Man Blues," a song about soldiers coming home and not finding work, being ostricized, and, as she mentioned, this song always sees a resurgence during war and post-war times. "It's about time for it to go out of style," she told us. Indeed Miss Odetta.

My boss introduced Miss Odetta to Dr. Ralph Stanley, one of the only true living-legends of the bluegrass world remaining. I could go on forever about this show: We had Hee-Haw star and Queen of the Banjo Roni Stoneman on, and another living legend of folk music, Ramblin' Jack Elliott who's rightfully been declared "The Son of Woody and the father of Dylan." Apparently it was Odetta's mother who dubbed Jack with the dubious "Ramblin'" moniker.
The two shared stories and a bottle of white wine, and we had cameras there to capture it. I'm grateful to be a part of something so historic.

Bristol was incredibly welcoming and appreciative of our efforts and it felt good for everyone involved I'd say.Even for Ollabelle, who after much flight difficulty, rented a car (with navigation system) and drove from Charlotte to meet their drummer, who'd arrived the day before, in Bristol and immediately rush to the stage and play. And they killed it.

Their new record is great, www.ollabelle.net

There was no time for worry or detail, they just tuned up and sang out and the crowd, who knew what they'd been through, was sympathetic but astounded. I hope this band is around for a long time.

It's worth mentioning that over July 4th I moved into my own place in Nitro, WV. The walls are still pretty bare because I've been out of town every weekend since, and I just like enjoying my privacy when I get home from work during the week. The weekend after I moved in we took Mountain Stage to the Greenbrier (www.greenbrier.com) and it gave me a chance to introduce Tricia to my folks (who fell in love with her as quickly as I did).

The very next weekend Tricia and I went to Pittsburgh to see two of our favorite bands (they were her favorites before mine, admittingly) Slim Cessna's Auto Club and Th'Legendary Shack*Shakers at 31st St. Pub in the strip distric of Pittsburgh. Great show and a great venue (http://www.31stpub.com/newstuff/home.html).

We got to chat a bit with the Shack Shakers' drummer, Brett, who has some great art work on line at www.heartsandhelicopters.com. Also Munly of Slim Cessna's Auto Club signed my CD of Munly & the Lee Lewis Harlots with the following. . ."Never, I mean ever will you see me at the Empty Glass."

Hilarious, even though I still think the should play the Empty Glass.

Next weekend is Floyd Fest 5. This will be my third year at the festival, and it's gotten better in one way or another each year. I'm glad Ani isn't coming back. Los Lobos will definately draw a different crowd. And there won't be any fresh faced "Sunday Only" ticket holders lumbering through the gates wading through the mud that the true loyal festival-goers had endured all weekend. So instead of ramble on about what's going to happen, or what happened, I'm leaving a list of recommended things to listen to. . .in no specific order.

http://www.myspace.com/thepharo ("Immigrant Women,"??? Just listen)

www.outoforbit.org (one of my favorite bands has parted ways with their singer)
www.ollabelle.net
www.floydfest.com
http://www.rhino.com/store/ProductDetail.lasso?Number=73346 (In-depth look at where punk really started)
www.cockadoodledont.com Home of the Shack Shakers-if you're lookin' for a little modern-day rockabilly.
www.myspace.com/reaganboggs (the next Martina McBride?)

Current Listening:
The Avett Brothers- Four Thieves Gone (Still)
The Very Best of Buck Owens Vol. 2
Martina McBride- Timeless
Tom Petty- Highway Companion (New Petty = New Life Perspective)
Rolling Stones-Some Girls ("Beast of Burden," "Miss You," "Respectable")
Red Hot Chili Peppers- "Wet Sand" & "Tell Me Baby" (Two of my favorite tracks off the new Chili Peppers double album)
Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins- Rabbit Fur Coat (I just now got this. Some pretty introspective, contemplative soul gospel that's not just about Jesus.

Some music matures its fans. Let me explain. . .

At Casa Nueva in Athens OH last Thursday, some asshole got tossed out of the show for tossing beer cans at the band. This is never cool. At least I can't come up with a scenario in which this would be cool, unless of course some artist said "THROW BEER ON ME!" then, sure! It'd only be right.

Hell, when I was a kid I watched beer get thrown on a professional wrestler and even then THAT seemed wrong to me.

The band in Athens was the The Avett Brothers and the asshole was at least 6'6'', both staggeringly tall and staggeringly drunk.

He and his friends were singing along but they seemed more interested in boasting their drink intake to the band. When Seth Avett took a guitar solo, stepping slightly toward the front of the stage where these goofs were stagnant, they would hold their PBR cans as close to him as possible, scream as loud as they could something that came out as "whoooo" but really meant
"Seth, aren't you proud of how drunk AND rowdy I can get at your shows? Aren't I the #1 Avett Brothers fan?"

Seth and Scott are nice enough to brush it off. I'm sure a ton of their earliest shows could be considered booze induced mob scenes; a bunch of friends getting rowdy on the outside and probably feeling deep on the inside that they were on to something bigger than what it seemed at the time.

And the Avetts sing rowdy drunken songs that are inherently country. They sing about leaving beer bottles in the branches of a magnolia tree and hanging out on the roof until the sun rises. If you're from the country you've done that, and you probably dig the Avetts because they take you there with their music.

But it's not their poetic genius that yanks people onto the Avett bandwagon. It's the rowdy, unhinged aspects of the live show. Once they're aboard THEN they buy the CDs and hopefully read along to some of the songs and find that even the most raucous song might have a hint of that trade-markedly hillbilly-Shakespeare.

(I've grown too aware of my mortality/ to let go /and forget about dying/ long enough to drop the hammer down/ and let the indolence go wild and flying through . . .)

Their lyrics, like their vocal proficiency, have matured. They're poetic. You can read the lyrics to a song like "Left On Laura, Left On Lisa" before even hearing the song and know you're going to love the track.

Not everyone digs the Avett brothers like that, and believe me, not ALL of their songs are sappy, introspective folk numbers. And don't get me wrong. I love the drunken rowdy aspect of the Avett brothers appeal as much as the bearded dude dressed in flannel next to me. Thats the beauty of it. Cigarette smokers and clove smokers and snuff dippers all get hip to the Avetts.

This particular show in Athens started in a very subtle fashion, with "The Lowering (A Sad Day In Greenville Town)," one of the most romantically killer songs on the new record. I get the impression that they did it for a sound-check song because its quiet and Bob plays his pretty bowed bass part.

But it could also be interpreted as a reaction to expectation.

It seems like the natural process of any true artist who is celebrated for a peculiar allure; When everyone expects to see that peculiarity the artist refuses to stick to what is safe. They do something else. This is why Dave Chapelle put on a hip-hop concert and why you'll never, ever hear the words "I'm Rick James, BITCH!" leave his lips again.

But the guy who got yanked out of the bar hadn't even shown up yet.
It was during another remarkably poetic number, "The Famous Flower of Manhattan," that all hell broke loose.

This jerk-a-tron had already tossed one compacted PBR can in the general direction of Seth's high-hat cymbals. Of course he missed. Thats why he had to try it again during 'the famous flower,' which Scott had decided to do on acoustic guitar by himself, but it has bass, guitar and backing vocals on the CD.
Scott, justifiably unappreciative of someone chucking beer cans at his musical instruments, foiled the second attempt at voluntary audience percussion contribution by slapping the beer can away and promptly pointing to the sasquatch that threw it. Like an attack dog, road-manager Dane Honeycutt pulls the guy down and out the door, despite the valiant effort of Tally McDrunked to get free (like they'd let him stick around).

I f-ing hate it when a song has to be started over. This time though, Seth and Bob Crawford joined in and they all delivered the piece as if their lives depended on it.

Now, I don't know to what depths the cheeky insinuations of the next piece run with the Avetts themselves, but I felt the energy and the effort go up a notch when they ripped into "I Killed Sallys Lover," a piece I don't think had made the set-list originally.

The show had different electricity to it after that, for me at least. The guys didn't like being disrespected and they stepped up and reminded us why they deserve some respect-Their fucking incredible songs.

The Avett brothers arent interested in how much you can drink.

Buy a ticket, have a good time, get drunk, sing along, whoop and holler, stomp yer feet if you want. But they arent going to pat you on the back and say "Gee, you're the drunkest idiot here. You MUST be our biggest fan, I mean look at this pile of PBR cans!" then graciously invite you on stage to sing back-up vocals and take you on tour with them.

So let this become the first rule in the Dr. Sickness "Tastefully Enjoying a Show" handbook: No matter whose show youre at, DON'T THROW BEER CANS AT THE BAND. This will generally improve the amount of enjoyment for everyone in attendance.

2005 Also-rans

Here's something I meant to post a long time ago (like, January) that I just stumbled upon after the blog I was working on got swept away by some weird alien keyboard function that I couldn't turn off. My Bad. Enjoy, and check out some of this stuff, would ya?


I hate to leave great records off of my top ten, but some of the greatest records of the year I still didn't get to listen to as much as they deserve. So here are another five albums that I thought were good, even if they got minimal spins at my house.

Sufjan Stevens- Illinois (As "Smartsy" as "Artsy" gets)
Matt Pond PA-Several Arrows Later
Cyro Baptista-Beat (Cover of Led Zep's Immigrant Song-phenomenal)
The New Pornographers- Twin Cinema
Wolf Parade- Apologies to the Queen Marry

Also Recommend:
Iron & Wine: Woman King EP
Iron & Wine & Calexico
Lucero
Old School Freight Train-Run,
Julie Lee-Stillhouse Road
Amy Rigby-"Little Fugitive"
Marty Stuart-Badlands & Soul's Chapel
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver-Dig a Little Deeper
The Frank & Joe Show-66 2/3
Bettye LaVette- I've Got My Own Hell To Raise

Songwriters to check out:
Ray Wylie Hubbard- Clever, introspective, and downright hilarious at times. The best damn "Country Lounge" singer ever.

Hayes Carl- Protge of Ray Wylie Hubbard, just as clever with a young-yet-weathered voice.

Vic Chesnutt- Paraplegic brooder draws you in, makes you think.

Ben Taylor- JT's son finally accepts his father's influence.

Jamie Hartford -Also in the shadow of his father, Jamie steps out and polishes up some of his daddy John's best work.

David Childers & The Modern Don Juans- Surf-a-Indie!!!

Jimmie Dale Gilmore -Cut a historical collection of old country tunes his daddy loved.

Tim O'Brien Duel releases ("Cornbread Nation" & "Fiddler's Green") by this old-time music historian.


Good songs:

"Gold Digga" Kanye West - Actually, I'd rather recommend the live version of Ray's "I Got a Woman" that Kanye sampled and Jamie Foxx sang, but it's a bit freshened up here.

"Hollaback Girl" - Gwen Stefani. . . I mean, the refrain says it all, this shit IS bananas.

"Since U Been Gone" Kelly Clarkson - Don't hate. From the introduction to the final chords, this is pop perfection. She's had a lot to prove, but I think she's sticking around.

"Every Day's A Holiday with You" Esthero (w/ Julian Lennon) - Great song attached to a weak album. It's worth $.99, but not $14.99.

"Superstition" Old School Freight Train - The world didn't need another cover of Superstition, until this.

"When the President Talks to God" Bright Eyes Scathing presidential review shows that Conor's approval rating for the prez is definitely below 40%.

"You Gotta Dig a Little Deeper" Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver - In my mind, bluegrass music doesn't get any better than this, especially in 2005.

"Cold Day in the Sun"- Foo Fighters - David Grohl will forever be trying to recreate "Everlong" and this is probably as close as he'll ever get.

"Get Rich off Christ Dyin'" David Spade Not a song, just a quote I thought was hilarious on David Spade's year-end-review show.

Current Listening-Jon Randall "Walking Among the Living"

New Releases for February

Monday, February 13, 2006

It’s been too long since I’ve written anything. This is mainly due to my broken, therefore useless, computer and my inability to stay at work long enough to blog something. When you stare at a computer all day at work, even I don’t feel like typing anything. According to Dell, believe them if you want, they’ll have my computer back in 7 days, but they have to get me a box first . . .I say go with HP or Gateway folks. Dell sold too many computers and they don’t have enough tech-support. It’s not worth the 75 minute phone call just to get a box mailed to your house.

So now I’ll let you in on a little secret; I’ve been holding out on you guys. There are two albums released this month (Feb. 2006) that I have had access to for an undisclosed period of time. And I’ve known about their potential greatness for a while. I chose not to spread the word on these albums because in the meantime you will have forgotten about them. So now they’re out there and available, so go give them a spin.

Firstly is Robinella’s debut CD on Dualtone records. Robinella started recording with the CC String Band, but this marks her first disc as a solo-artist. Dualtone is becoming the new Sugar Hill records when it comes to good roots music. They also have BR-549 and some other great alt-country stuff coming out soon. But this record really leaves its mark. At first I thought it was a poor folk album. Then I thought “no, maybe it’s just a poor folk artist attempting to sound R&B.” That wasn’t it either. It’s just a great album, not poor in any manner. I realized this because I kept going back to it. I refused to give up on it and it rewarded me by slowly peeling away it’s layers of excellence. One song starts just like “One Headlight,” that Wallflowers song and the first track could just as easily have been recorded by Howie Day with some appropriate “Do Dooos” added in for the refrain. She quotes gospel songs (“Solace for the Lonely”), she sings about finding love in a smoky bar (“Oh So Sexy”). She sings a song (“Little Boy”) for her son and then she closes the record with “I Fall in Love As Much As I Can.” That last number is a jumpy acoustic jazz jaunt, “Solace. .” sounds like a Greencards outtake, and “Little Boy” is a quaint little throwback to the Partridge Family, or some other kind of parentally-approved pop. This album is so diverse, it speaks for itself. The most distinguishing characteristic is that it shares very few characteristics with Robinella’s earlier work which was much more bluegrass-gospel influenced. She even did “White Lightnin’.” The album, “Solace For The Lonely” drops February 21st.

Secondly I want to mention the Avett Brothers “Four Theives Gone.” It came out February 7th and I haven’t heard it yet, but I feel confident that it’s as kick-ass as I (and legions of other mouth-watering Avett fans) want it to be. The live show these three (Scotty & Seth Avett on banjer and guitar, plus bassist Bob Crawford) put on is insanely infectious. There are equal parts frat-girls and dreadlocked hippies at their shows, and for about two fleeting hours, the two groups gather as one for some good-time country moshing. I’m not joking. The Avett’s are the best thing happening in Folk music today. I got to interview them in Morgantown and they are fans of ALL kinds of music; from Nirvana and Soundgarden to Andrew Bird to Acid Bath. I’m not joking. I guess you could say the Avett Brothers are the Pantera of Americana/roots music. Completely unhinged in live performance but very self-aware that their music is speaking to youngsters and middle-agers alike, in a way that maybe nothing has every spoken to them before. As my good friend Vaughn Walters and I agreed, “These guys are our Nirvana, dude!”

Nothing is going to change music the way Grunge did. The mediums that we get our music have broadened too wide for a full-fledged musical revolution-One magazine is into the Strokes, the other Sufjan Stevens, and the all think they’ve stumbled upon the next big thing. Well, folks, I’m here to tell you if there is, indeed, a next big thing, I’m going with roots music. Stuff like the Medicine Shows (both Old Crowe & Snake Oil) and the Asylum Street Spankers are bringing young’uns to festivals where they may very well get a glimpse of traditionalists like Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, the Del McCoury Band, or Tim O’Brien, who is a real historian of country and roots music.

Some of you may know that Link Wray died recently. He supposedly invented the power chord and everyone from Townsend to Cobain worshiped him, yet he basically toiled in obscurity after his 50’s stuff wore out. This is the guy who shoved pencils through his amp speakers, coincidentally “inventing” distortion. I know that not every Nirvana fan sought out the history of Cobain’s influences, therefore probably thought Kurt was the first guy to do what he was doing. I hope that the Avett Brothers fans are smarter than that. It’s new music, done on old instruments but there are loads of influences to take in to fully understand where it’s coming from. On the surface you can enjoy some good-time, foot-stompin’ hillbilly rock. If you choose to delve deeper, you may find yourself in an Acid Bath phase before you know it.

The Avett’s will be at Merlefest and Floyd Fest and, surprise surprise, Robinella will be doing a Mountain Stage taping in Charleston, WV on March 12.

www.theavettbrothers.com

www.robinella.com

www.floydfest.com

www.mountainstage.org

three happy bursts of genius

January 24, 2006

It's been a rough week, but why should you care? You'd be more interested in the good parts, and this week has had some really good ones.

My protégé and leader of the Steady Rollin' crew, Mark "Low Rent" Lentz was building a new track when I saw him last week. It was fun to watch him work and I hope you can hear the song soon here. His resplendence is self-evident.

Have you ever seen an album and had to buy it? A CD came to the Mountain Stage office with some really well-done artwork. The packagin reminded me a little of the Mr. Oysterhead cover, but with five dudes in white shirts and different colored neck-ties. The note was from a manager that said "I don't represent these guys, but my nephew is in the band."

First of all, that was cool of this guy's uncle. Second of all, these guys put a lot of effort (and probably money) into their packaging. So much so that it caught my eye. I had to give it a listen; sometimes the packaging is so good that the music can't live up to it.

Now the surprise is, the album was really good! It's a really quirky pop-rock band out of New York called Tally Hall. Forgive me if you've heard of them like seven years ago, but I was stoked to find something I could call pop-rock and still be proud to say I like it.

So, go check them out at www.tallyhall.com . They obviously didn't get much out of their efforts on myspace since they logged in since June of 2004 and Tom is still their only friend (that is unless they accept my e-vances).

Finally, a burst of genius that took me a long time to get around to: I first saw Vic Chesnutt on Mountain Stage last summer. After listening to the tape of the show with Larry, I pulled out my notebook and added “Ghetto Bells,” his latest release, to my (ever-growing) list of must-buy albums. It took me this long to get around to it, but today I bought it and it’s as brilliant as I expected.

The guy is paraplegic and writes incredibly deep, brooding songs with lyrics that sometimes aren't as depressing as they sound. Michael Stipe from R.E.M. aided this fellow Georgian in his pursuit as a professional musician, and "Ghetto Bells” (shamefully not on my Best of 2005 list) features Bill Frisell (omnipresent studio guitarist) and Van Dyke Parks (Beach Boys collaborator/lyricist). This one isn’t for everyone; it’s a tough listen. But if you let Vic draw you in, and have a lyric sheet handy, critical and insightful thoughts will be provoked. www.myspace.com/vicchesnutt . (He’s only been a member since 1/13/06). Listen to “What Do You Mean,” “Virginia” and “The Garden.”

A while back I wrote about Billy Joe Shaver in the blog called "Live Forever." I posted a picture of me and Billy Joe under my profile, in case you're interested, at www.myspace.com/drsickness

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)