Alligator Records artist
Joe Louis Walker was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame
last week during an induction ceremony at the Memphis Marriott Downtown in
Memphis.
Walker was joined in his Hall
of Fame class by soul blues singer Otis Clay, blues guitarist Earl Hooker,
pianist Little Brother Montgomery, "The Blue Yodeler" Jimmie Rodgers, and
early Chicago guitarist Jody Williams.
Walker was nominated in
four categories for the 2013 Blues Music Awards, receiving nominations as B.B.
King Entertainer of the Year and Contemporary Blues Male Artist and for the Gibson
Guitar award. His recent Alligator release “Hellfire,” received a nomination in
the Contemporary Blues Album category.
He will perform at
Callahan’s Music Hall in Auburn Hills on Wednesday, May 22, with tickets starting
at $25.
Other upcoming shows at Callahan’s
include: Coco Montoya with the Royal Blackbirds on May 16, Sugar Blue on May 17,
An Evening with the Sauce Boss (who cooks up a batch of gumbo during the show
and then shares it with the audience) on May 18, and Philadelphia blues/R&B
singer Gina Sicilia on May 25.
Enjoy acoustic blues with
Josh White Jr. on Saturday, May 18 at The Ark in Ann Arbor. Tickets are only
$20.
Also on May 18, join Chef
Chris for an afternoon/evening of blues music and lip smackin' barbeque at the Ribs
& Blues Festival at Carr Park in Manchester. The event runs from 4 p.m.-midnight.
Music acts include the Royal Blackbirds, the Tosha Owens Quartet, Billy Lewis
& the Soul Backs, the Back Door Blues Band, and Chef Chris and the
Rumpshakers.
At 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 19,
Round 3 of the Detroit Blues Challenge will be held at the Cooley Lake Inn in Commerce
Township. Competing will be Marble Garden, Dirty Basement Blues Band, Rev. Robert Sexton, Motor City Kings and the
Zydeco Hepcats. The top two bands will advance to the finals in October.
The Attic Dwellers acoustic circle
jam will be held from 1-5 p.m. May 19 at Paycheck’s Lounge in Hamtramck. Acoustic
jammers and listeners are welcome.
Alligator Records artist and Michigan native Janiva Magness received two Blues Music Awards from the Blues Foundation on May 9 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis.The vocalist was honored as Contemporary
Blues Female Artist Of The Year,
Janiva Magness (photo by Jeff Jaisun)
and for Song Of The Year for "I Won't Cry," from her recording "Stronger For it." "I Won't Cry" was co-written by Dave Darling.
Other Blues Music Awards included:
Traditional Blues Album: "Double Dynamite" - The Mannish Boys
Instrumentalist-Bass: Bob Stroger
DVD: Eagle Rock Entertainment - "Muddy Waters & Rolling Stones, Live at Checkerboard Lounge"
Instrumentalist-Horn: Eddie Shaw
Soul Blues Female Artist: Irma Thomas
Acoustic Artist: Eric Bibb
Traditional Blues Male Artist: Magic Slim
Acoustic Album: "Not Alone" - Ann Rabson w/ Bob Margolin
Contemporary Blues Album: "Show of Strength" - Michael Burks
Gibson Guitar: Derek Trucks
Rock Blues Album: "Everybody's Talkin'" - Tedeschi Trucks Band
Band: Tedeschi Trucks Band
Instrumentalist-Harmonica: Rick Estrin
Instrumentalist-Drums: Cedric Burnside
Soul Blues Male Artist: Curtis Salgado
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player: Victor Wainwright
Contemporary Blues Male Artist: Tab Benoit
Historical: Bear Family Records for "Plug It In! Turn It Up! Electric Blues" by Various Artists
Soul Blues Album: "Soul Shot" - Curtis Salgado
Best New Artist Debut: "They Call Me Big LLou" - Big LLou Johnson
Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female): Ruthie Foster
When Little Sonny
took a train north from Alabama and moved to Detroit in 1953, he arrived to
find a bustling blues music scene.
“It was popular,”
said Little Sonny, 80, known as the “King of the Blues Harmonica.” “As a matter
of fact, mostly all the clubs that you would go to had blues music.
Little Sonny performs at the Anti-Freeze Blues Festival
at the Magic Bag in Ferndale in January 2011. (Joe Ballor/Daily Tribune)
“You could go to
Club Carribe, you could go to the Apex, you could go to the Bank Bar, you could go
to Henry’s Lounge. There were all kind of places you could go to. There were
(blues) bars all over Detroit.”
In the decades
since, the local blues scene has seen its ups and downs. Right now, it is on a
downswing.
It’s not for a
lack of talent. There just aren’t very many venues currently featuring live
blues music.
“I don’t think
there is much of a scene now, like there used to be,” said blues musician Motor
City Josh, who first came on the scene in the early 1990s when many of
Detroit’s legendary blues musicians were still active. “There a couple of bright
spots, I think people are trying to keep it going, but not as many people are
going out as there used to be, to listen to this kind of music.”
Many factors have
contributed to the downturn in live blues music venues, including the economic
recession and the no-smoking laws.
Motor City Josh (Photo by Mike Klewicki)
“The talent is
still there, but the club scene is in free fall, because of the enforcement of
the more severe alcohol laws that have been passed over the years, and the non-smoking
laws,” said Mike Boulan, who runs Detroit’s independent blues label No Cover
Records. “People are afraid to go out and drink, and when they do, they won’t
stay out past midnight. They are afraid to get in trouble. So, they leave at
midnight and they don’t go out as often, period.
“These things are
affecting attendance at clubs and making it harder for bands to get work. So
the situation is a little dire. But, you can still go see a great band. The
music hasn’t changed, it’s just the scene itself is in a little bit of
trouble.”
With the
popularity of smart phones, social media and electronic entertainment, society
itself has changed since the days when being entertained meant going out to a
local venue and enjoying a live performance.
“Not as many
people care about going to see live music,” Motor City Josh said. “It’s a
different day, it’s a different era. It’s the instant world where everyone can
just download the song, and stay at home, sit on their a--, and watch TV and
get fat. It’s just another day, it’s another time.
“People used to
go out and appreciate someone that has spent their whole life practicing and
honing the skills to be a good musician and now it’s like people think you can
just play ‘Guitar Hero’ and do the same thing. It’s not (the same thing).”
“There just
aren’t that many good blues clubs anymore,” said Wolfgang Spider, a Detroit
Blues Society board member who writes the column Bluesin’ Around Detroit for
the organization’s Blues Notes monthly newsletter. “The ones that do exist
don’t pay all that well.
“I think part of
the reason for that, other than economics and the changing mood of the fans, is
that there are so many young kids now that get a guitar, learn a few songs, and
they’ll go out and play and start a little band and they will play for nothing.
They just want to play. And there’s so much of that going on. I think it has
hurt the more serious musicians.”
Remembering
Detroit’s golden age
By the 1950s,
Detroit’s blues scene was well established by popular musicians such as Big
Maceo Merriweather and John Lee Hooker.
Big Maceo was a
piano player from Georgia who moved to Detroit in the 1920s and was a major
player on the local scene until he moved to Chicago in the early 1940s. He died
in 1953, perhaps underappreciated for his musical contributions.
With the
exception of B.B. King, the late John Lee Hooker is perhaps the most
recognizable figure in blues music.
Born in
Mississippi in 1917, he moved north to Detroit by the early 1940s. Like many
other musicians, Hooker worked a day job, in his case as a janitor in the auto
factories.
His first hit
record was “Boogie Chillun” in 1948. Other hits, such as “I’m In the Mood” and
“Crawlin’ Kingsnake” soon followed.
“Maceo had died
when I came here,” Little Sonny said. “He had passed away. But he was the
biggest thing here before John Lee Hooker, from what I read. ‘Worried Life
Blues’ was his song and that was a big record all over the country.
“I used to listen
to John Lee Hooker down South when I was courtin’ my wife. We were in the juke
joints all night and we’d be dancin’ to John Lee Hooker’s ‘Boogie Chillun’ or
something like that.
“I never had no
idea I would meet these guys.”
When Little Sonny
arrived in Detroit, he augmented his daytime job working at a used car lot by
taking Polaroid photos and selling them to bar patrons.
He changed his
career focus when he discovered the money that could be made as a musician. He
realized his earning potential after watching Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice
Miller) perform at a Detroit nightclub.
Eddie Burns (BluesPhotos by Don McGhee)
“He’s the guy who
really inspired me” to play professionally. “When I saw this guy playing and
making money at it, I thought, ‘Hey, if this guy can do it, I can do it.’
“When I seen
Sonny Boy, it was almost like I got hypnotized. He would come in on weekends
and stay here a couple of weeks. And then he’d be gone.”
Little Sonny,
born Aaron Willis on Oct. 6, 1932 in rural Cassimore, Ala., learned to play on
a five-cent plastic harmonica his mother had bought him as a boy. He started
his own performing career by filling in with a band led by Eddie Burns.
“Eddie was the
man that would give me a chance to sit in. Eddie used to be on stage performing
and he would just walk off. He’d get him a lady and go on outdoors. I don’t
know what he was doin’ out there, but I have an idea,” he laughed.
“Sometimes I’d
finish my song (before he came back), but I’d still be playing, ‘cause you can
play ‘I’m a Man’ a long time.”
Little Sonny
began sitting in with other musicians as well, and eventually the owner of the
Good Time Bar at Brush and Gratiot offered him a gig with the band Washboard
Willie and His Super Suds of Rhythm, paying $10 a night three days a week --
big money in those days.
Mr. Bo publicity photo
After a falling
out with Washboard Willie over money, bandmates Louis “Mr. Bo” Collins (guitar)
and Charles “Chuck” Smith (piano) convinced Little Sonny that he could be a
bandleader on his own. The three young musicians all left Washboard Willie’s
group, and, along with drummer James “Jim Due” Crawford, formed a group that
became known as Little Sonny and the Rhythm Rockers.
They were soon
playing regularly at the many clubs in Detroit’s blues circuit.
“I stayed at the Bank Bar (at Clay and
Russell) about 3-1/2 years, close to four,” Little Sonny said. “After I left
the Bank Bar, we played the Congo Lounge on Chene and Gratiot. I stayed at the
Congo Lounge five years. I left the Congo Lounge, and went to Kent Starlight
Lounge off Michigan Avenue on the west side of Detroit. I stayed there a very
short period of time. That’s when I moved to the Apex (at Oakland and Smith). I
spent over five years at the Apex.
“We would play
Friday, Saturday and Sunday at all the bars. When I went to the Calumet Show
Bar (on 12th Street), after the Apex, that was the last one I appeared at for a
long time, I stayed there about 3-1/2 years.
“I signed with
Stax (Records) out of there in 1969 to do the ‘New King of the Blues Harmonica’
album.”
Those were the
days when there was plenty of work for Detroit blues musicians.
“They tell me
that blues existed in so many clubs that you had no trouble finding it,”
Wolfgang Spider said. “There were many very traditional clubs and people found
it easy to find work. When (drummer) Duke (Dawson) played with Mr. Bo, they
played seven nights a week for about three or four years, every night.”
There are many
recognizable names from Detroit’s blues scene, early artists such as Sippie
Wallace, and other musicians such as Calvin Frazier, Robert “Baby Boy” Warren,
Vernon “Boogie Woogie Red” Harrison, Little Jr. Cannaday, Mr. Bo’s brother
Little Mac Collins, Eddie Kirkland, Willie D. Warren, Johnnie Bassett, Sir Mack
Rice, Alberta Adams and numerous others. Rice (who wrote “Mustang Sally”) and
Adams are still living. Adams, Detroit’s
“Queen of the Blues,” is still occasionally performing in her 90s.
There were also
many artists that didn’t get the recognition, but who were working musicians.
Little Sonny
remembers a favorite performer named Sax Cari playing the Detroit clubs.
“He was a guitar
player and a songwriter and a promoter,” Little Sonny said.
“Walter Jackson
was a hell of a ballad singer. I used to give him rides ‘cause he had polio and
used to walk with that crutch. He was with Columbia. He was a beautiful
singer.”
Shows in those
days occasionally included comedians or exotic dancers.
Little Sonny
recalls Gip Roberts.
“He was one of
the greatest comedians in this city. He was a one-man show. He’d get on and
sand dance, tell jokes, and he was an emcee. He would work at Phelps Lounge and
bring on the big stars. He was a hell of a guy and he was a show business guy.
He was a singer, a comedian and versatile emcee.”
Hastings Street
In the first half
of the 20th century, the Black Bottom neighborhood on Detroit’s east side was
the center of Detroit’s black community. Black Bottom -- named by Detroit’s
early French settlers for its dark, fertile soil -- is often remembered for
Hastings Street, which was known for its many nightclubs, bling pigs, and other
numerous illegal activities.
And although
Hastings Street has become synonymous with Detroit blues, Little Sonny recalls
it being more of a jazz music haven.
Little Sonny, left, and John Lee Hooker outside
Joe Von Battle's
record shop on Hastings Street in Detroit in 1959.
(Photo
submitted by Little Sonny)
“It’s always been
confused. Hastings Street wasn’t a blues street,” he said. “I never played on
Hastings Street. The only thing I ever did on Hastings Street was record for
JVB, Joe Von Battle. That’s where all the blues artists would meet, at Joe’s
Record Shop.”
Von Battle had a
small recording studio in the back of his record shop.
Little Sonny has
a theory why Hastings Street is known as a blues street.
“Eddie Burns and
I would talk about that all the time before he passed away. I don’t know how it
became that people were saying it was a blues street. It was never a blues
street. They did have same jazz places.
“I think how it
happened, is because John Lee Hooker put out ‘Boogie Chillun’.’ And, ‘Boogie
Chillun’’ said ‘Henry’s Swing Club’ (in the lyrics). Now, John Lee Hooker
played there, at that club, ‘cause they used to hang a little sign out there
that said ‘John Lee is here tonight.’ That’s the only blues club that I know
that was on Hastings Street during that time.
“They label it as
the blues street, but it wasn’t a blues street. Oakland was more of a blues
street, ‘cause Phelps was there, Apex was there, the Zombie Club was there. You
had all kind of clubs right in that area. And they ain’t never been mentioned.”
Keeping the blues
alive
The razing of
Black Bottom in the name of urban renewal and the paving of the Chrysler
Freeway (I-75) over what was the Hastings Street area were only two factors
that led to a decline in the popularity of Detroit’s blues.
By the 1960s,
civil rights protests were on the front pages and blues may have been looked on
as outdated by younger blacks. After the 1967 riots, white patrons were less
willing go to an urban club. And then there was the growing popularity of soul
music, especially in Detroit, where Motown Records was the new king.
But, throughout
the years, there have been individuals who have helped keep the heartbeat of
the blues on life support.
Musician Bobo
Jenkins was one of those people. His Big Star record label gave many Detroit
bluesmen an opportunity to record. He hosted a show on WDET (101.9 FM) called
“Blues After Hours.” He was also a founding member of the Detroit Blues Club,
which existed before today’s current Detroit Blues Society.
He also inspired
the Famous Coachman, a record shop owner and longtime radio host who promoted
the blues on his shows, most notably during a 21-year stint on WDET.
Both Bobo and the
Coachman also promoted the music through blues festivals.
Musician/radio
host Mark “Pazman” Pasman continues to promote the blues over the airwaves. He
has hosted the “Motor City Blues Project” on WCSX (94.7-FM) for over 20 years.
Another
individual credited with keeping Detroit blues alive, during the late 1970s and
early ‘80s, is musician Uncle Jessie White.
“During the down
period when the clubs were closing and the blues scene caved in, people would
join at his house on weekends,” Wolfgang Spider said. “It’s a classic story,
you’ve heard it a million times, that people would come on Friday and they
wouldn’t leave until Monday morning. They would spend the whole weekend there.”
Blues makes a
comeback
Eventually, some
clubs – most notably the Soup Kitchen Saloon, at Franklin and Orleans, which
fought the odds to stay alive for 25 years and hosted national as well as local
acts until it closed in 1999 – began featuring the blues again.
A new generation
of young white musicians were turned on to the music, some after referencing
back to the roots from blues-based rock ‘n’ roll, and many of the older black
musicians were still active too.
There was
Sully’s, Moby Dick’s, the Music Menu, 5th Avenue, and Sisko’s. Later, there was
Memphis Smoke in Royal Oak.
One of the clubs
hosting the blues was the Attic Bar in Hamtramck.
It was home to
blues musicians such as Uncle Jessie, Duke Dawson, Johnny “Yard Dog” Jones”
and, literally, the Butler Twins, Curtis and Clarence, who lived upstairs.
“It was a Mecca
(for the blues), particularly once the Soup Kitchen closed,” Wolfgang Spider
said. “… You could go in there any Saturday night and hear Uncle Jessie and
other nights you could hear other players. What was really fascinating about
it, to me, is that you never knew who you would run into. Often, during the
evening, if they weren’t already playing, the (Butler) Twins would come down,
‘cause they lived upstairs. They would come down and hang out with the gang and
see what was going on, after they got done watching their Western movies that
they liked.”
Uncle Jessie was
one of the most unique characters ever.
He played piano,
sang, and blew on a harmonica that was attached to a strange contraption of his
own making.
“(Musician Rev.)
Robert Jones always referred to it as some sort of a torture device, he said it
didn’t look like something somebody should wear,” Spider said. “He had this
weird rig and, interestingly enough, it would change. The next time you would
see him it would be different.
“It was all made
out of junk. He was a junkman during the day. He went around and collected
stuff out of trash cans or whatever and I guess was selling the stuff. At least
toward the end, he lived in a house that had no electricity or heat. He just
survived there somehow.”
Uncle Jessie was
typical of many older bluesmen, who didn’t follow a particular chord change
structure. His musicians, Jeff Grand on guitar, Betty Brownlee on bass, and
Dawson on the drums, had to feel when the changes were coming. He changed when
the time felt right, and that made it right.
“He was a
fascinating individual,” Spider said. “He had an unusual self-taught style on
the piano and a very unusual voice. He sang so high that some people, on his
recordings, thought it was a woman. Luckily, one CD was put together. It’s too
bad there weren’t more recordings made. He was one of the best.”
Jessie’s
interracial band – Grand and Brownlee are white – was a good example of the
blending of colors and ages happening at the time.
Motor City Josh
experienced that as he got his start in the early ‘90s.
“Little Mac
Collins, Uncle Jessie, Willie D. Warren, Mr. Bo
… I played with all those guys,” Josh said. “It was real cool. They were
all real nice to me. They could tell that I had been studying the blues and practicing.
They knew I liked it, and that I had a natural feel for it, so they invited me
in.
“You could sit in
with them. Some of them gave me some tips or pointers or suggestions along the
way. They were all real nice to me. Nobody was ever a jerk. Nobody was ever
rude.
“I feel very
fortunate to have been around for part of that when all those guys were still
around.”
No Cover
It was 1988 when
Mike Boulan of No Cover Records discovered the blues, specifically at Famous
Coachman’s Indoor Blues Festival at St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit. He saw many
of Detroit’s local performers and was impressed.
“I didn’t realize
they were not national acts, at the time,” Boulan said. “They sounded the same
(as the national acts) and I just didn’t even get it at first.
“Robert Noll
Blues Mission was hosting the show and backing up a lot of the out-of-town
performers who were on the bill, people who wouldn’t have a band. Mr. Bo was
there, I helped him carry his amp in. Buddy Fowlkes was there.
“The big turning
point was James (Glass), because I was still new to the blues and the fact that
James played Jimi Hendrix music really well (impressed me).”
About a year
later, Boulan saw Glass at a jam in Royal Oak.
“The Bluesbusters
used to play there, with Jim McCarty, Billy Landless, and Martin Gross on drums
and Emmanuel Garza on the other guitar. It was a jam and James was sitting in.
They would have other regulars there like Bobby East.
“Once I saw James
play, I started going regularly. Ironically, I got to know James a little bit
and he came over my house. It was a pivotal moment, because I had a small
recording setup here. I was recording my friend playing guitar. James saw the
two microphones and the little cassette deck and he said, ‘You need to come
down and record my band.’ And the rest is pretty much history. That’s how it
all started.”
Boulan started
his label and the first release was 1995’s “Can’t Get You Off My Mind” by the
Detroit Blues Band, which included McCarty, who had gotten his start years
earlier with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.
Since then, No
Cover has had about 130 releases, by many of Detroit’s best blues artists.
Boulan’s happy he
has been able to document their music for posterity.
“That is more of
a driving factor than money, the money just barely keeps me alive,” he said.
“The monetary (part) is driving me to quit. But getting it all down for
posterity is driving me to keep doing it. There are a lot of unrecognized
significant blues artists passing away right before my eyes. Some of them,
their only recordings are with me, or, some of their only recordings in the
last 20 or 30 years.
“I am real close
with some of them. Billy (Davis) in particular. I feel like he is part of my
family.
“I was fortunate
enough to realize it all the way through. Whenever those times of frustration
would come up, that would often run through my mind. Hey, you know this is a
limited time offer. Enjoy it while you can.”
Detroit Blues
Society
Boulan is one of
the many individuals who have made the Detroit Blues Society a successful
entity.
Although the
amount of blues venues is dwindling, membership in the society is on the rise.
“The Detroit
Blues Society has just under 600 card-carrying members, which is way above 10
years ago,” said Wolfgang Spider, DBS board member and former society
president. “We have some pretty energetic people.”
The DBS hosts a
monthly meeting and jam session, except during the summer months; a series at
the Scarab Club in Detroit, typically two in the spring and two in the fall;
and hosts the Detroit River Blues Cruise.
The DBS sponsors
the Black History Month Series in Monroe, which has concerts every week during
February, including a large event at the end of the month.
The DBS also
hosts the Detroit Blues Challenge. Winners in the band and solo/duo categories
advance to the International Blues Challenge in Memphis each year.
“That’s a big
series,” Spider said. “Before (DBS volunteer) Steve Allen took that over, it
either wasn’t being done or was done in one event. Now, it’s done as a series
and is probably one the most elaborate processes used by anybody in the
country.
“We sponsor one
band and one solo/duo act to go to Memphis. The DBS supports their expenses. We
raise money for them and give them what we can raise and the rest of it is up
to them.”
The DBS benefits
from the Anti-Freeze Blues Festival at the Magic Bag in Ferndale each January,
which features national and local acts.
The society has
also initiated a Headstone Project that has placed markers on the graves of
Uncle Jessie White, Clarence and Curtis Butler, Calvin Frazier, and Louis “Mr.
Bo” Collins. Plans are to dedicate markers for Vernon “Boogie Woogie Red”
Harrison, Little Jr. Cannaday and Duke Dawson this year.
Prior to the
formal Headstone Project, DBS members individually spearheaded efforts to put
markers on the graves of Eddie “Son” House and Willie D. Warren.
The DBS was
originally formed in 1985 as The Detroit Country and Classic Blues Society,
whose members shared a love of acoustic blues music. Within a few years,
electric blues was included and the society’s name changed accordingly.
About 10 years
ago, a group called the Attic Dwellers formed at the Attic Bar to recreate the
original DBS’ informal acoustic jams with visiting musicians. Although the
Attic closed in 2007, the group continues to meet and enjoy acoustic blues each
month year round, usually at Paycheck’s Lounge in Hamtramck.
Hanging in
There are still
blues clubs in the Detroit metro area that host blues either full- or part-time.
The Blue Goose
Inn in St. Clair Shores has been a longtime haven for blues lovers. Other clubs
that host blues include Nancy Whiskey Pub in Detroit, Guy Hollerin’s in Ann
Arbor, Bachelor One in Keego Harbor, the Crystal Bar in Westland, Shelly Kelly’s
in Fraser, and Cooley Lake Inn in Commerce Township. Callahan’s Music Hall in
Auburn Hills presents mostly national acts.
Talented
performers
Eddie Burns,
Johnnie Bassett, Little Jr. Cannaday and Duke Dawson are Detroit blues legends
who have recently passed.
But, there are
still plenty of talented artists in the area.
Duke Dawson (BluesPhotos by Don McGhee)
Veteran
performers still active include Billy Davis, Charles “Buddy” Smith, Sweet
Claudette, Harmonica Shah, and Emmanuel Young, who often performs with Howard
Glazer and the EL 34s.
Other standouts
(not previously mentioned) include Bobby Murray, Robert Penn, the Flying
Crowbars (featuring Erich Goebel and James Cloyd), Chris Canas, Brett Lucas,
Thornetta Davis, the Bluescasters, The Alligators, Cathy “Diva” Davis, Motor
City Kings, the Blues Owls, Curtis Sumter, Front Street Blues Band, Lenny
Watkins, RJ Spangler, Garfield Angove, Big Al Grebovic, Red Redding, David
Gerald, Luther Badman Keith, Broken Arrow Blues Band, the Boa Constrictors, and
others too numerous to mention (apologies if you are not on the list).
Some -- John
Latini, Pete “Big Dog” Fetters, Paul Miles, Sweet Willie Tea, Carl Henry, and
Mike Espy and Yakety Yak -- specialize in acoustic blues. Others -- Larry
McCray, Lady X and the Sunshine Band, and the Rusty Wright Band – are talented
folks from just outside the Detroit area.
Bobby Murray (Photo by Mike Klewicki)
“My God, we have
a level of musicians here that is par excellence,” Bobby Murray said. “That’s
what inspires me. There are so many wonderful players around. And the beauty of
a lot of Detroit musicians is a genuine ability to switch genres without
jamming gears. It’s like when somebody plays blues, they can really play blues.
Or when they play jazz, they can really play jazz. When they play rock ‘n’
roll, or if they play country …
“I think it is
really cool and a lot of it has to do with the migration of the auto (workers)
from the South, all that cool rock ‘n’ roll, country and R&B that came on
up as a consequence of that. We have this cool musical gumbo here that is
incredible, and that’s one thing I am proud to be associated with and really
glad to be a part of.”
Murray was the
guitarist for the late Etta James for over 20 years. He’s played on Grammy
winning albums with Etta and B.B. King. He grew up with Robert Cray. This is a
man who has performed all around the world. And he remains impressed with
Detroit’s talent base.
“There’s no place
better,” Murray said. “There might be places that are bigger, but whether it is
New York or Chicago or Los Angeles or San Francisco … Detroit takes a back seat
to no one.
“Chicago is blues
headquarters, but the talent level of musicians, man we’re there with anyone.”
The future
If there’s
anything that can inspire hope in dark days, it’s youthful enthusiasm.
And, Detroit has
a crop of young blues musicians coming up that are turning heads.
Motor City Josh
has had an up-close look at the development of some of them, including
guitarist Johnny Rhoades and bassist Alex Lyon. He’s been a mentor to both.
“I think Johnny
is the best blues guitar player in Detroit, period,” Josh said. “Hands down.
He’s not the best blues singer or entertainer, but I think he’s the best blues
guitar player. I don’t know anybody who can touch him for playing the blues.”
Among the young blues musicians in Detroit are, clockwise
from lower left, Alex Lyon, John Rhoades, Jason "J-Bone" Bone,
Jimmy
Alter, and (center) Carlton Washington.
(Photos by Mike Klewicki (Rhoades, Bone, Alter)
and Melanie Hands (Lyon and Washington);
photo
illustration by Joe Ballor)
He’s known Lyon,
21, his whole life. Josh often uses Lyon as a session musician at his Sound
Shop Studio.
“He’s my best
friend’s son. He grew up around this blues scene with me his whole life. He
went on the road with me for the first time when he was 14. He was good enough
when he was 14. He can play this style as good as anybody, pretty much, around
here.”
Others include
guitarist Ari Teitel, and singer-guitarists Jimmy Alter, Jason “J-Bone” Bone,
Nick Tavarias, and Carlton Washington.
“Carlton
obviously has real talent and he’s also taken the time to get a formal
education in music,” Boulan said. “And now he’s spending as much time as he can
around the significant blues artists of the current scene, soaking up
everything, and his talent is rapidly progressing. He’s definitely going to be
known.
“Jimmy Alter has
recently appeared on the scene and he’s doing the same thing, hanging out with
Carlton, J-Bone and those guys. They are studying other blues artists and they
are very serious about what they are doing.”
J-Bone and the
other younger players have made positive impressions of many of the veteran
performers.
“J-Bone is a real
bad a--. His Albert Collins is amazing and he’s got his own style too, but I
can tell AC is his man,” said Murray, who played with Collins. “He plays his
a-- off.”
Boulan has hope
for the future of the blues in Detroit.
“I’m optimistic
because I see the new pack of young players,” he said. “And the blues has gone
through lulls, peaks and valleys in the past, and I think just this is one of
those.
“When I first
came on the scene as a 21-year-old, I wasn’t even a musician. And it was
astonishing to all the old musicians that me and my friends were so into it,
because we were the only ones. There was nobody my age who was going at that
time. So, to see all these young players now shows more promise than then.”
Murray concurs.
“What makes me
feel good is I always keep running into young people, whether they are
listeners or musicians or fans of the genre, that really care about this stuff,
and that’s what gives me hope.”
Note: This article is from a 48-page Made In Michigan
Music special section produced by Digital First Media. Included in the publication are features on Motown, classic local bands, Harpo’s, the DSO, etc., and Q&A
interviews with Smokey Robinson, Kid Rock, Bob Seger, Eminem, Mitch Ryder and
more. It is available for $2.95 at area newsstands as well as at The Macomb Daily, Daily Tribune and Oakland Press.
To send info to JB Blues, please email Joe.Ballor@dailytribune.com