Lockdown in Italy – with Grammy nominated harmonica player, Fabrizio Poggi

Photo Mario Rota

Fabrizio Poggi is one of Europe’s finest exponents of the blues. Fabrizio has recorded over twenty albums and has shared stages with numerous top blues artists including The Blind Boys of Alabama, Eric Bibb Sonny Landreth, Ruthie Foster and John Hammond. He’s the author of four books on the blues and was nominated for a Grammy a couple of years ago, along with Guy Davis, for their Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee tribute album. He also has a Hohner Lifetime Award, and has been twice a Blues Music Awards nominee.

Fabrizio and his wife, Angelina live in the north of Italy, just south of Milan, where they’ve been sheltering over the past couple of months as Italy as suffered under the onslaught of Coronavirus.

On the 20^th February, Italy’s “patient 1,” the first case of domestic transmission of the virus was confirmed and it has gone on to kill nearly 29,000 people. Italy became the first country to enforce a nationwide lockdown in early March, but the country still suffered terribly, with hospitals overwhelmed and the virus spreading to all parts of the country.

After almost two months under lockdown, the longest so far of any European country, Italy is now set to begin slowly easing restrictions. But the economic forecast for the country is bleak, with experts predicting a crisis not seen in decades. And in Italy’s poorer south,Living in people have been running out of food and money, with the Red Cross delivering food parcels.

A few days into lockdown, we saw images of people across Italy singing and playing music from their balconies as they came together to say: “Andrà tutto bene” (Everything will be all right). But the devastation of the virus has changed that and people are saying “Everything will not be all right.”

Down at the Crossroads got the opportunity to talk to Fabrizio and Angelina in their home in north Italy to find out what’s its been like living in Italy these past couple of months, how they’ve been coping and about the music Fabrizio’s been sending out to encourage people.

 

Gary: How are you and Angelina and your families? You’re living just south of Milan, in the north of Italy, which has been in the thick of the coronavirus outbreak for the past few months. What has it been like for you and Angelina?

Fabrizio: We are fine for now, so far. We have survived through a lot of bad things. We try to go on.

It’s very tough, we are mostly inside all day long. We have the opportunity to communicate with people through technology, but it’s hard. Most of the people we know are sick and we lost many friends.

Angelina: It is a tough time, we lost friends, people we know. We lost a very dear, deep friend who was also our doctor. Her name was Patricia, and it was very, very sad for us. She was always helping people, she was on the front line, and she died giving her life to people. Now we are not in the worst part. But it is still sad, when you go out to the supermarket, the few times you can go, and I can’t wait to come back home.

I only have some relatives, and I’m happy for that, because my parents were very old and I can’t imagine…and Fabrizio’s mother is very old, but fortunately, she’s safe. And we are happy for that.

Fabrizio: People know nothing about the future, which is also tragic, because we can’t see a real future which is in these days why I keep on playing and trying to bring a little light to people. Everything seems very dark.

Gary: What’s the situation in Italy right now? I gather things are a little better.

Fabrizio: Well it is hard to say, because the information…sometimes it’s a real mess up. One day optimistic, one day negative. The terrible thing about this virus is that we don’t know much about it. It’s hard to trust information because you don’t know who has control. So, people are sad about this.

Gary: We saw the videos of people trying to keep their spirits up singing from balcony to balcony. That was incredible.

Fabrizio: Yes, we were all over the news a lot. But probably not so many people were actually singing from balconies! From what we saw on the TV, it seemed like everybody in Italy was on their balcony singing! But that was just the media! We are not so happy as we appear.

Gary: You’ve been posting some nice videos of you singing and playing your harmonica, which have been very touching. How important do you think music can be at a time like this?

Fabrizio: Music is always important. The story of African-American music is that it was music that was born to uplift. Spirituals, blues are two sides of the same coin. Music brings people out of the tunnel, to believe, to hope for a better future.

And I want to try to play that kind of music for the people, because of the meaning inside the songs. So, playing Precious Lord or Amazing Grace or I Want Jesus to Walk With Me, is me trying to reach other people’s souls.

Gary: Some of the songs you’ve been posting are spirituals or hymns, like Amazing Grace. Is faith important right now, Fabrizio?

Fabrizio: Yes, I think that these songs contains a real message. They say, I’ve been there before you when there was no hope, just desperation – take my hand and I will walk with you gives some hope, some light, some hope for a better life some day.

Guy Davis, Katleen Scheir from Belgium and I have just recorded a version of We Shall Overcome. And we’re trying to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders.

Angelina: We choose We Shall Overcome because it has a very important message and we connected Italy, Belgium and the United States. It says that music has no borders. We had borders before the virus and now we have more borders because we have to stay at home. But music can go everywhere, can help people everywhere, all over the world. People are maybe not in the same country, don’t speak the same language, are different – but when they sing and play, they are the same.

Gary: Wonderful. Tell us about some of the music you’ve been listening to over the past couple of months – what has helped?

Fabrizio: Every kind of music that moves me and in some way touches me was welcome these past two months. I listened to everything from blues to old spirituals, from jazz to classical. I just appreciate the music because it is a wonderful gift, a gift of beauty. But all my life I’ve not just listened to blues – my ears are always wide open!

Gary: Now, I remember we met on that wonderful pre-Grammy’s concert in the City Winery in New York City a couple of years ago. Being nominated for a Grammy in 2018 must have been an incredibly proud moment for you, Fabrizio.

Fabrizio: I remember that City Winery evening very well. The best memories! And yes, I was very proud. It was like a dream come true, something I really didn’t expect. Great memories, a lot of people I love were there, and it was a great experience I will cherish in my heart for the rest of my life.

Gary: Did you ever think when you first lifted the harmonica that the road would take you there?

Fabrizio: No, not at all. If a friend of mine had come to me in my little room in the middle of nowhere in Northern Italy and said to me, You know Fabrizio, one day you will challenge the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Gardens in New York for a Grammy, I would have said, my friend, don’t kid with me, it will never happen!

And I owe a lot to the Rolling Stones. Because I discovered the blues from the Rolling Stones, John Mayall, Eric Clapton – as many people of my generation did. At that time, in Italy you couldn’t hear Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker. So, in a way, I won two times at the Grammys – once to be there, and for me it was a wonderful experience, and secondly, for the victory of the Rolling Stones – in some way, they were like my musical fathers. So, without the Rolling Stones, no Fabrizio at the Grammys!

Gary: You’re very generous, Fabrizio, because I think a lot of people felt that the record you and Guy made was much more of a traditional blues album and should have taken the award.

Fabrizio: I think for most of the journalists there, they felt that the Rolling Stones didn’t win the Grammy just for that album. They had never won a Grammy for an album, just one back in the 80s they had won for a video, but they had never won one for, Exile on Main Street or Let It Bleed, which were historic albums. So the Grammys owed the Rolling Stones an award. And that was the time.

Gary: Did you get to meet any of them?

Fabrizio: The night before at the City Winery in New York at the blues party, which you were at – someone said that Keith Richards is in town. So maybe he’ll show up. But he didn’t! But I had the opportunity to jam with some Rolling Stones musicians!

Gary: As we eventually come out of this terrible situation, what are you hoping for? Can the world be different?

Fabrizio: I hope it will be better. I hope we learn something from this tragedy, but I’m not sure. I’m not really optimistic. Musicians have been very much affected by this tragedy, and I don’t know what the future for music is. Aside from the big stars, what will happen to little clubs, to musicians who don’t have a lot of money? I’m afraid there may be dark times. And I hope that people around the world will understand that now is the time to support musicians. If not, they will not survive any more. Music may change for ever and we will lose something very important.

Too many people take music for granted, think that music is free, that musicians don’t need to pay bills. Now it’s time for us to grow up and understand that music is life. Musicians give us their talent their creativity.

Gary: Presumably, Fabrizio, not being able to perform has had a financial impact on you?

Fabrizio: Well, you know, the most beautiful reward a musician has is the clapping hands, and people who come up to you and tell you your playing was amazing. So this is a very big loss. Playing for people live on stage, connecting with them is something that can’t be done in the same way with technology.

Gary: Eventually we will come out of this. And what about for you and Angelina – what are you looking forward to?

Fabrizio: To go back our old life. And to start again to hug people! Because, yes you can communicate with your eyes, but a hug can communicate something that is hard to communicate with words. So, when some doctor tells me, OK, Fabrizio, go ahead and hug someone, that will be a very bright day!

Gary: Lovely to talk to you both, I hope you stay well. And we are looking forward to seeing some more nice videos from you.

Blues in the Time of Corona #1

We’re locked down, confined to our homes, doing our best not to panic in the face of the barrage of news about coronavirus. It’s easy to get to blues just now, but remember – the blues are about joy and hope, as well as hard times. So, at Down at the Crossroads, we thought we’d post a few songs over the next few weeks to help keep our spirits up, in a series we’re calling Blues in the Time of Corona, borrowing a bit from (and mangling!) the title of Gabriel García Márquez’s famous novel.

Today’s song is that famous old standard, Trouble in Mind, which laments the trouble and problems the singer faces, which are enough to make him throw himself into the river, but then he realizes, “sun gonna shine in my back door some day.” As the old Persian adage has it, “This too will pass.”

Here’s a fine version by Brooks Williams and Guy Davis:

 

Trouble in mind, well I’m blue

But I won’t be blue always

Sun’s gonna shine in my back door some day.

A Blues Odyssey: Part 1, New York

A trip to Memphis and on into the Delta has been on the cards for a long time. I’d originally planned to do this trip when I was researching my book (The Gospel According to the Blues), but ill health had prevented me. Having now visited the Mississippi Delta, and experienced the land, the people, the pace of life, for sure it would have been helpful to have done this trip before now. No matter, I was in better health and a trip to New York City with my wife gave me the opportunity to slip down to Memphis and meet up with a couple of pals from Texas and see what Tennessee and Mississippi had to offer.

The journey began clearing US customs in Dublin airport, where previous experiences of surly US customs officials was repeated. Our guy was an unsmiling, unfriendly fellow – young, but looking like he had the cares of the world on his shoulders. My wife was quite unnerved, getting her right hand and left hand mixed up for the fingerprint taking and got no sympathy from our guy. After he finished dealing with me, I thanked him and told him he was doing a great job – quite sincerely, actually. I’m sure it’s no fun doing what he does all day long. He cracked the glimmer of a smile, so I hope he was a bit more pleasant with subsequent passengers.

We shared US customs war stories with the passenger beside us on the plane – who’d had a truly awful experience. As the conversation wore on, he told us his life story, which was quite heart-warming. John’s a retired Englishman. A northerner, affable, good talker, big guy. He’d been married as a young man for three short years and then divorced; he then lived his life for 40 years working in Scandinavia, having remarried happily. A few years ago his wife became very ill and before she died he heard from his first wife for the first time since they’d divorced. She needed some documentation relating to the divorce. She’d lived all her life happily married for a second time in the US. As it happened, her husband was also dying at the time. John and she supported each other from separate continents until both of their spouses had passed away. In due course, they got together again, now in their senior years, living half of each year together n a rural Southern State and half the time in Ireland.

Somebody ought to make a movie of this story.

The great thing about clearing US customs in Ireland is you can just walk off the plane as if you are an American. Our New York adventure began.

We were blessed with blue skies and sunshine, along with near freezing temperatures. No matter – the warmth of New Yorkers everywhere we went more than made up for that. You hear reports of New Yorkers being rude and short. But everyone we met – hotel and restaurant staff, people manning the subway, people in stores, police, people we stopped to ask directions – were all unfailingly courteous and pleased to help. Topped off by the woman who approached me in Harlem when I was struggling to get the bus ticket machine to work so I could get to LaGuardia. She topped up her MetroCard in the machine, gave it to me, and despite my protestations, would not take any money from me.

But hey – music’s the reason you’re reading this, right? The Saturday night we were there was the night before the Grammys. And I’d booked us into the City Winery on Pier 26 to see Guy Davis and Fabrizio Poggi play, along with Eric Bibb. Three of my favourite artists and all three nominated for a Grammy in the Traditional Blues Album category. I’ve interviewed all three of them recently, so was especially looking forward to the gig.

When we arrived the small restaurant was packed with tables and diners, with a small stage for the performers. We got seated – right beside Shemekia Copeland, whom I’d also interviewed a while back and whom I was delighted to chat to; and across the table from Dom Flemons, ex-Carolina Chocolate Drops and Grammy winner. Guy and Fabrizio sang some songs from their outstanding tribute to Sonny and Brownie, Sonny and Brownie’s Last Train. Eric Bibb was up next and performed an utterly spine tingling unaccompanied version of “Refugee Moan” from his album Migration Blues. Eric live is always a wonderful experience, but this song, sung in this way, at this time in New York City, was very special.

Elvin Bishop Trio

That would have been good enough for me – but next on the bill was the 75-year-old John Hammond, Blues Hall of Fame inductee and multiple Grammy nominee, who has lost none of his resonator and harmonica prowess. Then we had Elvin Bishop – also nominated in this year’s Traditional Blues Album Grammy category for Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio – with a couple of pals. Elvin settled himself on the stage and evidently was hoping someone would loan him a guitar. A few moments later, someone duly obliged and we had a short set from Elvin.

The biggest surprise of the evening was that Keb’ Mo’ also turned up and took the stage. Keb’ Mo’ deservedly took the Grammy along with Taj Mahal the next day for Best Contemporary Blues album. I’ve seen Keb’ Mo’  play a few times – and he never disappoints. He’s an outstanding guitarist, singer and song-writer. Congratulations on the Grammy, Keb’.

Disappointing, however, the next day was the result of the Best Traditional Blues Album. Nominated along with R L Boyce, Guy Davis & Fabrizio Poggi, Eric Bibb and the Elvin Bishop Trio was the Rolling Stones. Guess who won? Now the Stones’ album I quite enjoyed and we ranked it in our Best of list for 2016. But a traditional blues album? Come on. Especially when pitted against the other contenders here. It seemed to me that the result of this category was more about the alliance of two big brands – the Grammys and the Rolling Stones – rather than the merit of the artists and albums.

John Hammond

But the City Winery event, which also featured Dom Flemons, R L Boyce and Barbara Blue, was something special. It had the feel of a private party and we felt privileged to be a part of it. And thanks to Fabrizio for the warm welcome! We’ll see you again, my friend, on down the road – and many congratulations for the Grammy nomination.

So from the blues in New York to the home of the blues – on to Memphis and the Delta.

(to be continued)

Check out our Best of List for 2017 which features Guy & Fabrizio, Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal.

And interviews with Guy Davis here; and Fabrizio Poggi here.

 

Best Blues Albums 2017

So…it’s been another very good year for blues albums. Here is Down at the Crossroad’s view of the 25 Best Blues Albums. All these albums are terrific in their own way, so the ranking doesn’t really mean too much. Doubtless you’ll have your own favourites – by all means let us hear about albums we’ve left out.

Here’s our Top 10:

Taj Mahal & Keb’Mo’: Tajmo

Two huge blues talents combine to give us an exceptional album of uplifting, joyous blues. You just know these two guys are enjoying every minute of playing together. Eleven songs of potent, acoustic blues – pure delight. Here’s our review of their London gig: Review

 

Van Morrison: Roll with the Punches

Van Morrison’s new album, Roll With the Punches, is an unashamed album of blues songs which pay tribute to the influence of the blues on his own body of work.  It’s solid, traditional blues, but always sounds up-to-date and the visceral attraction of the blues that the artist must have felt when he first heard the blues as a teenager is here channelled and explored, so that you can’t help but be drawn in and made to feel the emotion. Here’s our comment on some of the songs: Review

Guy Davis & Fabrizio Poggi: Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train

As fine an acoustic blues album as you will hear all year. Two top modern day artists at the top of their game channelling two of history’s greatest acoustic bluesmen. There’s a warmth, feeling and joy in the way these songs are presented that draws you in and puts a big smile on your face. Check out our album review and then the interview with Fabrizio: Review

Walter Trout: We’re All In This Together

A joyful set of fourteen songs, with a guest on each song, trading licks and runs with Walter. The songs are upbeat, melodic, feature blistering, smouldering guitar work and are hugely enjoyable, each tailored by Trout to the style of each guest. According to Trout, he was just “jamming with his friends and having fun.” Wonderful stuff. Here’s our interview with Walter about the album: Interview

Tedeschi Trucks Band: Live from the Fox Oakland

A big band of 12 world class musicians is a truly wonderful thing. Good as these guys are in the studio, they are sensational live and this album captures them perfectly, with a blend of orginal songs, riveting blues standards, and soulful covers of Leonard Cohen, the Beatles and Derek & the Dominoes. It’s joyful stuff, with Derek Trucks’s peerless electric slide to the fore and Susan Tedeschi quite incredible vocals – blues, soul, Gospel, Americana – doesn’t matter, she’ll nail it. Here’s our review of their Berlin gig this year: Review

Gregg Allman: Southern Blood

The last album from the legendary Allman Brother whom, sadly, we lost this year. It’s a timeless blues and soul record, featuring Allman’s 8 piece road band and a raft of collaborators like the McCrary Sisters, Greg Leisz, Buddy Millar and Scot Sharrard. Mixing songs by Jackson Browne and Bob Dylan with originals, it’s a wonderfully poignant, intimate and ultimately satisfying bookend to Allman’s life and career.

Eric Bibb: Migration Blues

Bibb said of this record, “With this album I want to encourage us all to keep our minds and hearts wide open to the ongoing plight of refugees everywhere.” He gives us American folk music classics, like Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” and Bob Dylan’s “Masters Of War,” with his own songs about the current refugee crisis – “Prayin’ For Shore,” a gospel-based tune about the exodus from Syria. It’s typical Eric Bibb fare – gorgeous vocals, wondrous picked guitar and songs of faith that go right to the heart.

North Mississippi Allstars: Prayer for Peace

Swamp and hill country blues, as usual, sounding fresh and compelling. With original and classic songs, and including a raft of fine guest musicians, there is raw energy about the album, which blends tradition with a contemporary sound. Prayer for Peace, the title song (which is also recorded on the Blind Boys of Alabama’s Almost Home album) addresses the racial problems facing the US. Luther Dickinson’s characteristic vocals just get better and better.

Mavis Staples: If All I Was Was Black

In songs written by Jeff Tweedy and an album produced by him, Mavis Staples delivers a powerful blues, funk and gospel protest against all that’s currently wrong in America. It’s stiring stuff, but never gets angry. Love is the answer. According to Mavis – “We go high when they go low”

 

Samantha Fish: Belle of the West

One of two albums she’s released this year, Belle of the West is a fine collection of bluesy Americana. Produced by Luther Dickinson, and featuring a fine set of musicians, it’s rootsy, it’s Southern, and it’s one treat of an album.

And here’s the next 10:

Robert Cray & High Rhythm

Recorded at the legendary Royal Studies in Memphis, this rootsy R&B offering from Cray and his band is mostly covers of little known songs and features Cray’s beautiful voice which hits notes other male singers can only dream of, and his matchless guitar playing with that glassy, pure tone that he coaxes out of his Strat and Matchless amps. Here’s our review of the band’s Belfast gig: Review

Ruthie Foster: Joy comes Back

An album that is both a joyous celebration of life and reflection on the wider world. Lovely bluesy, gospel feel throughout, from 3 time Grammy nominee. Foster said that recording was a challenging and rewarding personal journey. Check out our interview with Ruthie here

 

 

Low Society: Sanctified

On their 3^rd studio album, Mandy Lemons and Sturgis Nikides have crafted a wonderfully variegated slice of Americana. There’s nothing predictable about this fine album, with Nikides virtuosic slide guitar on display throughout, allied to Lemons’ powerful, but controlled and emotion-stoked vocals. Album review here: Review 

Eilen Jewell: Down Hearted Blues

Twelve covers of classic blues songs from the likes of Memphis Minnie, Willie Dixon, Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf. This is a quite exquisite take on a great set of songs, with wonderful arrangements that fit each perfectly. Combined with Ms. Jewell’s sensitive and adept vocals, it’s a winner.

 

Jonny Lang: Signs

More blues and more guitar than his last album in 2013, Signs is an album of high energy blues rock, and features some strong song writing, excellent guitar work and Jonny’s characteristic, soulful vocals.  Nice work!

 

 

Alastair Greene: Dream Train

Hugely enjoyable blues rocker with help from luminaries as Walter Trout, Debbie Davies, Mike Zito, and others. Twelve original songs by Greene and Billy Gibbons’s Nome Zayne make for an adrenalin charged, head banging thrill of a record. Turn it up loud and let blues rock do what it does best – transport you out of your troubles and daily concerns. Here’s our album review: Review

Kat & Co: Blues is the New Cool

What a treat this album is! Blues is indeed the new cool in the hands of this tightly-knit band of excellent, multinational musicians, led by singer Kathleen Pearson. Clearly the blues, but it’s modern blues – cool blues – which draws you in, speaks to you and lifts your spirits. Here’s our album review

 

Lew Jetton & 61 South: Palestine Blues

A remarkable piece of work. It’s the blues, it’s dark, it’s raw, it’s frighteningly honest, it’s brutal, it’s poignant. And it asks a lot of questions of the artist, the listener and the world around. The style is electric blues, but done with a sparseness and simplicity that allows the song lyrics and message to come through loud and clear. Our review is here.

 

Thornetta Davis: Honest Woman

Blues diva Thornetta Davis’s album will draw you in, move you, and get your feet dancing. There’s an upbeat, bold attitude throughout with some inspirational gospel here and a lot of good fun. Check out our review here.

 

Mandy Brooks: Move On Up

In consideration for this year’s Grammy nominations, Move On Up is as fine a gospel blues album as you’ll hear. It features covers of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Blind Willie Johnson, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Curtis Mayfield, all nicely arranged and produced. But it’s Mandy Brooks bluesy, versatile vocals you’ll be enjoying most.

 

And a final 5:

Music from the American: Epic Series

 

 

 

 

Hayes McMullan: Everyday Seems Like Murder Here

 

 

 

 

Otis Taylor: Fantasizing about Being Black

 

 

 

 

Kenny Wayne Shepherd:Lay It On Down

 

 

 

 

Eliza Neals: 10,000 Feet Below And our review is here.

 

 

 

Fabrizio Poggi: The Blues is a Miracle

Fabrizio Poggi is one of Europe’s finest exponents of the blues. Hailing from the north of Italy, Fabrizio has recorded over twenty albums and has shared stages with numerous top blues artists including The Blind Boys of Alabama, Eric Bibb and John Hammond. He’s the author of four books on the blues and has been touring this year with Guy Davis, promoting their new Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee album. Down at the Crossroads was delighted to get the chance to chat to this blues enthusiast and master of the blues harmonica.

Photo by Riccardo Piccirillo

Fabrizio – you’re a blues harmonica player. Tell us a bit about how you started on this blues journey and what drew you to the harmonica.

To quote my good friend and harp legend Charlie Musselwhite, music in general “overtook me when I was a little child.” While other kids spent their spare time playing soccer or riding bicycles, I stayed inside all day long listening to records. Every kind of music. My favourite toys were a drum, a toy piano and, of course, an out of tune harmonica. Then one day I saw Paul Butterfield playing Mystery Train in a movie called “The Last Waltz” and my life changed forever.

Maybe nowadays it seems a little strange but most of the things I learnt in my younger days came from records. There were no computers, Google or YouTube, and musical instructional books were very difficult to find. It was hard, very hard. It took me six months to learn something that today a kid can learn in one day. Also with English language was the same. I always make a joke of it but my English teachers really were Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

What is it about this music that you find compelling or attractive? Is it just entertainment or is there more to it?

Oh yes, much more. To me the blues is a miracle and a miracle is always difficult to explain with simple words. The miracle of the blues is that it’s so full of power and wisdom that it touches every heart throughout the world.  Mine too! It doesn’t matter where you were born, what language you speak, or what colour your skin is.  Blues and spirituals, and music in general, are amazing gifts – often from wonderful unknown singers – to heal people’s souls. With the blues I have my own connection to the shared human conditions of struggle, darkness, and pain cloaked in redemption, overcoming, and freedom.

Blues taught to be simple and humble. To love and respect people that come to my shows. To be nice with them. Because often they tell me some precious words that keep me going on when the wind of life sometimes blows too hard against me.
The blues taught me to play from the heart. Always.

I know you’ve played with a lot of well-known blues artists. Tell us about some of the people your played or toured with.

I had the privilege to share the stage, and to record with The Blind Boys of Alabama, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Marcia Ball, Ronnie Earl, Kim Wilson,  John Hammond, Sonny Landreth, Garth Hudson of THE BAND and Bob Dylan, Eric Bibb, Ruthie Foster, Mike Zito, Bob Margolin, Flaco Jiménez, Steve Cropper, Otis Taylor, Richard Thompson…

They are so many that it’s impossible to talk about them all. We’d need a big book!

Most of them were heroes of my youth (and still they are). When I was sixteen and I was in my little room in a little town in northern Italy listening to their records, I didn’t imagine that one day I would play with them. I really feel blessed.

There are not enough words to explain how moving it was to play with these people. I still have goose bumps talking about that. It was amazing. Great artists and wonderful human beings. But having the opportunity to sing with the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama was one of the highest musical privileges in my life. Every time I listen to my recordings with them I still sit in humble disbelief hearing my voice singing with theirs. Most of them called me brother and every time I think about that I am moved to tears.

And you’ve released a couple of albums with Guy Davis, one just this year, a homage to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, which has been very well received. How did this collaboration come about, and how do you find collaborating with Guy?

My first encounter with Guy Davis dates back to 2007 when we met at a blues festival in Italy. Between us was born almost immediately a deep friendship based not only on mutual respect but also about the passion we both have for the most authentic acoustic folk blues. Over the past years, our close personal links materialized in live shows, and then Guy recorded a couple of tracks on my album Spirit & Freedom. After that we did Juba Dance which I also produced artistically and I also was a special guest on Kokomo Kidd. To play at his side is something that always amazes me and makes me proud because Guy Davis really is one of the last great masters of the blues, a direct heir of Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker.

Guy and I are extremely fascinated by the primitive sound of the blues and spirituals — the music that was played “without electricity” under the front porch of those shacks scattered among cotton fields of the Southern States. Also, the acoustic sound allows us to better tell the stories that are in and around this mysterious and magical musical genre. Every album we did together is a perfect picture of the encounter, the embrace, and the total and complete fusion between two musicians from seemingly distant worlds, light years away. Sometimes I think that this happened just because probably in another life, Guy and I were brothers and already playing the blues just for fun on the porch of our house… not just for us … but thinking about what would come next.

Tell us about the album, Fabrizio, and why you wanted to record it?

It’s another album we recorded together that I produced and is titled Sonny and Brownie’s Last Train. The CD, as the subtitle says, is a “A look back to Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry.” I think that now it’s the time to celebrate them for a new generation. I completely agree with what Guy wrote in the liner notes explaining the concept of the recording: “Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry were two musicians whose work will not be surpassed, let alone improved on… It features our combined musical talents, and is not meant to compete with the originals. It’s meant to be a love letter to Brownie and Sonny signed by the both of us. They were two of my favourites.” The idea for the album came from my lovely wife Angelina. One night she told me: “I’ve seen you and Guy playing together many, many times. I love it when you play together and I think that you two need to do a record dedicated to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Nobody’s done it yet, so you have to do it! You and Guy are the right musicians to do that record.” Guy and I stayed for two days in a recording studio in Milan and recorded all the songs live. The album is the result and I hope people like it. We put all our passion, love and respect for those two wonderful musicians and their music into it. I felt like they were seated in the studio with me and Guy, looking and smiling at us. The title track theme was my idea, and Guy in my opinion wrote a masterpiece just on the spot. When the song Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train was finally finished and recorded, Angelina and I were in tears. It is really a wonderful love letter to them.

When people think of Italian music, they might think of great opera or classical music, but the blues maybe isn’t the first thing people think of! So tell us about the interest there is currently in the blues in Italy.

I often say that among the great miracles of the blues is that it has become an international language; so nowadays you have great musicians playing great music all over the world. It doesn’t really matter where that musician comes from.

There are many people all around the world singing great opera tunes or playing classical music so behind the stereotypes, so why shouldn’t Italians be playing the blues? The important thing is the vibe, the connection, to be honest and sincere. So yes, there are great blues players here and many blues festivals. The blues is “alive and kickin’” in the land of pasta and pizza!

Also, I know that you’re a blues historian, Fabrizio, and have discovered that there are a number of threads that link Italy and the blues – not least that Italians that lived, worked and suffered alongside African Americans in a Mississippi plantation at the turn of the nineteenth century. Perhaps you could give us a flavour of that story?

It’s a story I discovered some years ago in Mississippi about Italian farmers and fishermen who, looking for a better life, around 1895, left their homes in Northern Italy to settle down in the cotton fields of the Delta. Their life was difficult because of the extreme conditions they had to endure: the mosquitoes carrying malaria, the frequent floods, and the racial discrimination all made their existence very hard. In 1865 at the end of the Civil War when slavery was abolished, a lot of black people, already free even if just by word of mouth, left the cotton plantations to emigrate to the northern States, leaving their owners “in difficulty.” Replacing tireless workers like the African-Americans wasn’t easy; so some owners decided to try and get other workers who were badly off but at the same time were expert labourers in the fields: the Italians. But they all were victims of a terrible trick. With the promise of a better life, men without scruples brought the Italians illegally into the United States, and then sent them on a “biblical” journey to the plantation of Sunnyside near Greenville, Mississippi, the world capital of cotton. The Italians lived and worked in close quarters with the black workers, and shared with them misery and misfortune.

Black people and Italians were not officially enslaved, but their life conditions were like real slavery. They lived in poor shacks on the sides of swamps infested by mosquitoes. Malarial fever was widespread and a lot of children died. The burden of debts oppressed Italian poor emigrants who worked hard, but were unable to emerge from a life made of “insects, scanty food and non-potable, green and stinking water.”

The Italians were often treated, if it is possible, as badly as the former slaves. And the African-Americans were the only ones who were gentle with them; they had passed through that hell, too. Together they withstood the racist vexations of the white ruling class. The Ku Klux Klan didn’t persecute just the black community, but also Italians. In the first decades of the 20th century, despite their sacrifice and their dignified misery, the Italians were considered just “ugly, dirty and bad.” In addition, some of them had dark skin and were thought of as black. In rural America, in the state of Mississippi, in that period of history, it often happened that groups of fanatical racists burned the houses, the stock pens, the schools, or the harvest of some poor Italian family. Together with black people, the Italians survived not only this, but nature’s fury: the frequent storms and floods that destroyed their poor houses.

Mississippi Juke Joint

So Italians were there when the blues were “invented.” In one book it says that “…outside Tribbett road, at Dean Plantation, there was a long wooden shed. In the first years of the 20th century, that was one of the places where black people met for playing and dancing the blues on Saturday evening, and the sound of blues was taking care of the pain of the Italians’ souls, too….” I don’t know if there are threads that link Italy and the blues. What I know for sure is that certainly the story of the “Delta Italians” is fascinating and proves that Italians along with black people, living and working together, have suffered strain and pain which gave rise to their singing. And for sure, African Americans and Italians sang in the fields. Maybe each one sang his own song. But they worked side by side in the same cotton fields, and perhaps the songs were mixed among themselves. Because music is like that; it is like the wind – it can’t be stopped.

You recorded an album with your band Chicken Mambo, entitled Mercy, which is mostly spirituals or gospel blues. Do you see some connection between the blues and faith or spirituality?

A few years ago, I read that for someone, “Hell is the experience of being separated from God.” After coming out of my deep depression, my own personal “hell on earth,” I realized that for me singing Blues and Spirituals was a way of staying connected to what I call “Heaven.”  Just as it was for African slaves in America, blues and spirituals, to me are sides of the same coin, and are my key to carrying on in this “mean ol’ world.”

What’s next for you Fabrizio?

I know that maybe it sounds pretty corny but what I really wish for my future is to play my harp until the day I’ll die. I hope on a stage! But if you want to stay tuned with my world and keep updated please visit my website www.chickenmambo.com

Fabrizio and Guy Davis are on tour during November and December in the UK.  http://guydavis.com/wp/tour/

Guy Davis: The blues convey the truth.

“Guy Davis is an authentic and spell-binding bluesman, with an incredible voice and a great sense of humour.”

Guy Davis is a hugely talented blues artist, who delights his audiences with his snappy guitar work, gritty vocals, humorous monologues and impressive stage presence. He’s been on the road and making records for more than twenty years and is a past winner of the Blues Foundation’s “Keeping the Blues Alive Award,” which was presented to him by Robert Cray at the W.C. Handy Awards ceremony.

Guy toured the UK recently with Statesboro native, Brooks Williams, giving audiences an outstanding evening of good-humoured entertainment, as well as a master-class in acoustic blues guitar.  Down at the Crossroads caught up with Guy recently, ahead of a few gigs in the south east of England.

DATC: Guy, you’ve been touring England with Brooks Williams. Tell us a bit about it.

Guy: Well, my manager has been a friend of Brooks a long time. He got us together playing a while ago in upstate New York, and then came up with the idea of us doing a tour together. While I was getting some photos done for my last CD, Kokomo Kid (http://nodepression.com/album-review/ghost-pete-seeger), Brooks happened to be in New York, so we did a series of photos together before we even had a tour. I don’t recall having met Brooks before that. I wasn’t really familiar with his music.

DATC: Brooks is a nice guy and a terrific guitarist.

Guy: Oh yes, not only that, but what a voice! His presentation carries so well, the audience loves him!

DATC: So how has the tour gone?

Guy: It’s been going very well. We each take it in turns doing a few songs, one night I’ll open, he closes, then he’ll open the next night and I’ll close. It’s a friendly kind of tour, and at the end of the show, whoever’s on last invites the other on stage to do a few songs together.

DATC: I understand you have a new album coming out before long?

Guy: It is an album that gives a nod to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, the folk-blues duo, from many years ago. The album is with a fella named Fabrizio Poggi. Fabrizio and I have worked on at least 2 of my CDs. He’s on one song on Kokomo Kid and on the album before that, Juba Dance, he’s on a lot of the songs, and produced the album. On this latest one, he’s half of the picture.

DATC: So why did you decide to focus on Sonny and Brownie?

Guy: Well, it was actually Fabrizio’s idea. Sonny Terry, the harmonica player, is a hero to both of us. I wasn’t sure Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee’s music really need covering, but Fabrizzio – I guess his love for the music was stronger than my ability to say no!

So I went in the studio with him, and I played guitar and some harmonica and he did all the rest of the harmonica, and we covered some of the songs.

DATC: Sounds great. There’s been a lot of the older blues artists have been covered in some recent albums by various artists, but I can’t recall something covering these two. So I’m sure it’s going to get a lot of interest. Thinking about my own interest in the blues, which goes back some 40 years, one of the first blues albums I listened to, which a friend let me borrow, was Sonny Terry and Brownie Magee, and that was one of the albums that got me hooked on blues music.

Guy: Very good. You know, I got to meet both those guys back in 1981, saw them perform. And then in the 1990s, Brownie actually came to a performance that I did, in Oakland, California. I got to shake his hand then, too.

DATC: Fantastic. Now Guy, as well as being a musician, you’ve done lots of other things –  you’re an author, you’ve been an actor – what are you primarily, a musical artist?

Guy: I think I’m all of the above. A performance artist most of all, and music is the closest thing to me. But I write for theatre, I write stories and I like to tell stories. They say I tell stories so good, I should be a politician!

DATC: You’d do pretty well just at the minute!

Guy: Yes I would! I’ve got a lot to say – they’d have to shoot me in the first week of my government!

DATC: And do you think of yourself primarily as an entertainer, or do you have something to say or convey in your music?

Guy: I do it through my music. I’m a very, very good – excellent – entertainer!

DATC: Yeah, we’d agree with that!

Guy: And modest. But yes – crafting words and a message.

DATC: And what would you say that was? A lot of what you do is blues based – what is the enduring quality of that music, why does it still resonate, what does it convey?

Guy: The blues is the kind of music that conveys the truth, even if the words you use are not factual. The blues to me is kind of like a religion. This music is my way of being in the universe, of being able to communicate the way that I feel.

The blues reflect an important part of American history – it’s not just black music. In some ways it’s a cautionary tale about some of the hurt, harm and danger that is in my own country of birth. It tells history.

DATC: The blues grew up in that period of terrible suffering and discrimination that was the experience of the black community in the Jim Crow era, but you’re suggesting that it has a broader historical resonance than that?

Convicts who violated the Black Codes

Guy: I’d risk saying yes. Jim Crow was a symptom, a small part of a greater sickness. In the time after the Civil War, there was a period when black people could be part of government, but that didn’t get the support it should have and consequently we got the Black Code laws – so, for example, if a black and white man went before a judge accused of the very same crime, the black man would do more time, because in prison, his labour could be used to build the country.

That has a lot to do with the formation of our country and even some of the difficulties that the American people are facing today. Including the divided emotions in our election. And blues continues to tell this story. It’s not all love songs.

DATC: Yes, when you look at the blues, the majority of songs are about relationships between men and women, but underlying it is this howl of protest and lament about the unjust social situation in which the back community found itself in that period.

Guy: Yes, blues is more complex than people give it credit for.

DATC: Does it have a healing force as well? It tells a story, yes, but does it have potential to do more than that?

Guy: Healing – yes, very much so. Blues can make us laugh, can make us laugh at things that are ridiculous, or refer to some things that are truly cruel, but to hear a man or a woman singing from their heart that they have been robbed, that they’re crying out for justice, I think this has the potential to heal us all.

There are a lot of voices that can stand and accuse one another of many things, but there are also voices that can bring us together, that can make healing possible, make crying possible, make belief and deep breathing possible.

DATC: Guy, you were born and raised in New York City. So why did you gravitate towards blues music? Presumably there were a lot of other influences.

Guy: I gravitated towards the blues because that was what was in me. My body was born in New York City but my soul is not from New York City. I first heard blues music and folk music and such at a summer camp when I was a young child. It was run by Pete Seeger’s brother – Pete Seeger, the great environmentalist and folk singer who knew Sonny and Brownie, Big Bill Broonzy and Leadbelly. So that reflects a lot more of whom I am than the fact that I was born in New York City. It’s my home, but it’s not where I’m from.

DATC: You teach as well, Guy – can you tell us a bit about that and why you do that?

Guy: Teaching music – I guess it comes as part of the territory. I enjoy that, I think it’s in my family’s DNA. Both my sisters have been educators; my grandmother studied with W.E.B Du Bois [American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, educator, author, and editor of the 1^st half of the twentieth century], who was a black revolutionary and who was partly responsible for the NAACP. He knew Frederick Douglas [the great nineteenth century African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman]. And my father also knew W.E.B Du Bois. So teaching is kind of in my blood.

DATC: And is there an urge to pass on this legacy of music to a new generation?

Guy: I can see that perhaps in the future. Right now I’m primarily an entertainer. Being in front of people and showing what I do, passing along is gonna come out of that. Right now I’m just thinking of creating fresh and new things that are inspired by the blues. But, yeah, at some point in the future, I’d like to think more about passing on the legacy.

DATC: Guy, do you find that you get in your audience people from different age ranges; do younger people find a resonance in your music, in blues music?

Guy: Yes, but I also find a lot of people who are older who want to hear some of the things they heard when they were younger – people like Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee! So I get college students at my gigs; but also people bring their children with them. I always got something, you know, to delight the children. They can get interested in the same way that I found delight when I was 8 years old, sitting down the front of an auditorium looking up at someone making magic with just a guitar or a banjo.

DATC: Guy, thank you very much.

 

Inside the Delta Tour – Guy Davis and Brooks Williams

Brooks Williams: “He’s a lovely player, a lovely singer, and a great writer. The real thing.” 

Guy Davis: “an authentic and spell-binding bluesman, with an incredible voice and a great sense of humour.”  

November sees a joint tour – Inside the Delta – around the UK by two of the most entertaining blues and Americana artists you’re likely to see – New Yorker Guy Davis and Statesboro native, by way of Cambridge, England, Brooks Williams. The tour has already started and you can find details here or here.

The two have played together before in the US but this is the first time they have properly collaborated, each taking turns to perform and then playing together at the end of the evening. These pair are great guitar players, singers and raconteurs – and reports already speak of outstanding shows. Not to be missed!

You can catch our recent interview with Brooks Williams here.

And watch out for Down at the Crossroads’ upcoming interview with Guy Davis who has some big news to announce – soon!