Chris Smither played the Black Box in Belfast as part of his UK and Ireland tour. The venue was packed with appreciative fans who hadn’t seen Chris play there for some years, although he has been a frequent visitor to Belfast over a long period. The veteran bluesman was in terrific form, playing a combination of oldies and songs from his new album, Call Me Lucky, in his own, inimitable style.
He was supported by the one-man band Matt Lorenz, who unpacked his percussion kit from an old suitcase, which then became his bass drum. The gerry-rigged pots and pans accompanied his overdriven cheap acoustic guitar to great effect in a set that was as surprising as it was immensely enjoyable.
1. Chris Smither has a unique guitar playing style. Make no mistake about it, he’s a terrific guitarist, with that rock steady, alternating thumb thing he has going and his clever licks on the top strings, but, like all great guitarists, he has an unmistakable style. You hear a few bars and you know you’re hearing a Chris Smither number. He even made his cover of Chuck Berry’s Maybelline sound like a Chris Smither song.
2. Then there’s that characteristic, miked up rhythmic foot tapping thing he does, beating like a metronome, both percussive and accentuating the throbbing bass of the guitar. You’d wonder if it would work right throughout his set, but, yes, it does, putting both Chris and the audience into a kind of trance as each song progresses.
3. Chris Smither’s repertoire extends far beyond the blues, but boy is he good at playing the blues. He told us he inhabited the music of Mississippi John Hurt, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Blind Willie McTell and the other country blues guys when he first started out playing – he says he wanted to be those guys. But all these years later, that solid legacy of acoustic blues guitar is what underpins his playing style. The man can play the blues – What It Might Have Been went down a storm, as did the barnstorming Statesboro Blues which rounded the evening off.
4. His new album, Call Me Lucky, is packed with songs laced with sharp lyrics and wry humour. Amongst other songs we were treated to Nobody Home, an amusing but slightly caustic look at the state of the world. The Belfast crowd loved the line about the “clown with the comb over, tweeting on his phone.”
5. He has plenty of classics and crowd favourites in his back catalogue. There were smiles on faces and people mouthing lyrics on numbers like Leave The Light On and No Love Today.
6. Song writing, apparently, does not come easily to a man who has been hailed as “one of the absolute best singer-songwriters in the world.” It is, he told us, an “illogical, incoherent process” which he can only do when the pressure of having to produce another album bears in on him. It’s the lyrics that get to him, it seems – and yet he’s produced so many gems over the years, with clever, amusing, poignant lyrics. Goes to show, if you’re gonna be good at something, it takes hard work…
7. Matt Lorenz, aka Suitcase Junket is a phenomenal talent, who blew us away with his guitar playing, home-spun percussion, brilliant songs and his jaw-dropping vocals. He’s perfected a kind of tone-shifting singing style where he can produce harmonics in a kind of extra accompaniment to his singing of the lyrics. He explained how he does it – I’m none the wiser – but it was mighty impressive. You know when you go to a gig and you kind of endure the support act, hoping he or she will finish quickly so you get to the main act? With Matt Lorenz you were hoping he’d play some more. Thankfully Mr. Smither invited him back later to accompany him with some tasteful slide guitar in a couple of songs later on. Let’s hope the young Suitcase Junket has all the success he deserves.
2018 has seen so many fabulous blues albums released – whether it’s acoustic blues, blues rock, gospel blues, funky blues, Chicago-style blues, Memphis-style blues…whatever, it’s been a remarkable year for the blues. Down at the Crossroads has chosen 30 albums that we’ve enjoyed listening to and that we consider exceptional. (Click on the links as you go through to find full reviews or interviews).
Here’s our Top 10
Ry Cooder: Prodigal Son An album of wonderfully reinterpreted old gospel songs and hymns, from the guitar virtuoso. Cooder’s first album for six years has been hailed as “destined to become an instant classic” the produce of a “musical mastermind” and “completely fresh and contemporary.” These are songs that will speak to anyone, believer or unbeliever. There’s humanity, decency, inspiration, hope in these songs, that anyone can feel. If you are a person of faith, however, you’ll find an extra dimension of faith, encouragement and challenge here too. Further comment on the album here.
Larkin Poe: Venom and Faith Quite simply this is an extraordinary album from the very talented Lovell sisters in their 4th studio album. The two sisters play every instrument, aside from some wonderful slide guitar in one song by Tyler Bryant, creating a wonderful variety of sounds and textures. Is it Americana or blues, or pop even? We’ll plump for a modern interpretation of traditional blues. Classic but innovative, with traditional, primal sounds mixed with electronic beats. It all works wonderfully well – not least in what is possibly the best version I’ve ever heard of Skip James’s Hard Time Killing Floor blues. More comment on the song here.
Joe Bonamassa/Beth Hart: Black Coffee You really can’t go wrong with an album of music from guitar genius Joe Bonamassa and vocal tour de force Beth Hart. Individually brilliant. Together, they make magic.
Ana Popovic: Like it on Top Ana Popovic, top-notch guitarist, singer and song-writer with her 11th studio album. Recorded in Nashville, and produced by four-time Grammy winner Keb’ Mo’, it features guest appearances from Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robben Ford and Keb’ Mo’. It’s a terrific piece of work, featuring some beautiful and truly exceptional guitar work, and funky, bluesy arrangements. It’s an important piece of work about the empowerment of women. Our interview with Ana is here.
Buddy Guy: The Blues is Alive and Well 15 tracks from the veteran bluesman, with Guy’s still formidable vocals and blistering guitar work aided and abetted by the McCrary sisters, Mick Jagger, James Bay, Jeff Beck and Keith Richards.
Paul Thorn: Don’t Let the Devil Ride Unabashed album of gospel music, with Paul and his band, and a group of top notch collaborators including the Blind Boys of Alabama, the McCrary Sisters, Bonnie Bishop and New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Horns, all in scintillating form. Our interview with Paul is here.
Paul Cowley: Just What I Know The Mississippi Delta via Birmingham, England and Morbihan in Brittany. They’re all in the mix in Paul Cowley’s wonderful album of classic-sounding acoustic blues, Just What I Know. Deft and delightful acoustic guitar work, including lovely, tasteful slide playing, along with Cowley’s nicely phrased vocals, make up a hugely satisfying selection of acoustic blues. See our full review here.
Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite: No Mercy in this Land Vibrant collaboration of no-nonsense blues which delivers all you want from the blues – lament, joy, emotion – but never sounds dated. Musselwhite’s harmonica playing is exceptional throughout, complementing Harper’s versatile vocals and cool guitar work.
Various: Strange Angels: In Flight with Elmore James
Top notch tribute album to Elmore James featuring Bettye LaVette, Keb’ Mo’, Warren Haynes, Shelby Lynne/Allison Moorer and others.
Dana Fuchs: Love Lives On Fine album of bluesy American from the talented singer-songwriter, which features her utterly engaging, raspy vocals and a wonderful set of 13 songs, including a blues-soaked, stripped back version of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. “Love Lives On is about hope and perseverance…I hope in some way this album can give some of that back to you,” said Fuchs. See our interview with Dana here.
And here’s the next 10:
Shemekia Copeland: America’s Child Shemekia Copeland has a stack of blues music awards to her name and several Grammy nominations. Her new album, America’s Child, produced by Nashville’s Will Kimbrough, is a compelling piece of work that sees Ms. Copeland branch out beyond the blues in which she’s made her name. To be sure there are great blues numbers here, but there’s rock and country too – overall it’s a great piece of Americana. Our interview with Shemekia is here.
Luke Winslow-King: Blue Mesa Wonderfully upbeat, positive album of rocking blues. Luke Winslow-King is one very fine guitarist, singer, composer and songwriter. Formally trained in musical composition and an accomplished jazz guitarist, he is able to fuse blues, gospel, R&B, folk and jazz into a hugely entertaining and quite original rootsy style. Our interview with Luke is here.
Van Morrison The Prophet Speaks Van the Man is in a rich vein of form with his 40th release, giving us six new tracks of his own and blues classics from the likes of Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker in a 14 song set. He continues his collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Joey DeFrancesco in some quite wonderful, jazzy blues, all with a classic, big band feel. “Change your thought and it will change your mind,” sings Van. The prophet speaks.
Chris Smither: Call Me Lucky Double album of terrific acoustic songs from the gravel voiced and rhythmic guitar picker. As you’d expect on a Chris Smither album, the lyrics are sharp and laced with wry humour, without ever being cynical, the new songs demonstrating once again the importance of Chris Smither as a songwriter and artist. Our interview with Chris is here.
Janiva Magness: Love is an Army Twelve hugely enjoyable songs which tap into a deep well of bluesy Americana and Memphis soul. Magness is joined by a number of guest luminaries, such as Charlie Musselwhite, Delbert McClinton, Texas singer-songwriter Bryan Stephens, Poco frontman Rusty Young, Mississippi hill-country blues artist Cedric Burnside, and bluegrass guitar and banjo virtuoso Courtney Hartman. These are stirring songs of protest, empowerment and hope which will capture your soul and move your feet. Our interview with Janiva is here.
Mark Harrison: The Panoramic View Mark Harrison’s new album, The Panoramic View is an entertaining treat of modern acoustic blues, full of wondrous finger-picking and slide playing, and giving full vent to Harrison’s compelling story-telling and wry humour. Mark Harrison is a supremely accomplished song writer, guitarist and performer and The Panoramic View a satisfying feast of modern acoustic blues. Our full review is here.
Rory Block: A Woman’s Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith Block turns her attention to the Empress of the Blues, after her set of 6 tribute albums to the founding fathers of the blues. Everything on the album is played by Rory Block, and as ever, the guitar picking and slide work are masterful. The songs, clearly, are very differently treated to the originals, but make for a fine and hugely enjoyable tribute to Bessie Smith.
Joe Bonamassa: Redemption Rock blues guitar icon Bonamassa’s 13th studio album delivers great song-writing, excellent vocal work and, of course, exceptional guitar work, accompanied by a hugely talented, veteran band. The title track, complete with heavenly choir and huge production, is an epic track to be savoured.
Keeshea Pratt Band: Believe One very fine album of soul-soaked blues, featuring an outstanding 7-piece band and the wondrous Ms. Keeshea Pratt, whose soaring and thrilling vocals sparkle on each of the twelve tracks. Our full review is here.
Brooks Williams: Lucky Star Brooks Williams, a jaw-droppingly good guitar player, has a sweet, but versatile voice, and is a great song-writer with a ready wit. Lucky Star is a terrific album of bluesy Americana, with twelve tracks and two additional bonus songs which feature Brooks along with blues maestro Hans Theessink. The combination of Williams’ tenor voice and Theessink’s gravelly bass works tremendously well. Our full review is here.
And our final set of 10:
Matty T Wall: Sidewinder Make no mistake – Matty Wall is an extraordinary talent and deserves a massive amount of recognition for this terrific album. It’s blues rock, but it shimmers with passion, originality and top-notch musicianship. The combination of Wall’s artistry, his excellent band and legendary Grammy-winning producer-engineer, Bob Clearmountain, has resulted in one of the best blues rock albums of the year. Our full review is here.
Ian Siegal: All the Rage
Ian Siegal rages against the poison in the veins of the world in a very fine album of blues rock. His trademark rasping vocals never felt so menacing and appropriate.
Joe Louis Walker & Bruce Katz & Giles Robson: Journeys To The Heart Of The Blues Traditional stripped down blues featuring some sparkling boogie-woogie piano, lovely guitar work and wailing harmonica from three blues masters. Great versions of some blues standards in a thoroughly satisfying set.
Paul Oscher: Cool Cat Oscher was member of Muddy Waters band, of whom Waters said “Paul Oscher plays the soul I feel,” This is an exceptional album of time-honoured, classic blues, from a man, whose life in the blues oozes from every musical phrase. According to Oscher, “The real gift of talent is not the ability to be able to play, it is the gift of the love you have for the music.” Our full review is here.
Billy F Gibbons: The Big Bad Blues No surprises in this one; every phrase is characteristic Billy Gibbons. But what’s not to like? Four classic blues covers and seven new songs to get your toes tapping and your engine revving.
Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio: Something Smells Funky Round Here Worth it for the title track alone: “I’m not talkin’ ‘bout funky like a groove/Really funky…like pee-uuuuh!” The stench comes from the nation’s capital – “funky like some old politicians.” Great fun throughout, including the spoken “Lookin’ Good,” with its three stages to life: youth, middle age and “you’re looking good.”
Bryan Lee: Sanctuary BMA Award winner and Grammy Nominee, Bryan Lee has had a lifetime in the blues. In his mid-seventies, the bluesman, who lost his sight at the age of 8, is still playing consistently and this very fine collection of unabashed gospel blues shows his vocal and guitar playing powers are still very much in evidence. It’s a top-notch blues album, well produced, recorded and mastered. Our interview with Bryan is here.
Victor Wainwright and the Train Boogie woogie, as you might expect, but a lot more besides on this fine album, driven by Wainwright’s raw, powerful vocals and top notch piano playing. Watch out for the excellent BB King tribute, “Thank You Lucille.”
Danielle Nicole: Cry No More Guitar work from guests Sonny Landreth, Walter Trout, Luther Dickenson and Kenny Wayne Shepherd sets off Nicole’s stirring, emotion-laden vocals.
Mike Zito: First Class Life
Rocking, honest 15th album from Zito who sings about his “second chance at a first class life,” charting his journey from addiction to sobriety to a life in music.
“Shemekia Copeland is one of the great blues voices of our time” Chicago Tribune
Photo: Mike White / Alligator Records
Shemekia Copeland is a blues powerhouse, with a stack of blues music awards to her name (Blues Music Awards, Living Blues Awards) and several Grammy nominations. She burst on to the scene in 1998 with Turn the Heat Up and has been lighting up stages and recording studios with the force of her personality, her incredible vocals and song-writing ever since. She’s opened for the Rolling Stones, and graced stages with B B King, Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana, and played for President and Mrs. Obama at the White House.
Her new album, America’s Child, produced by Nashville’s Will Kimbrough, is a compelling piece of work that sees Ms. Copeland branch out beyond the blues in which she’s made her name. To be sure there are great blues numbers here, but there’s rock and country too – overall it’s a great piece of Americana.
When Down at the Crossroads asked Shemekia how she would describe the album musically, she replied, “It’s rootsy. All American music is based on the blues, so I felt free to borrow from other genres like country and bluegrass.”
The album has a stellar cast of collaborators on the album – John Prine, Mary Gauthier, Emmylou Harris, Rhiannon Giddens, Steve Cropper and others. Shemekia clearly enjoyed working with each of them and told us, “Each one was incredibly generous. John Prine was so much fun to duet with, and Mary Gauthier is a wonderful person who happens to be one of the best writers in America.”
Gauthier has returned the compliment by saying, “America’s Child is a ground-breaking, genre-bending work of beauty. Shemekia is one of the great singers of our time…Her voice on these songs is nothing short of magic.”
Shemekia told us: “Rhiannon’s banjo took our song to a whole other level. Emmylou has the voice of an angel. I was so honoured. And Steve Cropper is my old friend and happens to be one of the greatest, most soulful guitarists in the history of music. I was blessed to have each of them.”
When asked about the background to the album – why this set of songs and what she was setting out to achieve with it, Shemekia said that last year she had given birth to Johnny Lee Copeland and that the album is her vision of the world she is bringing him into – “my vision of life in America today, and my hopes for the future.”
Shemekia Copeland is no stranger to biting social commentary in her work – in her 2015 album, Outskirts of Love, she addressed victims of date rape in Crossbone Beach and of domestic violence in Drivin’ Out of Nashville, the homeless, in Cardboard Box, and those living in poverty in Lord Help the Poor And Needy. And no less in American Child, she offers a social commentary and critique of the way things are in the United States at the moment in the songs I Ain’t Got Time for Hate, Americans and Would You Take My Blood. When asked how much it matters for artists and musicians to comment and make people think about what is going on, Shemekia said that for her it was important. “Music,” she said, “reaches people in ways that speeches and politics cannot. It’s emotional.”
There’s no shortage of emotion on this album, driven by the conviction and clarity of Ms. Copeland’s vocals, which range from tender in the closing lullaby to playful in One I Love to sassy on The Wrong Idea to earnest in In the Blood of the Blues, and everything in between. Although it’s not an out and out blues album, there’s a fine bluesy feel throughout, driven by the excellent guitar skills of Will Kimbrough and Steve Cropper. The song arrangements and tight band work combine with Ms. Copeland’s voice to make this an authentic and memorable album.
Would You Take My Blood written by John Hahn and Will Kimbrough directly addresses the problem of racism. “All I want is some respect,” sings Shemekia, and then pointedly asks someone who’s a racist if they’d be willing to take your blood if they were dying and needed it? It is appalling that these sorts of attitudes still seem to be so ingrained in the fabric of American life, and it’s sometimes hard to see how the problem be addressed. “An incredibly difficult question,” replied Shemekia. “A good start might be if people actually lived according to beliefs espoused by their religion. The golden rule would be a good place to start.” Ain’t that the truth?
Terry Abrahamson’s and Derrick Proce’s In the Blood of the Blues, is an outstanding blues song, with great guitar work from Kimbrough, who has played guitar with Emmylou Harris in recent years. It’s a stark reminder of the way the blues is rooted in the suffering of the black community – in slavery, sharecropping and Jim Crow injustice.
“I’m the twist in the wire tying every bale of cotton
I’m the shout in the field that echoes across the sea
I’m the newsprint walls in a one-room shack in Stovall
And the blade on the knife that cut my brother from the tree.”
Despite every week’s dispiriting news cycle seeming to confirm the need for the United States to properly come to terms with its past with respect to African Americans, when we asked Shemekia if, as she looks around at America today, does she have cause to be hopeful, she replied, “Totally, it’s still the greatest country on earth. I love it and it will always be my home.”
As well as the serious side to the record, there’s a sense of playfulness and joy here too. Shemekia told us, “Now with the birth of my son (born just two years ago), I’m a more joyful person than ever. And grateful.” She said in a previous interview with Forbes that, in fact, America’s Child is completely about Johnny Lee, who had changed her life. “You immediately become frustrated with the world you live in but you’re also hopeful for your child and hopeful that things will get better for him. That’s kind of what America’s Child is about.”
“Whether he’s wailing a Freddy King inspired blues ballad, stomping out low down and dirty blues, or getting down with a super funky New Orleans groove, Bryan Lee is gonna grab your soul and squeeze it till you scream in blues ecstasy.” – Duke Robillard
BMA Award winner and Grammy Nominee, Bryan Lee, has had a lifetime in the blues. In his mid-seventies, the bluesman, who lost his sight at the age of 8, is still playing consistently and has just released a new album, Sanctuary. His vocal and guitar playing powers are still very much in evidence in a very fine collection of unabashed gospel blues. A long-time resident and performer in New Orleans, with a Chicago blues guitar style which channels Luther Allison, Albert King and Albert Collins, Bryan now resides close to the beach in south Florida, but his musical enthusiasm and passion for the blues is undiminished.
The new album Sanctuary is a top-notch blues album, well produced, recorded and mastered by Steve Hamilton, and, as well as a classy band, features the wonderful, gospel vocals of Deirdre Fellner. There’s a detectable funky, New Orleans feel throughout, from the opener Fight for the Light onward, and Lee’s and Marc Spagone’s guitar work sparkles. Lee lays out his stall pretty early, telling us in Jesus Gave Me the Blues, that the blues is a gift from his saviour – even though he’s “getting low down and dirty.” There’s humour as well – in U-Haul which gets materialism in firmly in his sights, he sings, “I never saw no U-Haul behind a hearse.” You gotta hold on to things lightly. He follows this them again in Mr. Big – where the guy has the big house, fancy car, a Fortune 500 company – “but you ain’t happy.”
The album concludes with two songs recorded with the Adam Douglas band some time ago, but which make a fitting inclusion in Sanctuary. The Lord’s Prayer is as you’ve never heard it before in church – a blues version, but with a distinctive gospel feel, and reverently sung by Lee.
Down at the Crossroads chatted to Bryan about his life in the blues and the new album. He was upbeat, excited about the release of Sanctuary and about life in general.
DATC: Bryan, congratulations on the new album. I’ve been listening to it these past few days, and it’s great, catchy tunes, great musicianship and arrangements. We’ll have a chat about it in a minute. But first of all, Bryan, you’ve had a lifetime in the blues. Tell us about how you got started all those years ago – who inspired you?
BL: I guess in the beginning, the early 50s when I was about 10 years old, I started getting into my folks’ music. I heard Chuck Berry and right away, it was like, “if I could play guitar like that!” And then I heard Little Richard, and I was, “man, I wanna sing like that!” And that kind of drew me into the blues a little bit, but the thing that did it completely – I was 17 years old, and we were getting a new drummer into our band, and we went over to his house. And he played Freddie King’s Hideaway, and we were just knocked out! And then we listened to the B side and it was a slow blues called I Love the Woman. I just fell in love with it and I said, “man, that’s where I wanna go.”
So I went down to the record store looking for Freddie King and found a couple of 45s, and the guy working there sold me an album with Hideaway on it. And I really got into that record – that first song…[breaks into song]…man I was hooked. I’ve heard Wolf and BB and all these guys, but Freddie King is the one that connects to me.
Along the way I got to be good friends with Albert King – he was always nice. I recorded an album way back in 1984 that had four Albert King songs on it, and he came to New Orleans, so I went to see him and gave him a copy of the album. And he listened to it and appreciated what I had done with his tunes. That’s really cool.
But through my 20s my shows were getting bluesier and bluesier and I started getting into trouble with the club owners, who only wanted to hear Top 40 music. But then we had that era when the Allman Brothers hit, and it kinda helped for the blues guys to get their foot in the door.
But, you know, I travelled that old lonesome highway, because that’s what I wanted to do. If you love it, man, you do it.
DATC: What is it about this music that has keep you playing it all these years?
BL: As I get more into the music, the blues gets better with age. It’s the understanding of it. It’s not the devil’s music. You can go to, say, Sao Paulo, Brazil, a very large city, and you get 40,000 people answering you with “hey, hey, the blues is all right”…The blues is a universal language. B B King said it’s places, people and things. It goes to our make up in our soul. You can’t just sit there, you gotta move!
And some guys have that knack. I could listen to T-Bone Walker all day. And probably one of my favourite guitar players of all is Matt Guitar Murphy. I got to be friends with him over the last years of his life. I met him back in 1976 when I opened up for the James Cotton Band and Matt was the guitar player. And he was such a gracious guy. Same with James. James and I were really good friends. There’s something in these people, It’s their soul, that’s what it’s about. You gotta feel it, it’s in your soul.
And you can overcome so much in your life with the power of the blues. And that’s why I made this album, to try and make people understand – Jesus gave us the music. It’s pain, it’s sorrow, but it’s also laughter and success. You gotta fight for the light, you can’t just let darkness break you down. God gave you your life and you gotta respect that. To me, music is the thing that will lift you and will bring you to church and will bring you through stuff.
DATC: And of course, Bryan, your new album, Sanctuary, is an album of gospel blues. And you pull no punches – you’re very explicit about your faith. You say in The Gift, “I’m an old bluesman.” And then you say “Jesus has straightened me out.” Tell us a bit about your journey in faith, how this bluesman found faith.
BL: Well, there was a short time in my life, probably about two years, when I rejected organized religion completely. But I was raised as a Catholic, and we were working in a bar in New Orleans in the early 90s, and we’d have a lot of conventions in the city, there were always people in town. And every evening after dinner, they’d be looking for entertainment. So we would fill the house. Anyway, I met this woman one Friday night, and she was from Seattle, Washington. And she said, Bryan, “I’ve been in town since Monday and I discovered you on Tuesday, and have come every night since” – and she told me she was going to go to the St Louis Cathedral on Sunday and she invited me to go with her.
So we went to church and when I walked up to communion, I knew that was where I was meant to be. And I was like, “Jesus, thank you for not forgetting me.” And she and I had dinner and had a wonderful discussion about things, and we became friends. But she was the one that brought me back to church.
But you don’t just be a good person on Sunday. You gotta be a good person 7 days a week, 24/7. But that’s hard to do, with all the trials and tribulations you might have to go through. Even the rich man has got lots of problems.
DATC: You lost your eyesight when you were a boy. How difficult was it for you to get started playing guitar and start performing and then forge a career?
BL: Well…like most young people I was fearless. So, I’d be up on stage, and to me the place was always full, and people looking at me in a funny way, I don’t see it! I had an advantage!
I remember one night I was walking home. And I had a three-piece suit on, with a fancy tie, and I’m walking home, with a cane in my right hand, and all of a sudden, somebody yells at me, “Stop, stop! Blind man, stop!” So I stopped, and this woman comes up to me and says, “Where is your bucket?” I said, “My bucket?” And she said, “Well you’re blind, you have to have a bucket, I want to put something in your bucket.”
So I said, “Ma’am, that’s all right, give it to the Salvation Army, or the church. I don’t need it, as you can see, I’m working, I’m a musician.” And then she was like, “Aw, shucks.” She’d seen this blind man and thought she better do this man a favour. And I got helped across streets I didn’t want to cross, and up steps I didn’t want to go up. But things like this just always used to make me smile. I think now that people are more aware, it’s not so much like that now.
DATC: You’ve a song on this album Don’t Take My Blindness for a Weakness – you don’t downplay the difficulties, but you sound as if you’ve become very strong through it.
BL: Yes. You got it Gary! It might take me a little bit longer than you, but I will get there. I’ve been playing music since I was 13 years old, and I’m 75 now. I’ve travelled all around the world. I got a chance to play the Montreal Jazz Festival this year – 5th or 6th time I’ve done it – and oh, it was so much fun! People say at my age you shouldn’t do a lot of travel – but I want to get my message out.
This is what I’ve discovered through the years – if we were all blind, we wouldn’t have all these prejudices, we wouldn’t have all this hatred and stuff. Human beings would have to come together and help each other. So, who’s blind? For me, if I’ve got a choice between eyesight and insight, I’ll take insight every time.
DATC: Bryan, tell us about The Lord’s Prayer. How did that song come about?
BL: I was doing a festival in Norway in an island called Svalbard. This week is their dark season festival, it’s basically a blues festival. It was a 5-day festival, with quite a few bands. On the last day, the woman who organized the festival picked two groups to play in the church to close the festival. So she asked me if I would work with the Adam Douglas group. So we got together, and they were just a killer band – they could take a Michael Jackson song and make it sound like the blues! Well, the night before the rehearsal, I went to bed, fell asleep and had a dream about the Lord’s Prayer, the arrangement, the chords changes and all. And when I got up the next morning, it still was in my head – lot of time, that doesn’t happen – normally you dream a song but when you wake up you don’t remember it. So I went to the rehearsal and they asked me what I wanted to do. So I went through the chord changes with the band and they said, that’s great, let’s do it.
So we did it in the church, and we also did the other one, Jesus is My Lord and Savior, Then after the festival we went back to Oslo and we had about two days, so Adam said to me, “we should record those two songs.” So we went into the recording studio and we did ‘em! And we hugged each other afterwards and said, you know, we’re gonna have to finish this some day. And we all hoped we could get back together somehow in the future – but that never happened.
So in 2017, I just decided that if I don’t record this record, I’ll feel like I cheated the good Lord. Because I had promised him this album, for all the good music he’s put in our soul, and the ability to entertain people and to communicate with an audience. I can rip up an audience, you know! I tell stories, but I don’t think about what I’m going to say. I call the first three tunes and then after that, it’s what happens happens!
DATC: It’s a great album, Bryan – the arrangements and the musicianship are all wonderful.
Bryan: Out of my brain and out of my soul! And I’m not through – I’ve an idea for another album, and another album beyond that. And I used to do 300 dates a year, now, not so many as that. But it’s quality, not quantity!
It’s a day at a time, one step at a time. And Jesus is there – we just need to go to that place of sanctuary, where it’s real still, it’s real quiet, where you can really touch the good Lord and find answers to your problems.
Legendary acoustic bluesman Eric Bibb is a two-time Grammy nominee and multiple Blues Foundation award winner in what has been a five-decade career of performing all over the world. His music fuses blues, jazz and world influences to create an exquisite and welcoming style that draws people in and together. He played to a packed audience at the Grand Opera House in Belfast, along with drummer Paul Robinson, bassist Neville Malcolm, and guitarist Stefan Astner. Ulrika Bibb joined the band for a song and local singer-songwriter Ken Haddock played a delightful supporting set.
1. Playing and listening to the blues can make you feel good. Eric Bibb kicked off his set with a John Cephas number, Going Down that Road Feeling Bad, which he prefaced with the comment, “which I’m not!” And neither were the rest of us in the packed, beautiful, oriental-style, old theatre, the Grand Opera House in Belfast, as we went down the road with Eric and his band for the next couple of hours. An evening with Eric Bibb sends you away with a huge smile on your face, which will last the rest of the week.
2. Always listen to your mother. Eric’s mom told him always to include his Don’t Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down in his concerts. Good advice. He had the whole place rockin’ with this one. And good advice with “don’t let nobody turn you around.”
Stefan Astner
3. You don’t have to play at 120 decibels or make squishy faces to be an awesome guitarist. Stefan Astner, Bibb’s long time guitarist, noodled away effortlessly on his Tele, almost in the background, tastefully adorning the songs, before stepping self-consciously forward on a few occasions for some terrific solos. Actually, truth be told, he could have done with cranking the volume up a bit.
4. You don’t tour with jazz legend Nina Simone for 20 years without becoming one of the most artful drummers I’ve seen. Boy, was he all over those drums, making full use of everything at his disposal, and – not often you’d say it of drummers – he was musical.
5. If you’re playing the blues, the spectre of racism isn’t too far away. Eric played With a Dolla’ in My Pocket from his 2017 Grammy-nominated album, Migration Blues (he should have won that Grammy), the story of someone he knows who escaped lynching in Mississippi, travelling to safety in Chicago. The genesis of the blues is in the Jim Crow South and songs like this are a stark reminder of the horror of those days – and a call-out to the racism that persists.
6. An unaccompanied song can be a powerful thing. Eric Bibb stood up from his normal seating position to sing Refugee Moan, also from Migration Blues. A stark reminder of “all those who are looking for a safe place in the world.” Wayfaring Stranger, sparsely arranged, was superb too and continued the theme. More on this in his newly released album, Global Griot.
7. In his sixties, Eric Bibb has hit a rich vein of creativity. He’s performing with as much energy and verve as I remember from first seeing him twenty years ago, and his song writing continues apace. He only performed one song off Global Griot last night – so the next tour is definitely one to look forward to.
Multi-Grammy award winning Ry Cooder has been making music and recording for the past 50 years. He’s a songwriter, film score composer, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is maybe best known for his slide guitar work,with Rolling Stone magazine ranking him eighth on their list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” His latest album, The Prodigal Son, his first for six years, has been hailed as “destined to become an instant classic” (Daily Telegraph), and “completely fresh and contemporary” (NPR). MOJO declared it “A career-high.”
Along with his band – Joachim Cooder on drums, Robert Commagere on bass, saxophonist, Sam Gendel and the fabulous vocal trio, The Hamiltones – he played to a sold-out National Stadium, Dublin, having played there some 20-odd years ago. Here’s what we learned.
1. At 71, Ry Cooder can still command the stage and have a crowd eating out of his hand with the quality of his music and his engagement with the audience. He joked about going off to have a few hits of oxygen half way through the set, claiming that Emmylou Harris had got him into it by letting him use her gold tank a while back while playing together. Oxygen or not, he bounced back after a short break to give a barnstorming performance which featured superb versions of Jesus on the Mainline and How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live.
2. If you have a superb singing group in your band, why not let them take centre stage for a while? Which is exactly what happened with The Hamiltones, Ry Cooder content to let them have at it during his break and later on when he seemed to enjoy just playing a supporting role on guitar behind them. These guys from North Carolina – Antonio Bowers, James Tillman Jr. Corey Williams II – were terrific, three cool looking dudes with bushy beards and shades, with the sweetest tenor voices you ever heard. And they were not just backing vocalists, they were performers who know how to entertain. Their ability to recreate the sound of the old gospel quartet was perfect for the material of Ry Cooder’s new album, The Prodigal Son.
3. You don’t have to wear a beanie cap to be in Ry’s band – but clearly it helps! All but two members of the band sported a beanie – must get chilly up on that stage!
4. Putting a bass saxophone into the mix and giving it a few lead breaks might not seem obvious, but boy, it worked. Sam Gendel doesn’t look as if he has enough puff for that big baby, but when he launched into a solo in Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right, we all sat up and took notice and the ground rumbled beneath us.
5. Updating a Woody Guthrie song with a contemporary reference made complete sense. Guthrie’s Vigilante Man morphed into a sharp commentary about Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old African American teenager, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida, supposedly in self-defence. Blind Alfred Reed’s How Can A Poor Man, got a similar update, to huge roars of approval, with a riff on Donald Trump.
6. Cooder’s slide guitar playing really is something to behold. The technique on How Can A Poor Man where he played slide and worked the volume knob on the guitar at the same time was impressive.
7. And finally – about half the songs he performed were from The Prodigal Son, a carefully curated selection of blues and gospel from the early 20th Century, which really is Cooder’s masterpiece. The audience, presumably like Ry Cooder himself, may not share the faith of the songs’ composers, but their enthusiasm and appreciation was no less than for the other songs performed. These are songs that will speak to anyone, believer or unbeliever. The arrangements, musicianship and feeling are spiritually powerful. There’s humanity, decency, inspiration, hope in these songs, that anyone can feel. And in songs like Harbour of Love and Nobody’s Fault But Mine, we all felt it for sure.
[Find Down at the Crossroads’ take on The Prodigal Son here]
Ana Popovic, virtuoso guitarist, singer and song-writer has just recorded her 11th studio album, Like It On Top. Recorded in Nashville, and produced by four-time Grammy winner Keb’ Mo’, it features guest appearances from Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robben Ford and Keb’ Mo’.
Popovic, born in Belgrade, now living with her family in the United States, was called by Bruce Springsteen “one helluva a guitar-player” and has been nominated for six Blues Music Awards. She was the only continental European artist to be nominated for the WC Handy Award (now Blues Music Awards) for “Best New Artist.” Her albums typically reach the top of the Billboard Blues Charts and along the way she and her six-piece band have shared stages with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, Joe Bonamassa and many others.
A child prodigy on guitar and a student of jazz guitar, Ana Popovic is widely acclaimed as an outstanding guitar player, evidenced by her being the only female to star on the Jimi Hendrix tribute tours, and NPR hailing her “fiery technique on the Stratocaster.”
Her new album is terrific piece of work, featuring some beautiful and truly exceptional guitar work, and funky, bluesy arrangements. Popovic not only excels in the instrumental department – her vocal performance on the album is very strong. And thematically, the album is important. Down at the Crossroads was pleased to chat to Ana about the record:
DATC: So, Ana, congratulations on the new album. It’s terrific, a really great piece of work, catchy tunes, sophisticated music, the sort of outstanding guitar work we’ve come to expect from an Ana Popovic album – and it’s had a great reception. We’ll come on to the theme of the album in a minute. But maybe you could tell us a bit about the making of the album and working with Keb’ Mo’, who appears on a couple of songs and whose presence you can feel on the album.
Ana Popovic: I’ve been a fan of Kevin’s for many years and obviously know his songs, and we’ve been talking about doing something together for many years. Finally, we met on a cruise and I said, I’m ready, I’ve got songs that I’ve started, so we said, let’s just get together and write some songs. And he came over to my home in Los Angeles and we spent a whole week – we would start at 9 o’clock and finish around 6 or 7pm. We would cook dinner with my family, and he was just like part of the family. And it was really a wonderful process, and maybe my favourite part of the process was that writing. I had some songs that I’d started and he would come up with something, and really, we were both very open minded. And that song,
Lasting Kind of Love was the first song we wrote and I think it was done in a matter of an hour or two. It went so smooth.
And then I went to his home studio in Nashville and we recorded there for two sessions of about ten days each and we recorded with Nashville musicians. It was wonderful to work with him and see how he works, which is very different from how I work, but we would meet somewhere in the middle. It’s a very dear record to me. It’s a really good subject, it’s got good stories. It’s very different from what I did before, which has always been the number one thing I go after – because I’ve been around for 15 years, and my fans need a reason to go out there and get a record. One of the reasons is a high-quality record, which I think I’ve done so far, and the second reason is it’s different from what they’ve heard before.
DATC: How would you describe the musical direction on this record?
Ana Popovic: I try to put out a new sound to Ana Popovic with every record. Obviously Trilogy had a lot of that, also the previous one, Can You Stand the Heat? And this one is following the same path, which is, pick out a little different sound and surprise people, and have them hear another sound, another style of Ana Popovic.
DATC: And you have guest appearances from Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robben Ford. Tell us about working with those guys.
Keb’ Mo’
Ana Popovic: Well, it was wonderful, Of course, I have known both of them for many years, and I see Robben from time to time on the tour. I really love his style – I was sitting for hours, when I was learning to play the guitar, back in the day, with his guitar solos and I absolutely love his style of playing, he is one of a kind. So, it was wonderful to see him and have him play on a few of the songs. Kenny Wayne as well – he lives close by, so it was easy to schedule that. Kenny, of course, is a fantastic guitar player, and a different style to Keb’ Mo’ and myself and Robben Ford. He’s on the rock side, and it really fits the record and the song. He wrote that song, Sexy Tonight, so it was a nice addition to have him play.
DATC: Tell us a bit about what this album is all about and what you are trying to do with it.
Ana Popovic: The theme of the record is female empowerment. More females in the corner offices, more females in politics, in business – that’s the overall theme. I’m one of the women who does sort of a male job, right? Back when I started to play guitar, there were just a few female guitar players out there – Bonnie Raitt…but just a few – and I was wondering how other ladies juggle their work, how they convince their male colleagues that doing a male job is OK for a woman!
And obviously this comes from the whole movement right now, where women should have equal pay and equal benefits, so it would be a fair choice over who’s gonna stay home with the kids and who’s gonna go out and support the family. So that’s what I stand behind. And of course, I’ve got a band to take care of and an agency and management, but some of these ladies are in huge corporate offices with hundreds of employees, and how do they tackle family life and kids. Obviously, you need a strong partner who supports that or otherwise you have no choice. So, it’s more of a shout out to those kinds of situations, and more and more you see and hear about those families where the husband stays home and the woman goes out and makes money, and that’s just the reality, there’s nothing crazy about it. It’s just the new world.
Yeah, this is the overall theme, but there are different stories – about passions, about longing, about doubts, even about domestic violence in one of the songs and how a woman can actually overcome that, how some of them are strong enough to put a stop to that, which I think must be extremely difficult.
DATC: Some of the songs are quite hard-hitting, aren’t they? I’m thinking of the one you’ve just mentioned, Matter of Time, which is a terrific traditional sounding acoustic blues song with resonator/slide guitar. But it deals squarely with domestic violence. Which is a huge on-going problem for women all over the world, whether it’s the US & Europe or the developing world. I was reading recently that the UN says that 35% of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence.
Ana Popovic: Yes, it’s a problem everywhere. And when I write a song, I really have to find lyrics for dramatics. And blues is all about something dramatic, it’s got to feel real. And that song is very real, and putting it in that old school blues form felt right. Yeah, that’s one that I’m proud of.
DATC: And there’s a nice balance with this song, because some of the very old blues songs – you know, you go back to Robert Johnson and others, where the songs have terrible misogynistic lyrics – “I’m going to beat my woman until I’m satisfied” and so on – I mean it’s just awful. So, to get a song in that genre and style that is completely the opposite is really good.
Ana Popovic: Thank you! And we have Slow Dance, of course – I always try to get some sort of slow blues in there. I had Johnny Ray on Trilogy which is sort of a B B King style, but this is more soul-blues, something I haven’t done before. Slow Dance is a wonderful song and fun song to play live as well.
DATC: Yeah, I really enjoyed that one. But with it and Funkin’ Attitude where you highlight men who don’t keep their hands where they’re supposed to be and get “nasty, evil, mean” if they don’t get what they want – it struck me that you’re tapping in there to the problems that have been highlighted by the #metoo movement and the move to making life safer for women.
Ana Popovic: I guess so! But both songs are also really fun. Funkin’ Attitude is really about some huge, macho egos that I came across, and I’m thinking, how many other women come across this?
But the record is not about men hating, I adore men. And we need men to be on our side – so that’s why I chose my male colleagues to come and play. They all have strong women at home and they very much respect women, which is a wonderful thing. So, it’s really just about equality on this record. It’s that we both need to have the same chances – equal pay and equal benefits. Just the mindset that any job can be done successfully by a female or a male.
I adore working with men – I have a great band and wonderful fans that really support me, I have an incredible partner at home. I think it was just the right time, with the #metoo campaign and all the rest, with the actresses pushing for the equal pay, which I think is really fantastic. So, it was just the right moment to address that, in a nice way, musically.
DATC: And you’ve got that lovely song, Honey I’m Home which reverses the traditional man-woman roles and has the man welcoming the woman home after her day at work.
Ana Popovic: It’s a nice closure to the album. Kevin wrote that for me, for the record, and I thought it was wonderful. And it says to everybody that it’s OK to have things reversed like that, and it’s more and more happening. It’s progress, it’s the natural thing, and more and more people are OK with that. So yeah, I think it’s a good closure of the record.
DATC: And you’re touring the album at the moment – the US and then Europe?
Ana Popovic: Yes. We are touring here in the US in October and then November in Europe, and part of December. So, we have new songs to play. And we don’t even get to play all of Trilogy, because Trilogy gave us 23 songs in different genres – blues, funk and jazz. So, we got plenty of material, and it’s just fun to work the songs on stage and make them alive.
Been listening to Walter Trout' s Blues for the Modern Daze again today. What a top class blues album this is! Chec… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…1 hour ago
7. Matt Lorenz, aka Suitcase Junket is a phenomenal talent, who blew us away with his guitar playing, home-spun percussion, brilliant songs and his jaw-dropping vocals. He’s perfected a kind of tone-shifting singing style where he can produce harmonics in a kind of extra accompaniment to his singing of the lyrics. He explained how he does it – I’m none the wiser – but it was mighty impressive. You know when you go to a gig and you kind of endure the support act, hoping he or she will finish quickly so you get to the main act? With Matt Lorenz you were hoping he’d play some more. Thankfully Mr. Smither invited him back later to accompany him with some tasteful slide guitar in a couple of songs later on. Let’s hope the young Suitcase Junket has all the success he deserves.
