A love affair with the blues

[Clint Lawrence]

So, what do you all really think of blues music?
When I say blues I mean the real stuff. Music that reaches out and touches you very soul.

Seems to me, that anyone with a little talent and practice, can play and sing the notes, but in most cases these folks can never really captivate an audience.

I had a techer once, an African American fellow,who taught down in Bellevue. He passed away years ago. He told me once, "You have to be black and 40 to play the blues. You're white and 10 years old, what are you doing here?" I said, "I wan't to play the blues!" He said, "Be careful what you ask for." and proceded to teach me. I got pretty good, and have been playing and singing for 32 years now.

Throughout these 32 years, I've personally met a lot of people who could play a lot of notes, but I've met very few who have really inspired me. I've heard tons of great stuff on records, and seen quite a few blues shows with real bluesmen and women, who may have been lacking in technique, but more than made up for it with gut wrenching soul.

These people are real. You cannot only hear it, you can feel it deep down inside. These folks don't need to blow an audience away, with blistering speed, impeccable tone, or any sort of fretboard acrobatics. They own an audience because they are bearing their souls on stage. They are wowing the crowd with the truth. I believe the only reason, they are able to do this is because they are living, or have lived the life.

To me, this is something that can't be taught in lessons, or in school. It is an intangible. I know what exactly, what it took for me to get where I am today as a performer. I had to live the life for a while. I was out there for a decade trying to do this thing, and trying too hard. It wasn't until I was constantly broke, hungry, with no place to stay, a huge monkey on my back, and literally with a hellhound on my trail, that I began to sound credible.

Once i got rid of that monkey, I had money, a place to stay, and the devil left me alone. It was at this point I realized that I had really changed as a musician. My playing had changed, the tone of my voice had changed, really everything about me as a musician had changed. All this, not because I hit the woodshed for ten years, but because I had lived the life for ten years. And somehow made a connection with something so much greater than myself.

Playing and singing the blues for me today, is a quite literally a spiritual experience, I believe it is for my bandmates as well. Now some people will say I, IV, V , I, IV, V, how boring. But I can tell you that when the blues shuflle really gets locked in, and the band is leaning hard on beats 2 and 4, something magical happens. This is when the joint starts jumpin' and life is VERY good!

If anyone has had a similar experience, please share. I love hearing peoples stories, about how they got to where they are as a player.

I realize most of you BSO folks don't know me, and thats mainly because I called a different city home, and I was on the road for quite a while, and then I quit playing all together for about 5 years.

Now I'm back, and trying to make some noise. I play in a band called the Barkin' Irons, with James Carrig, Scott gaeta, and Glen Smith. We're pretty good. We've got a show coming up on Friday, July 3rd, at Downtown Blues 1512 Howard street 9pm. We would all love to see some of you there, and meet some new friends as well. Jason Ferguson will be sitting in with us for this show, so it should be extra fun.