The Wife to Whom I'm Married was recently asked by her Kenyan co-worker, Derek, what kind of music I liked and who some of my favorite artists are. Among the styles listed was the blues. Her co-worker was not sure he knew what this was. Her answer: my husband likes to listen to old, Black men sing about their troubles. Derek found this hilarious. Thanks, dear.
TWTWIM was just having a little fun with that description but there are a lot of people who think of the blues as nothing more than old, Black men singing songs about how their woman done them wrong. There is a reason for that: the blues is such a venerable institution and its influence is everywhere. That kind of far-reaching impact has its plusses but can also at times be a drawback. When everyone thinks they know what the blues is, stepping outside that box can be risky. There are some listeners who will dismiss music because it too closely resembles the stereotype or because it strays too far from it. Some listeners will shy away from the entire genre after hearing a small sampling of it.
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, now 70, takes the image of what the blues is about and gently brushes it aside without straying too far from the genre's most basic conventions. Way Back is not the hair-raising blues of Son House. The hellhounds on Robert Johnson's trail are not haunting Smith — at least not now. You won't hear a lot of the overt sexuality of Muddy Waters, for whom Smith famously drummed.
This is the sound of a man returning to his roots and revisiting his home. The clothes fit a little differently these days and the buildings don't look the same — some are sadly no longer even there, but Smith sounds like he still remembers his way around this block. The strut and swagger have morphed into a stroll. Youth may have been more exciting but experience counts for a lot. It would be easy to label Way Back as a nostalgia album but it would be a mistake to dismiss it.
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
Great review Mr. DJ. I must admit I've not travelled very far into blues territory. I suppose I should pack a bag and discover more of it very soon.
2 - Mark Saleski
...will shy away from the entire genre after hearing a small sampling of it
yes, i have known people who also think that all blues sounds the same.....joking with me that..."oh yea, i heard that blues song once".
hardy fricking har-har.
i try not to hold it against them.
3 - DJRadiohead
Thanks, fellas. Sir Brewster, I could prep you a primer of the blues work I like. As I tried to suggest in the review it is a varied genre so my taste might run counter to others. Saleski and I agree on a couple, though.
Sir Saleski, yeah I have heard that joke, too. There is something to be said for knowing what you like but it becomes something else when you're unwilling to challenge those notions. Last year,
I agreed to listen to some more Bright Eyes even though I had not liked what I had heard by him. You and The Duke thought maybe I just needed to try some different stuff from him. I did. I didn't dislike what you fellas played for me as much as I had other songs by him. That was good. I softened my dislike a little and was willing to sit down, listen again, and take a stab at it.
This album is light, fun, shuffling blues.
4 - Mark Saleski
p.s. the guy who made that blues "joke" was the same guy who had the top of his head taken off by the vinyl version of Muddy Waters - Folk Singer.
5 - DJRadiohead
Amazing how that works, isn't it? One of the truly great albums in history.
6 - Connie Phillips
This article has been placed at the Advance.net websites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.
One such site is here.
7 - Connie Phillips
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8 - Mat Brewster
I'll be waiting for that blues primer.