The Soul Of Blues

Close your eyes and be taken back to a time when there was no video games, tv, radio, or malls. All there were was wood around you with just your imagination and a heart full of soul. They sang about a life they lived and a life they were about to live. Thats the blues. Heartache and pain were plentiful, but singing about lost loves, little money or drowning your sorrow in hard cheap liquor quenched the thirst of the very life they lived. Theres a big difference, to me, from listening to a man/woman who grew up in a good life than one that had to scratch their way through poverty and sing their way to the top of the ladder. Personally I prefer the latter. The Blues is the latter. From the deep woods of the delta, working on cotton fields as slaves or living on the streets preaching the blues, the life they lived was a hard traveled road. A one that carried on right from the gut through the throat and out the mouth. A true blues performer can get his message across with just simple words, but with such a powerful message that not even the greatest poet could say it any better. Probably because it wasn't just written down from imagination but from real life experiences. To me theres nothing better than having listening to a bluesman sitting outside with his acoustic guitar, striped down and raw, with nothing else only the strum of the guitar and his raw and barely recognizable voice. Its the soul of music, these guys didn't one day decide to create a band because it was cool, or because of the money, or drugs, or women. They simply did it because it was in them to do. They rarely made a living at it besides street performing and only then enough to feed themselves. They sang public domain songs in the cotton fields to get through the day or take their minds off the pain in their hands from picking cotton. They started off with sticks with a single string on them and plucked it pretending to be a national star and not with a gibson les paul or a strat. They worked their way to the top and made it their. even if it was way after their time. At least they got there in time.

Son Seals Burns Up The Stage

I haven't been writing this blog very much lately. I have been busy with work and wasn't extremly inspired by much of anything these days to give a blog on.
I am a huge fan of yard sales, garage sales, church sales, flea markets, etc. You can never be too sure on what treasures you can stumple across at these
joyous events. Me and my wonderful fiance Virginia share this love, me falling towards the music and book sections and she towards the vintage clothing and
everything else sections. A few weeks ago I discovered probably the greatest gem I have ever found at a yard sale. A vintage 80's record player with stand up
speakers and a wonderful sound. With a 50 dollar price tag I could not resist. So just recently I could listen to my vinyl with great clearity and crisp sound
that I was so used to. As soon as I brought it home I started listening to my old blues favorites that Virginia brought me a handfull of from the states. Oh
what a great feeling to have them back and relax to, to just close my eyes again and fade into the twang of a blues note that just keeps lingering on and on.
One album in particular that stood out to be as soon as I droped that needle down on it was Son Seals Live and Burning. I was just blown away at his beautiful
guitar work. What made it even better was how you can hear the crowd in the background just inches away from him feel the blues. They felt the way Seals played
that night and just couldn't be quite over it. From Seals blues licks and AC Reeds Jazz Sax, the two of them trading off and the crowd benifiting from each
back and forth fight to the finish. The only winners were the crowd at Wise Fools Pub in Chicago that night. They got every bit of Seals and his band, from start
to finish he took peoples breath away and left them in wonder of the blues. If your even in the mood to pop on a record, 8track, tape, cd or anything and just be
taken away. To hear blues at its truest form, a musician having fun with the crowd and bantering between sets. Its all about having fun on this live album and
you can hear it through every track and every note that Son Seals plays the blues not because of the profit but because he was born to play the blues, every
inch of his body from his feet stomping to his finders plucking hes all blues and blues is all him. Give Live and Burning a listen with your eyes closed and your
ears open to every lick of the guitar, blow of the horn, beat of the drum and pluck of the base.