I think he's a great singer and a pretty good guitar player, especially for his age. I like his singing better than his guitar. He reminds of me Johnny Lang, another child wonder.
The problem with children singing the blues is that they can't really have them, at least to the depth that moves me. Blues is one music that requires maturity. You've got to have spent a few years on this earth. It helps if the hormones have kicked in too.
Not to hijack this thread, kudzurunner, but if you're talking about bluesy child singers, here's one whose family is from Iran, of all places. He's twelve years old, and sings like a bird. He's got soul, the kind of soul I don't quite see in Quinn Sullivan. His name is Shaheen Jafargholi. Have a listen-- the first two minutes are just the setup for the singing. I can see the singing has likely been dubbed, but I have no doubt it's his voice. This this is one soulful twelve year old child:
I put singing on a pedestal, so I love this. Although all I play is this 4 inch piece piece of metal we spend so much time talking about, the voice is my favorite instrument by far.
Hope he can past the "cute little kid" syndrome...that is, as talented as he is, a lot of the audience response is due to the "cute little kid on stage".
Some cute little kids soak this up and feel that they've "made it", so don't really grow as artists. Unfortunately, they grow as humans and eventually are no longer cute nor little. ---------- The Iceman
If you close your eyes, Quinn Sullivan sounds pretty good as a guitarist, but I'd be interested how his voices shapes up once his voice breaks. If he maintains both into adulthood, he'll be OK, but at the moment he's a novelty.
Shaheen on the other hand is pure manufactured stage school. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Amy Winehouse went to stage school.
My point. Both are entertaining right now based on their performances. They may end up on the scrapheap of maturity, but they can grow beards if they don't want to be recognised. They're both engaging in celebrity at this point so it's hard to be truly objective towards their talents.
I feel bad for some of the young players that have decent or awesome chops... the dog and pony show that many are paraded on due to their age is really a disservice... growth and accolades need to just happen naturally not pursued pushed and promoted by well intentioned adults... I don't care how good they are...they are just kids ---------- Warren Bee Marketing & Harmonica Raconteur
I remember seeing Mike Welch when he was a bit older than Quinn. And then of course Jonny Lang was on the scene at about the same age. Thankfully, neither ended up sounding like the next ?????????, but rather found their own voice. I remember playing with a 13 year old at a local jam. None of the older jammers would play with him. I ended up buying him a Fanta and some cheese doodles and chatting with him and his chaperone. I ended up playing with him and he smoked like Quinn. Pretty funny. He ended up joining the Army and went thru music school. Today, he is a well adjusted music teacher.
These young phenoms seem to be pretty common, not that rare a breed. I dont think they all end up like Danny Bonaduce.
I have to admit I have a hard time reconciling this one in my mind.
First let me say I saw Buddy Guy a few year back and I think it was on this tour with this kid. The name escaped me but it was a real young kid, and what I remember about it was that the kid sang this "homage to buddy guy" blues song while Buddy stood there grinning at him like a fool. That absolutely creeped me out. It might be the same song on one of these two vids I don't know (can't bring myself to watch either one) For the record, i didn't really enjoy Buddy that much either that night, as he seemed like he was mostly in the "watch me show off and my schtick" mode, rather than groovy musician mode.
Regarding the kid, I had a similar experience at a local blues jam a few years prior to that (I was just there to watch and listen), when a kid of about the same age came in an absolutelty killed on guitar.
So for me, here's the thing. I love the music that I love (I know, weird sentence). By that I mean, I like to think it has deeper meaning than just playing notes, and I've actually got into a discussion many moons ago on this forum, defending that position against someone maintaining that music was just ear candy and we shouldn't be arguing about it, that it essentially means nothing.
So if you believe that you have to "have the blues (whatever that might mean)" to play the blues, I just don't see how an 8yr or 12yr old manages that. Having said that, the ears don't lie. In the case of that jam session, because of the way the bar/club was configured, I could hear the kid before I could see him, and my ears said holy shit!!!!
Unfortunately, I have no answer as to how to resolve this dilemma for myself. So personally, I've just chosen to let it sit there. though I will say I would not willingly go to or pay to see a blues show performed by a kid that young.
Oh, and just to take the discussion in another direction, regarding the talent vs. hard work debate, how does the "10,000 hour rule" math work for an 8 year old?
Last Edited by on Dec 22, 2012 5:24 AM
