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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Selling the Blues
Selling the Blues
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Komuso
477 posts
Feb 10, 2015
5:42 PM
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SELLING THE BLUES
Current Condition of the Blues
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Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa
HarpNinja - Your harmonica Mojo Dojo
Bringing the Boogie to the Bitstream
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KingoBad
1602 posts
Feb 10, 2015
6:50 PM
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And also a picture if Deak in the article! Nice!
Certainly an interesting read.
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Danny
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shakeylee
86 posts
Feb 11, 2015
7:05 PM
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that is indeed an interesting article.i'm not saying i agree with everything,but it is very interesting.
i have to think about this!!
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kudzurunner
5300 posts
Feb 11, 2015
7:34 PM
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Fascinating article. It tells a lot of truth, and it made me think.
Here's the problem: The boomers who control the mainstream blues market are trapped between a rock and a hard place. The so-called "Indie Blues" artists are mostly white. The mainstream blues market is getting whiter and whiter, in terms of who is out there touring and who is winning the awards. The boomers remember a very different blues world, overseen by Muddy, Pinetop, Gatemouth, Albert Collins, etc., all of whom had many white players in their touring bands. That model worked great, as long as the black elders were in the driver's seat. But once the black masters are gone.....?
You've got where we are now. We've still got Taj, Buddy, Joe Louis Walker, the next generation of Af-Am masters. But they're swamped by the rest of us. And the boomers don't want that. They want the blues to be "big," but they don't want THAT.
The best way to avoid THAT is to keep the Old Guys in heavy rotation. But that just doesn't interest young people.
What REALLY doesn't interest young people is listening to exactly the same music that their parents and grandparents champion. This was true for young black people in the 1950s--which is why they created rhythm and blues (which is what B. B. King calls himself; he has more than once insisted that he is NOT a blues artist but a rhythm and blues artist), and why young black people in the 1960s rejected blues altogether.
That's all young whites are doing: rejecting the blues, the same way young blacks did.
That's a good thing, I think. But yes, there's a branding problem.
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shakeylee
90 posts
Feb 12, 2015
7:00 AM
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"What REALLY doesn't interest young people is listening to exactly the same music that their parents and grandparents champion."
exactly!!!
again and again i go support friends that ,like me,have been playing blues in philly since the 70's.
they can't understand why they don't draw like they used to,but they're still playing hot rodded "chicago" blues band stuff.wherein all of their gigs are at least a four piece electric,or broken down to an acoustic duo.
i find younger people might like an electric blues band for a song or two,but want to hear resos,fiddles,mandolins mixed in etc.
they might for example see a band made up of washboard,national guitar,upright bass and harp....yet be less likely to stay for two guys with super reverbs,loud drums and electric bass.
believe it or not,it seems like a lot of younger people like quieter music with variety from the traditional two guitars,harp,bass,drums.
for example,a group of hipsters with three harp players and a bass drum might draw better than a traditional electric blues band.
they like a lot of soul mixed in right now too. don't tell me otis redding isn't blues :)
there was a blues band in philly that was standing room only for years that played blues ,but used bluegrass instruments.sometimes the bar had to turn customers away because it was too full.
that's just some examples.
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isaacullah
2928 posts
Feb 12, 2015
7:13 AM
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"The traditionalists, who have been in control of most blues radio and media have kept such a narrow view of what is or is not blues, they have actually created a negative perception of the genre."
"This can be directly attributed to the fact that those who control (or had controlled) the media outlets of the genre are not open to new innovative artists. Let’s face it, this does not bode well for attracting new fans."
I've been saying these things for years, and have posted such sentiments several times here on mbh. I really think that this is the crux of the issue. IMO, it's silly to idolize any one kind of music so much that it becomes immutable in your mind, and any attempt at innovation is percieved as a perversion of the "real" music. In a system like that, things languish and die. The only way to "keep the blues alive" is to actually let it live; this means letting it lose to grow, change, and evolve. And you know what? None of that will lessen the blues, not will it prevent you from loving it's past.
----w------
YouTube! Soundcloud!
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shakeylee
92 posts
Feb 12, 2015
10:28 AM
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Yes,sometimes I think "the blues police" are the worst enemy of the blues...... Even though sometimes I'm a member ??
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Frank101
79 posts
Feb 12, 2015
10:48 AM
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Gillian Welch ... Carolina Chocolate Drops ... Rod Stewart (and now Mr. Bob) covering the "Great American Songbook" ... who's to say what "young people" are listening to these days.
And their parents were listening to Led Zeppelin, or Earth Wind and Fire, or the Clash, their grandparents were listening to Buddy Holly or Sam Cooke or Charlie Pride or the Beach Boys ...
Last Edited by Frank101 on Feb 12, 2015 10:50 AM
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nacoran
8268 posts
Feb 12, 2015
1:36 PM
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I think maybe we need to rebrand 'societies'. I understand that there are a lot of great societies out there that help preserve cultural hallmarks, but even the term sounds like something older people would be involved in and maybe more interested in the minutiae of the thing. I'm not sure what term would replace it. A fan club is more specific to a band. What is the macro-social term for 'society' that the whippersnappers use? A 'scene' is more informally organized. Blues Organization, Blues Club, Blues Scene. I think SPAH might be guilty of the same thing.
On a different note, I don't know if any of the old blues guys have given it a try, but several musicians got 'famous' with the younger generation by giving younger music a shot. Johnny Cash covered Nine Inch Nails, Pat Boone, Paul Anka, collaborate with or cover popular newer material. You can make it your own, and when people like it they'll look into your own stuff. It has the risk of turning off your traditional fans. Famous alternative rocker Chris Cornell took a lot of flack for experimenting with Timberland, but he also won some new fans. (As an early fan I didn't love the new stuff, but I loved that he was still taking chances.)
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Nate
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J_Bark
44 posts
Feb 12, 2015
2:03 PM
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I found the article intriguing. I think the one thing no one has mentioned is the idea of "relevance." I know that term is oft overused but I think it really hits the heart of the problem in this case:
"Traditional" blues lyrics lack relevance to the world in which we (they, as in the younger audience?) live.
True we do still have love, hate, good times, bad times, cheating girlfriends or boyfriends, we are still broke or unemployed or under appreciated in some way at a time in our lives. We all feel run down, misunderstood or outcast from time to time. In fact I am sure that we all agree that all of the "causes" of the blues still exist.
Yet the way in which they exist has changed with the march of time, society and technology.
That is where the relevance is lost.
For example,if I go to a meeting of the music club on the campus where I work and sing about my little red rooster not one of the students cares, or listens. But if I sing a blues about my busted I-phone, or my baby sexting another guy they all listen, and usually laugh, cheer or share their own busted I-phone story. You see in my very small test pool, younger people are fine with the blues as long as it's relevant to THEIR OWN blues.
That's the key. Relevance.
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2chops
350 posts
Feb 12, 2015
3:24 PM
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J bark...About 2 or 3 months ago Todd Park Mohr did just the thing that you're referring to in his Daily Donut video series. He did a song a day in a traditional blues style, with the subject matter about what's happening today. Someone here posted it. Todd made the blues relavent.
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I'm workin on it. I'm workin on it.
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slaphappy
75 posts
Feb 12, 2015
3:55 PM
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it is an interesting article and I think there's a case for updating lyrics to reflect the times..
I don't know that rebranding as "Indy Blues" is really some kind of panacea though.
I think there will alway be a place for traditional blues performed in a traditional style. To me it's like classical music. I don't think that's ever going away, at least I hope not as the more I listen the more I want to hear..
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4' 4+ 3' 2~~~
-Mike Ziemba
Harmonica is Life!
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Frank101
80 posts
Feb 12, 2015
9:24 PM
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No really, updating the blues to make them relevant to the young people of today in these changing modern times we live in is a great idea.
Not a new one though - after all, who could forget such relevant updated numbers as
"LaserDisc Blues"
"My Little Betamax"
"She's My Pet Rock"
.....
Last Edited by Frank101 on Feb 12, 2015 9:25 PM
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indigo
60 posts
Feb 12, 2015
9:54 PM
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In Auckland Newzealand ,a city with a population of over 1 million,our jam night this week had about 50 people turn up.And this only Blues Jam in the City.(held once a month)
The Blues is dying in our part of the South Pacific.
Last week i went to a Gig by one of our best Blues Bands..not one tune in their set list was written after about 1970. Got your Mojo and shake your money..etc are way past their use by date.
The lead guitarist has never heard of Coco Montoya etc and the Black Keys are a Pop Band!
It's sad to me how guys form a 'Blues Band" and
then just rehearse the stuff they learn't back in the 70's.
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J_Bark
45 posts
Feb 13, 2015
5:09 AM
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Frank101 wrote:
Not a new one though - after all, who could forget such relevant updated numbers as
"LaserDisc Blues"
"My Little Betamax"
"She's My Pet Rock"
I appreciate your humor frank, and maybe it reflects how you feel about not making thing relevant to today's world. When much of the blues we play today was being created orchestral works and big bands were the music of pop culture as it was. Those types of music are today suffering the same fate as blues: they are dying for lack of listeners. The big difference, they are closer to the grave, barely holding on and the doctors are discussing pulling the plug. At least blues still has treatment options. Let's face it the only reason that Tony Bennet was on the Grammy's is because of Lady Gaga (side note: Gaga can sing the hell out of anything, Tony sung well but had NO stage presence and did not move the act forward);
Indigo wrote:
It's sad to me how guys form a 'Blues Band" and
then just rehearse the stuff they learn't back in the 70's.
I hear you there brother.
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