The blues is deceptively simple, a framework really, upon which can be laid gold and silver, curlicues and cold hard insistent riffs, you know, the kind that lay down the law. I was on Bleecker Street in NYC a few weeks back at a club called Terra Blues, populated by Brit, German, and French tourists. It was exactly what you would expect from a downtown Greenwich Village Blues bar, way too small, way too many people, but the music washed over you with its heat and sensuality.
The blues haunted me as a teenager. It hinted at the mysteries, of love and heartbreak, joy and sorrow. Because of that, I especially cherish the time I spent living in the south and getting to travel the Delta, furthering my understanding of where the blues came from. In April, I visited Louisiana State Penitentiary, which is bordered on three sides by the Mississippi River. I was there for the Angola rodeo, which was a trip unto itself. I will tell you about that soon. It is not a place you would want to try to escape from, bloodhounds on your trail.
On the plane flying down to NOLA, I couldn't wait to feel the earth under my feet. Today, we offer a tune replete with the moss of the delta in its DNA, “Watching The Sun Go Down” from Kevin Gordon. I got to watch Kevin play this week, as he came to Hill Country Live in NY for a performance on Thursday. I can tell you it is great to have a home for his music in NYC, with so much Delta influence, as will it should be for this Louisiana native now living in Nashville. Music Fog captured this version of “Watching The Sun Go Down” at Americana Fest in 2011.
-Jessie Scott
