Blues band exhibits modern
sound
By Beth Massura
Staff
Writer
On Saturday, blues fans will get to see the past,
present and future of the blues at the "All Over Blues" as the Muddy
Waters Tribute Band shares old school talent and Chris Thomas King pushes
the genre's boundaries.
The chance to see the Muddy Waters Tribute Band
is a special opportunity, said Purdue Convocations director Todd Wetzel.
"These aren't guys who are trying to do the real
thing; this is the real thing." The group consists of five musicians
who played with blues legend Muddy Waters for years.
Waters' style, which is typically known as Chicago
electric blues, is what most people think of as the blues. This style
came into being when the Mississippi Delta country blues came north
after World War II. Waters' addition of the electric guitar created
this new flavor of the blues.
Band members Pinetop Perkins, Luther "Guitar Junior"
Johnson, Calvin Jones, Willie Smith, Bob Margolin and Jerry Portnoy
are all band leaders in their own rights and come together for special
shows with the Muddy Waters Tribute Band.
The group received a Grammy nomination for Best
Traditional Blues Recording for their 1996 CD, "You're Gonna Miss Me
(When I'm Dead and Gone.)"
Josh Stoltzfus from Concerted Efforts Inc., the
band's booking agency, said, "There are blues shows, and then there
are BLUES SHOWS. There is no greater living example of vintage Chicago
blues than the Muddy Waters Tribute Band."
On the other hand, Chris Thomas King is on the
cutting edge of the blues. "People who are expecting traditional blues
will be surprised," said Wetzel.
King starts with a mid-50s kind of sound and combines
it with rap, hip-hop, R&B and other modern music. On some of his
tracks, King even has a DJ working a turntable.
King got the blues early in life, playing with
bluesmen throughout the Baton Rouge, La., area starting when he was
9. By the time he was in his teens, he was performing at Tabby's Blues
Box, a club owned by his bluesman father, Tabby Thomas.
King had a role in the 2000 film "O Brother, Where
Art Thou?" and contributed to the soundtrack for the movie. The platinum
album reached No.1 on the billboard charts and has sold more than three
million copies, making it the best-selling roots album ever recorded.
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