~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗖𝗨𝗘𝗗 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘'𝗦 𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗕𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘𝗦

 

"The Blues will make you happy,

The Blues will make you sad"

I don't agree with the lines above.  For me, the blues go to the exact point of sadness you feel or want to feel.  At your discretion, you can allow the music to lift you from that melancholy or just stay down low if you like.

But, sometimes you don't want to be cheered up or lifted, but just have the darkness of the moment reinforced, made real.  Yes, the blues can do that.

Many years ago, at a very sad time in our lives, we saw a poster in a drug store window advertising a blues concert at Little Rock's Riverside Park, featuring Buddy Guy, with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers the opening act.  We bought tickets.

Riverside Park is just a grassy field with a stage butted up against the Levee of the Arkansas River with the curved banks of the grassy levee giving out a sort of amphitheater feel.  Three or four boats were in the water behind the stage.  We walked past all the folk, with their blankets, picnic baskets and beer, going right up to the  stage's edge.

I'd seen pictures of John Mayall over the years, but his appearance stunned me.  He was damn old, yes, an old white man, but a blues pioneer. His set was flawless.

After Mayall, stagehands rushed the stage to reset for Buddy Guy.

"Don't touch that amp!" we heard Mayall shout as he ran to disconnect his own equipment.

"I don't let anyone touch my stuff," Mayall explained.

Another stagehand approached us:  "I don't want to be an asshole," he said, "but Buddy likes to exit the stage right where you guys are standing and go out into the audience.  Would you two mind moving back a little?"

We complied with that polite request.

The sun seemed be going down extra fast over Little Rock and the crowd was getting antsy.

"Buddy!!!!" some guys were calling out, but the guy was nowhere to be seen.

Soon, the performer was right in front of us, with gleaming white teeth and a matching white t-shirt under his overalls, like thunder preceding a lightning bolt, his guitar shocked us, twice the intensity of Mayall's with a deep, resonant voice to match:

"You damn right, I've got the blues

From my head down to my shoes

You damn right, I've got the blues

From my head down to my shoes

I can't win, 'cause I don't have a thing to lose

I stopped by my daughter's house

You know I just want to use the phone

I stopped by my daughter's house

You know I just want to use the phone

You know my new grandbaby came to the door

And said, granddaddy, you know ain't no one at home

I said now look out

You damn right, I've got the blues

From my head down to my shoes"