At the beginning of 1995, Baton Rouge resident Larry Garner was strictly a part-time .. blues man. The 56-year-old family man had a secure job at a chemical plant, with no intention of giving that up.
But in recent years Garner had created quite a stir overseas and in underground blues circles domestically With a couple of small independent releases for the European label JSP. So what was the talented guitarist, singer and songwriter going to do when the opportunity for a national release came knocking, courtesy of Verve Records? The answer came at the end of his enthusiastically received set at the 1995 jazz Fest. Looking out into the audience, Garner cheerfully declared, “Keep supporting me y’all, because I quit my job and I’m doing this full-time now!”
The career change has been three decades in the making. As a teenager, Garner started slipping into Baton Rouge clubs and drew inspiration from esteemed local artists such as guitarist Lonesome Sundown and harp player Silas Hogan; the gentle-natured Hogan became a mentorCome August 15, the loophole in Louisiana’s liquor laws that made it legal to sell alcohol to 18-20 year olds — even though it was technically illegal for them to buy or consume it — will be closed.
to the new recruit. Garner pursued his musical i to the new recruit. Garner pursued his musical inclinations with varying degrees of commitment, and at one point in the ’70s prematurely retired from playing; he returned when singer/guitarist Tabby Thomas helped rejuvenate the Baton Rouge live circuit by opening up his now-famous club, Tabby’s Blues Box. There Garner began backing Hogan and applying his lessons to his own musical vision.
Surprisingly, the music that emerged has little in common with the swamp-blues compadres that taught Garner his trade. Instead of stark grooves and spooky shuffled backbeats surrounding bayou folklore, a direct, soulful, and deceptively straightforward sound blossomed, which owed more to T-Bone Walker and B.B.King than Slim Harpo.
What really separates Gamer from his peers is his keen songwriting ability. While blues is a genre occasionally slagged for its reliance on cliches, Garner has taken his nine-to-five and family experiences, a host of colorful characters and current issues, and thrown an illuminating and often-humorous light over this wide array of subjects. This quality informed his first two releases (Double Dues is definitely worth seeking out), and they are in strong supply on his new Verve debut, You Need To Live A Little, (see Reviews, p. 50) With a current overseas trek winding down with a gig at the Montreux jazz Festival and a U.S. tour planned for the fall, Garner’s choice of the stage over the factory is already yielding benefits.
Should Garner need some advice on the trials of the road, he might give Dallas-based guitarist Will “Smokey” Logg a call. Logg is presently an under-appreciated proponent of the rich Texas blues tradition; he brings his never-ending touring binge to New Orleans for three dates in August: the 24th at Vic’s Kangaroo Cafe, the 25th at Nick’s, and the 26th at The Rivershack. Logg will also be spending an extended residency in the Crescent City soon, recording a new album with producer Keith Keller of subdudes and Los Lobos fame. Keller says, “Smokey doesn’t play like anyone else. Most white blues players steal their riffs from Freddie King. He’s come up with a style, and he plays with fire too. I’m kind of burned out on guys who are all derivative, and he’s an original.”
In every sense of the word. Logg is a brilliant and twisted storyteller, always happy to break out a bottle of Canadian Club, invoke Charles Bukowski and “High Noon” references, and play the bejesus out of his sixstring at the same time. His road experiences frequently border on the surreal, as does this choice tale about a previous New Orleans visit: “We were playing this Riverboat gig at the Helena Blues Festival,” Logg remembers, “and these two drunk lawyers saw us and asked us if we wanted to play the Parkway Tavern in New Orleans on Wednesdays. I’d just about given up on New Orleans, after one Sunday night gig at Tipitina’s where we were advertised with a question mark, and a Tuesday night gig at the Howlin’ Wolf right after Labor Day, but I said what the hell.
“So we drive from here to New Orleans, and we get there and the stage is two pool tables with a piece of plywood in between ’em. There’s trays of jagermeister being passed around; I’m also playing with a drummer I should have fired about four months earlier, ’cause he has this real attitude about breaking down his drums when everyone else in the band is taking down their equipment at the end of a night, this guy’s got a real attitude about it, which is pissing me off.
“So we’re playing, I’m doin’ my thing, walkin’ outside with a long chord and playin’ in the graveyard a little while, I come back in and start playin’ on the bar, which is also ,made of plywood. Two girls get up with me and start dancin’ on it. Well, they both jump off at the same time, and the plywood acts as a trampoline, and I get thrown back over the bar. I smash my head and my feet are in the whiskey well, and my thumb is like hanging out of the socket. So I keep playin’ the whole time, jam my thumb back in, say ‘thanks fo comin’ everybody’-it was our last song of the night anyway.
“So we start breaking down (equipment), and I hear the drummer complaining to the owners about his usual shit. So I just walked right up to him and knocked him out with one punch, with everyone around. Meanwhile, Vic and Ellen from Vic’s Kangaroo Cafe are there, and they come up and say,’Can you play at our bar too?'”
And so he is.
That other LA (Los Angeles) is bustling with activity from our neck of the woods. Phillip Walker, former guitarist for zydeco patriarch Clifton Chenier and current full-time California resident, has just released Working Girl Blues on Black Top Records. The CD makes an even bi-coastal split between West Coast swing and southern grit and funk; George Porter Jr. and Raymond Weber comprise the New Orleans rhythm section, and Little Brian and the Zydeco Travelers make a special guest appearance to bring the album out on a high-stepping note.
Also, the gifted piano boogie-woogie and songwriting maestro Jon Cleary has been in LA. contributing tracks to an upcoming Taj Mahal release, which also features guest spots from Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt.
And on August 13, good-time jivin’ New Orleans bandleader Merritt Doggins competes at the LA. House of Blues in the finals of the KLON National Blues Amateur Search. He’ll be up against Boston’s Radio Kings and Chicago’s Howard and the White Boys, among others, and if Merritt wins top dog honors, he’ll have an opening slot at this year’s Long Beach Blues Festival, which features Buddy Guy, Jimmy Witherspoon and Dr. John. Go get ’em Merritt …
Worthy CDs to add to your blues library this month include titles from the Capitol Blues Collection (which spotlights sterling re-issues and unreleased material from Big Joe Williams, Son House, and Lil’ Son Jackson; a complete Snooks Eaglin Imperial Recordings reissue is also in the works from Capitol); juke-joint shouter Smokey Wilson’s aptly titled smoker The Real Deal on Bullseye Blues; crooner Floyd McDaniel’s jumpin’ and jazzy Let Your Hair Down on Delmark (unfortunately, the 80-year-old McDaniel passed away in late July); and, best of all, Cornell Dupree’s Bop n’ Blues on Kokopelli Records. Dupree, who was the pre-eminent soul session guitarist in the ’60s and also original lead gun in the “Saturday Night Live”house band, is a completely unclassifiable talent whose fretwork sparks comparisons to the late great Danny Gatton. Dupree can play any note or solo in all genres with rare god-given talent, and Bop n’ Blues finds him tackling everything from slippery New Orleans second-lines to Ellington blues and Charlie Parker bop. Dupree brings his inestimable bag of guitar tricks to the House of Blues on August 20, in the absolute must-see show of the month.
